Denton, County Durham

Denton is a village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The population of Denton taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are maintained in the parish of Gainford. It is situated a short distance to the north-west of Darlington between Walworth to the east and Summerhouse to the west. Houghton-Le-Side lies to the north and Piercebridge to the south. The village is home to approximately 18 houses, new and old, all surrounding Denton Hall Farm and contained within the vast Raby Estate. Most of the farm buildings are whitewashed. There are many local legends explaining this. The most common of these is that Lord Barnard was lost in the mist and sought refuge in a farm house. Believing it to be one of his own he demanded his keep, only to discover that it was privately owned. To prevent such a mistake occurring again he ordered that all his buildings should be painted white. Denton Hall Farm is a mixed farm of arable and livestock. Horse racing / training is a large part of village life.

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Walworth Castle

Walworth Castle is a castle of 12th-century origins, situated at Walworth, near Darlington, County Durham, England. It is a Grade 1 listed building. It was completed around 1600, probably by Thomas Holt for Thomas Jenison. It stands on the site of a former manor house or castle built in the 12th century by the Hansard family. The estate passed through the hands of the Ayscoughs and Aylmers besides the Hansards and Jenisons, and became a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II and then a girls' boarding school after the war. It has been a hotel since 1981.

Summerhouse, County Durham

Summerhouse is a village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the north-west of Darlington. Since 2009 it was home of the two Michelin star restaurant The Raby Hunt.

The Raby Hunt

The Raby Hunt was a two Michelin star restaurant located in Summerhouse, County Durham, United Kingdom. Whilst it was housed in a 200-year-old Grade II listed building, the restaurant itself was opened in 2009 as chef James Close's first. It gained its first star in 2012 and its second in 2016, making it (as of January 2019) the only establishment in North East England to reach that status. As it offered overnight accommodation it was classed as a Restaurant with Rooms, the modern equivalent of an inn. In 2018 it was reported that local residents were objecting to diners and delivery vans blocking the bus stop and side roads and making parking in the area difficult, and complaints were made about owners and staff treating the village "with contempt". Durham Constabulary had been called out repeatedly to the site, but said that on nearly all occasions no parking offences had been committed. They called on the restaurant to defuse the situation. The Raby Hunt was named in Estrella Damm National Awards the restaurant award in June 2023. The Raby Hunt closed permanently at the end of January 2024, with chef-owner James Close moving to the nearby 5-star hotel, Rockliffe Hall, to take up a rôle as its culinary director. The restaurant building has now been put up for sale.

Ulnaby

Ulnaby is an abandoned village and scheduled ancient monument in the grounds of Ulnaby Hall Farm, near High Coniscliffe, County Durham, England. The toft village was occupied from the late-13th to the 16th century and temporary buildings were erected in the 19th century. Ulnaby Hall farm appears to have been built in the late-16th century, supplanting a high status medieval manorial enclosure associated with the original village. It is thought that the village shrank because of the change from labour-intensive arable farming to pasture, before being abandoned and the site was subsumed into the farm as pasture.