As 2024 starts and people want to get out and about, many want a destination they can walk to instead of just a circular route. 

With temperatures dropping, there's sometimes nothing better than getting out in the fresh outdoors and having a walk to a cosy pub for a meal. 

As part of this, we have pieced together seven of the best walks with a pub pitstop in County Durham.

Here are our choices: 

Hardwick Hall Hotel

Sedgefield, County Durham

The Northern Echo:

Nestled in the County Durham countryside, just off the A1(M), and surrounded by the magnificent Hardwick Country Park - this venue is perfect to visit after a walk around the park or nearby Sedgefield.

Boasting stunning views of Serpentine Lake, which is also another option to walk around, the hotel offers an extensive food menu. 

This is made more special by The Rib Room Steakhouse & Grill at Hardwick Hall Hotel - which offers a cosy and snug feel to dining - and is perfect for winter and spring and warming yourself up. 

The venue also offers several accommodation options, including boutique-style rooms all with large baths, walk-in showers, luxury furnishings and huge ultra-comfortable beds.

Beamish Park and Causey Arch Circular

The Northern Echo:

In this walk, you can experience the South Causey Inn, situated right near Beamish and Causey Arch. 

With its cosy interior and extensive food menu, including Sunday lunch, it's the perfect spot for some food after or during a walk. 

The walk is a circular one from the village of Causey, which follows farm tracks and local lanes to the nearby woodland within Beamish Park.

From there, you go along the open countryside and start to spot Causey Burn.

Of course, at this part of the walk, it's time to explore Causey Arch in all of its beauty.

Whilst some of the paths are surfaced with stone, others can get muddy and some of the fenced paths can also get overgrown at certain times of year.

Black Horse Beamish

Red Row, Beamish

The Northern Echo:

While this venue is situated near the Beamish Park and Causey Arch Circular, the Black Horse gives you another element when it comes to walking. 

You can take a walk through Beamish village, or Beamish museum and then pop along to the Black Horse. 

However, given that the pub is situated in a 37-acre sprawl, you can walk pretty close to the Black Horse and still walk off plenty of Sunday dinner in the meantime.

Dating back 300 years, this pub is a gem in County Durham, and offers welcoming fires, eclectic furniture, as well as real ales and fine wine.

The Rose and Crown

Romaldkirk, Barnard Castle

The Northern Echo:

Perhaps the cosiest of all the pubs, The Rose and Crown in Barnard Castle featured in The Times list of cosiest pubs in the UK. 

However, it also gives you the option to walk in Romaldkirk and exploring the village, before going to the pub.

When it was crowed in the UK's most coy pubs, The Times commented: “Elegant, 18th-century and ivy-clad, sitting on the village green next to a sturdy Saxon church at the point where the Durham and Yorkshire dales swap footpaths, this pub nails the rural idyll tick list.

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“Add traditional interiors with beams and log fires worthy of a Country Life spread, homemade scones, local real ales and more than 15 malt whiskies to warm cold bones after long walks or outings to Barnard Castle, and an oak-panelled dining room for romantic candlelit dinners, and you’ll sleep contentedly.

“Rooms don’t let the side down either, sloping beamed ceilings and exposed stone in the main house or more contemporary in the courtyard.”

On Tripadvisor, the rural inn located in Romaldkirk is also highly praised, with a current rating of 4.5/5 out of 617 reviews.