Growing Up In Kielder

A Memory of Kielder.

Living in Kielder from a child to a man ...
I lived in Kielder from 1974-1995. I loved the way you could keep your front door unlocked. I could hear the river passing by my bedroom window, this was how quite it was. I am sure the upper north Tyne Valley would have been a more beautiful place to live if they hadn't built that white elephant (the Kielder dam). I remember when the dam was being built, walking down with my class mates from Kielder first school and measuring how far the water had travelled up the valley. I remember spending summers swimming in the river up by the little dam and winters on the back hill with my plastic bag, after the Bellingham school bus was unable to get through the snow.

I couldn't drink in the pub until I was 18 because my mam was best friends with the landlady. The next pub was only 8 miles away down in Falstone or Stannersburn.

The good old days.

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