John Tyson has written from Australia to tell me about the wretched time he spent as a boy in what he refers to as the Old Orphanage at Gainford, known officially as St Peter's School.

A friend in Bishop Auckland had sent him a recent cutting from the Northern Echo about young people breaking in and causing damage in the dismal brick building, which has become an eyesore since being closed some years ago.

Mr Tyson recalls how he was put into "that hell hole" as a baby in 1932, then taken out and put back in 1935. He says of the modern youngsters causing trouble, "If only they knew what sadness and heart-breaking events happened there to other chidren."

He eventually left St Peter's for St Mary's in Tudhoe, an orphanage which has since been pulled down. He suggests that the Gainford school should also now be demolished and the site made into parkland.

He remembers an interesting time when Basque children from Spain were housed there in 1936 to escape the civil war, and wonders if they found their parents had survived the fierce hostilities when they went home.

Every time Virginia Whittle rides out from her home in Newsham on her heavy grey horse Chloe she takes her sketch book to capture scenes that catch her eye. The results have been seen this week in an exhibition of her vivid watercolours at the Witham Hall in Barnard Castle.

Mrs Whittle says Chloe used to get fed up with these outings and dump her on the ground, but now she is used to them and stands peacefully while landscapes, flora and fauna are jotted into her book. Her display was a success, with a good percentage of works sold.

The talented painter will shortly be back at the hall as she is to start giving art lessons there on Tuesday afternoons and Thursday evenings. Her husband John, a lecturer, sometimes accompanies her on her travels on his black horse Beauty.

All the rain of late has kept many tourists away from Teesdale, but they've still been arriving in good numbers at Baldersdale youth hostel, mainly thanks to the Pennine Way which passes close by. The hardy hikers who trek along it are not put off by downpours.

Gordon Nugent, who manages it with one assistant, says that while the weather this summer has been atrocious, most of the 37 beds have been filled each night. The takings are actually up on last year. Some hostellers arrive by bicycle or car, but long distance walkers on the hilly route are the mainstay.

At 250 miles the Pennine Way is the longest footpath in Britain, stretching from the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland. Some hikers tackle parts of it, but others spend their holidays doing the whole course.

The hostel is seen as a bargain, with beds at £10.60 a night or £7.20 for Under 18s and discounts for students. Mr Nugent, who cooks breakfasts and evening meals as well as supplying packed lunches, has just received a £1,500 grant from the AONB Partnership to pay for cycle stands and other improvements.

A former dale resident has written from Canada asking how Cat Castle quarry at Lartington got its name. Nan Hamilton of Cotherstone, who is well up on local history, tells me that long ago large rock faces were sometimes known as castles.

That could explain the second part of the name. She thinks the Cat may be connected with Catty Crag quarry behind Goldsborough. Stone was taken from there on a narrow gauge railway to build Hury reservoir.

"This is only my personal theory," said Mrs Hamilton. "I've never seen any definite evidence about how Cat Castle got its name."