retiredmartin

July 2025, Darlington.

The last few years, where elderly parents take priority, have brought home the need to Do It Now, going on those little trips you’d put off, waiting for the perfect time.

So, for the third time in a fortnight, I hit the A1 for Darlington and parked the campervan up in the UK’s best free parking spot. This time, I got a good shot of the Travellers Rest sign;

And this time, I had Mrs RM in tow.

Darlo wasn’t our end point, but a Monday night out in an unsung Durham market town is top blog material for both of us, even if we’d turned up a week early for Sabrina Carpenter’s surprise gig.

Sabrina would enjoy the Old Tapas Yard as much as we have on a handful of visits over a quarter century,

a cute little place that convinces you that you’re actually in Darlington.

It made the GBG soon after opening, and has hung around despite a dalliance with Theakston Cool Cask that would have seen lesser bars consigned to Try Also,

and in truth it’s not the Tim Taylor Landlord (NBSS 3) you come for.

It’s the huge plates of Mediterranean grub, thrillingly ordered by marking a paper menu with a pencil.

Inside is a gem.

Cambridge used to have places like this 25 years ago (Eraina, Varsity), before the chains moved in.

Next door the sound of “500 miles” is booming out at 6pm, the Old English Gentleman with the earliest karaoke night of the week.

Somehow, we resist.