VISITORS to the Gaunless Valley can learn how nature and industry have together shaped the surrounding countryside.
The Gaunless Valley Visitor Centre, near Butterknowle, has installed a series of information panels about the area's history.
With funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, administered through the Mineral Valleys Project, environmental agency Groundwork West Durham and Darlington produced the eight panels.
They cover topics such as mining, farming and railways.
Sam Jackson, of Groundwork, said: "The panels show just how hard life was during the industrial revolution and Victorian Britain.
"People had to work extremely hard to make a living from agriculture and mining - the area must have been a very different place 150 years ago."
The visitor centre is open every day until the end of this month.
It will only be open on weekends during the winter, from next month until March.
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