IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Church Road, ALSTON, CA9 3QU

The bird house in the form of the hospital building Image was made as a gift to the hospital by Nenthead resident, Lowson Robinson. In the garden of the bungalow he built in Church Meadow, Nenthead, the ex-Miner and retired builder has made three miniature villages and a variety of other buildings Image; Image http://www.tynedalelife.co.uk/2013/09/the-making-of-a-super-model/

See another photo from this location taken in 2008 Image The original concept of a cottage hospital was a small rural building having several beds. The advantages of such a hospital in villages were the provision of care which avoided long journeys to county or voluntary hospitals, facilities to deal more immediately with emergencies and familiarity the local physician might have with their patients that may affect their treatment. This local knowledge of the patient would probably have been lost had they been referred to their nearest county hospital, as was typical for poorer patients. Some of these buildings continued to be known as cottage hospitals until recent times. The term community hospital is now applied to most of these buildings where they are used to deliver healthcare, reflecting the wider range of services that are provided in more modern times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottage_hospital The building above on the left is the former St. Paul's Methodist Church built in 1863. It is located at the top of Front Street and was sold along with the neighbouring church hall (also known as the schoolroom) and the Osborne House in 2002 for conversion into domestic accommodation Image http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/news/2.2962/who-was-lady-of-the-chapel-1.643080

This bracket can be found on the wall of garage premises beside the A686 in Alston. The benchmark height is recorded as being 282.02 metres above sea level. For more detail see : http://www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm22603

Samuel King's School in Alston is slightly right of centre; the Ruth Lancaster James Hospital is largely out of view to the right of the image.

Hotel on Station Road, Alston.

Alston pub, with a sign illustrating the origin of the phrase and common pub name. Yes its nautical as usual. Not bad for one of England's highest towns.

The Tyne café lies on the main road below the main part of the town and clearly the tourist visitors preferred the town centre with its steep cobbled street and photogenic buildings. Down here, decrepitude has set in in a big way, with not just the café closed and derelict, but a selection of rusting minibuses to add to the atmosphere of decay.