Cotherstone village in County Durham is set on the River Tees, 4 miles from Barnard Castle. Today a large and pretty village, its history goes back to the Domesday Book and it has remains of a motte-and-bailey castle dating from the 1200s. In more recent times it became a well-known destination for holidaymakers from the growing urban centres nearby, and at one time was known as ‘Little Sunderland’ because of its popularity in that city. Cotherstone has connections with Hannah Hauxwell, who became famous through the television documentary series about her harsh life as a farmer on the Pennines above the village, and through the locally produced Cotherstone cheese. This fascinating history of the village of Cotherstone in Teesdale will be of interest to all those who have lived in the village or know it well.

Dr Paul Rabbitts has over 35 years of experience in designing, managing and restoring urban parks across the UK. As a qualified Landscape Architect, he is also a published author and regular contributor to journals and periodicals. As well as being a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, he currently works full time for Norwich City Council as their parks manager. He is an author of books on architects Sir Christopher Wren and Decimus Burton as well as Regent’s Park, Richmond Park, Hyde Park, the wider Royal Parks and that icon of public parks, the Victorian and Edwardian bandstand, on which he is acknowledged as a UK expert and which was the subject of his PhD at the University of East Anglia. He lectures frequently on all things parks and can be contacted via his website www.paulrabbitts.co.uk . He lives in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. David Rabbits is Paul's father and lives in Cotherstone.