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 View over Grasmere, Lake District
The north of England is a virtually different country from the south, different landscapes, different climate and a whole different character.
 Hadrians Wall
The North Country stretches along the vast rugged expanses of the Pennines, the backbone of England, from the Peak District, along the Yorkshire Dales and the spectacular atmospheric scenery of the Lake District, to Northumbria and Hadrian's Wall, the ancient border with Scotland. It's a dramatic landscape is incomparable with the south and together with the milder climate of the south, prompts Southerners to say it's grim up north. But Northerners will tell you, ‘they're all soft down south!'
Cities in the north too are generally more characterful than the Londoncentric south and offer huge regional differences in accents and dialects. Compare Liverpool's Liverpudlians, Manchester's Mancunians and the Geordies of Newcastle and they may as well be in different countries from each other, nevermind the rest of England!
These cities offer a unique self-identity and vibrancy that puts them on a par with any other European city. The cities of York, Chester and Durham offer something altogether different, a deep sense of history stretching back thousands of years, of Roman and Viking times, of old castle walls and rich medieval architecture among some of the best examples in the country.
 Distinctive Houses of Chester
The main draw to the North Country is the beguiling beauty of the Lake District National Park. No matter what the weather the Lake District holds an enchanting aura, whether it's through brooding dark clouds casting shadows across the fells and smothering the peaks or through the sunshine cascading off the lakes. The wonderful forces of nature are here to behold and have inspired artists from Wordsworth and Coleridge to Turner.
In the North Country, though the weather may be colder than the south, the welcomes are assuredly warmer and its people friendly and genuine.
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