Hear all sides

HAVING spent my childhood in Ovington, I am left with memories I hope will never fail. As village children the riverside was our Dolphin Centre. We got all the swimming and exercise we wanted free!

We made dens and camp fires, picnics, etc. We knew the names and whereabouts of every flower. We made dams and stepping stones across the river and, at the time, could walk to the other side.

Later, returning home for my day off, I would walk to Ovington along the riverside from Winston Bridge. Looking either direction would be my picture. - Mrs M. Carrigan, Darlington.

THE view from the lake towards the house Thorp Perrow, in Bedale, North Yorkshire (home of the Ropners). My late parents met while working there in 1939. We used to go for picnics and park in front of the house. Now visitors have to view from the arboretum. - Mrs L. Walker, Wingate.

MY favourite place is looking up the road and seeing the terraced cottage (with front garden) where I live. Built in 1913, it has a lot of history in and around it and I often wonder about the conversations that must have taken place within its walls.

Sited on Brandon Hill, it is the secular and the sacred, so close together with magnificent views of an even more historic place of sanctuary in the distance, Durham Cathedral. It is my refuge and place of peace. - Honor Lee, Brandon, Durham.

MY favourite view is of the cathedral and river from Framwellgate Bridge. As a child my mother took me to Durham every Saturday. I remember being just tall enough to touch the top of the bridge wall with my hands and mam would lift me up to see the river. Then one day (I must have been very grown up!), I could see over the wall myself.

A lot of water has gone under that bridge and I have two daughters myself. I remember lifting them up to see the same view. Now they are taller than me. Time flies. - Ann Pool, Ludworth, Durham.

MY favourite view is of Durham Cathedral. I never tire of looking at it whenever I visit Durham. The view from Framwellgate Bridge is fantastic. There's nothing to match it. It's in a lovely setting, the river is like a mirror and the green of the trees. I never cease to be amazed. - Mrs Elliott, Sacriston.

MY favourite view is of the town hall in Ferryhill market place. I love to view it from the library as the colour and flowers in the garden are always so wonderful and from this view it also shows the two war memorials and also the memorial of the mining accident. This is really a lovely scene I never tire of each day. - Mrs Isobel Simpson, Ferryhill.

MY favourite place is the Deer House in Bishop Auckland park. In 1955 my husband John proposed to me and I refused. He proposed marriage again near the Deer House and I accepted. We became engaged and got married on June 2, 1956, 45 years ago. John proposed by saying: "Marry me before I get little, fat and bald." We both admire that unusual building in the park and it brings back happy memories. - Mrs Eileen Mooney, Howden-le-Wear, Crook.

ONE of the many views in County Durham in my opinion is the walk from Ferryhill to Merrington, a few hundred yards from the school. You can see every place including the cliffs going to the sea at Redcar way. - R. Shaw, Ferryhill.

MY favourite view is Durham from Wharton Park. From one central point you can see so much of Durham City. History is represented by the castle and cathedral. Administration is carried out at County Hall. Progress and the future of the city is portrayed by the new shopping centres and the University Hospital.

Durham City's links with the rest of the country is defined by the excellent railway system. All in all a picture painted of the city from Wharton Park says it all. - Ann Robson, Carrville, Durham.

AS a child I was brought up on a farm near Leyburn. My favourite place was to sit on a grassy bank in one of the fields and look at the wonderful views over Witton Fell, and Middleham with its ruined castle. I never tired of that lovely scene and now, although I have travelled to different countries and seen some beautiful places, my favourite is still the place of my childhood dreams. - Ruth King, Bedale.

MY favourite view is of the abbey in Rievaulx, a little paradise tucked away in the Hambleton Hills not far from Helmsley in Yorkshire.

The abbey grounds are a place to pause breathing in the tranquillity, as it were, the evening sunshine rejuvenating the scene with splendour. - G.E. Webster, Darlington.

MY favourite view is Leyburn Shawl, viewed from Penhill in Wensleydale. This view always brings back memories of childhood.

My grandparents lived in Leyburn, so we were no strangers to the delights of long walks. Gathering wild flowers, searching for birds' nests, hide and seek or just running whatever the weather. There was always something to marvel at. - Mrs Jeanne Falshaw, Masham, Ripon.

WHEN I was a child my parents took me in their Ford Popular car almost every Sunday afternoon to Stanhope. I played on the stepping stones in the river and picnicked in the park nearby.

Fifty years later we take our grand- daughter Kelly to the same place. Now there are swings and slides where she can safely play. She is delighted when we take the car over the ford, hoping she will see someone getting splashed as they walk over the stepping stones. - Margaret Dixon, Willington.

MY favourite place is the green shed at the bottom of our garden. We bought it last year and have painted the inside beach yellow and put a blue carpet down like the sea. In there we have shelves of toys which keep the kids amused during the day. At night it becomes mum and dad's haven where we chill out with a bottle of wine and enjoy the peace and quiet.

It is such a warm and cosy place especially when it's raining outside. The smell of wood is delicious and the pitter patter of raindrops are surprisingly relaxing. It is our beach hut haven and we love it! - Heather Prested, Durham.

WHEN I was a girl the centre of the universe was the Pit Heaps at Bishop Auckland. Everyday after school and every day of every weekend would be spent there playing in the Big Woods and the Little Woods. In the winter we slid down the steep sides on bin liners. My brothers, David, Ian and Darren, my friends Steven, Carol, Lyn, John and Debbie would meet at the Pit Heaps every minute possible.

When we were not playing, we would look around - from one angle you could see Shildon, from another St Helens and from another Tindale Crescent where we all lived.

It has all been bulldozed down but never forgotten. - Michelle Pastma, Bishop Auckland.

MY favourite view is from my bedroom window. It is of the gentle rise from field to fell; a farmstead quietly placed within. It is nothing grand, but on waking fills us with appreciation, especially at this time of year when all is rekindled after this last cruel winter. We are blessed with the dawn sunshine creeping up and again with that marvellous evening light. - Shirley Vickers, Barnard Castle.