Tomorrow the gardens at Darlington’s ‘Field of Water’ open

Nag’s Head Farm at Oxen-le-Fields, between Darlington and Hurworth

This seems appropriate given the proximity to the Tees – the farmhouse once had 6ft of water when the river flooded – and also because there are two supposedly bottomless water pits next to the A167 known as Hell’s Kettles which have fascinated botanists for ever centuries.
The Nag’s Head was once an inn for travelers on the main road that passed its door.

READ MORE: ARTISTIC IMPRESSIONS OF THE VILLAGE WITH A BISHOP, A BULL AND A LINK TO SLAVERY
Coincidentally, last week we discussed Darlington’s most famous artist, George Algernon Fothergill, who published a series of sketchbooks between 1898 and 1908, and in one of these he reproduces a sketch of an old sign for a Nag’s Head inn (under) which he found during his visit in an outbuilding. He says the sign was a holdover from when the inn gave up its franchise in the 1880s.

As such, the inn’s gardens and two others nearby are open to the public on Thursday evening to raise funds for charity – although you don’t trust our word, you can see it on the sign.