Northumbria's in the top right hand corner of England. That means we're the big beautiful bit of Britain to the right of the Lake District, below Scotland; and above Yorkshire. We're easy to reach. Only 3 hours by train from London, and an hour and half from Edinburgh.

Bonny place, Northumbria. The right-hand side is all seaside! And all the left-hand side is heathery hills and moody mountains. In the middle there are shiny cities like Newcastle and Durham, and map-fulls of pretty villages. We've got big Scandinavian skies and four proper seasons designed just for photographers!

Christian heritage? Sounds a bit dusty? Not Northumbria's! It's all 'bests and firsts'. The first Christians in the North came to Holy Island. English history was first written by Bede, at Jarrow. Or best of all there's Durham, "the finest Norman Cathedral in the world". It's got a zillion steps to the top of the tower… nothing dusty up there, eh?

What did the Romans ever do for us? Well something quite remarkable actually… they built one of the best bits of the Roman Empire, right here! Hadrian's Wall was one man's vision for protecting his territory, and it was high, long and just plain mean enough to work! It's still here! Along with roman forts like Arbeia and Segedunum!

When the French conquered us, they thought we needed to know just who was in charge. So in came a little made-to-measure kingdom of Prince Bishops, charged not only with running Durham Cathedral but, troublesome Northumbria too! Imagine that, if you can! Bishops minting coins, creating laws and building castles!

Our medieval history is all storybook stuff! Take, for example, the 'Border Reivers' - noisy tribal families who barged into Northumbria and burnt everything! Then, of course, there were the Vikings who gave us some of England's most breathtaking fortresses - true fairytale-like castles such as Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh.

In 1825 a Northumbrian put the wheels of industry in motion. That's when George Stephenson first designed a steam engine to run on rails. We still treasure George and his influence too - we have the Locomotion as well as a replica Rocket, the first railway line and the oldest railway bridge. For railways - think (and thank!) Northumbria!

Northumbria's made a good living from the sea… and now it makes good living history! Explore a fully reconstructed seaport and climb aboard the UK's oldest floating warship in Hartlepool. Or, travel with Captain Cook at his Birthplace Museum, but mind your head on the beams of his absolutely tiny ship Endeavour in Stockton.