Visit Plashetts

Official Tourist Information for Plashetts & District | Established 1999

Welcome to Plashetts

Last updated: 13 March 2006

Welcome to Plashetts, a forest village in the upper North Tyne. The houses stand about a green. Beyond them the commercial woods rise on three sides, with older trees along the burns, and the hills of the Border country standing further off. It is a quiet place, and it has been a quiet place for a long time: first as a colliery parish, now as a village for walking, for the mining remains that are still shown, and for the Green Man Trail.

Current notice: The Plashetts Heritage Centre is open daily 10.00–16.00. The Green Man Trail remains fully accessible. Please check the board before setting out on longer walks. The Colliery Inn is closed for refurbishment. Rooms in the village may be had at Forest View. In winter, a short note on the season may be useful.
The green, looking toward the hall

The green, looking toward the hall. Photograph from the centre collection.

For more than a century Plashetts was known for its coal. The first sod of the colliery was cut on Whit Monday 1861. The Border Counties Railway came through the valley the following year, and a row-town grew up for the pit, the quarry and the brickworks. Working ended in stages; the last pit is described locally as having closed in the early 1980s. The hills still carry the marks of that industry — the memorial garden, the line of the old waggonway, the stone of the former school — and they are part of what visitors come to see. A longer account is given under History & Heritage.

The same slopes are now under woodland. Sitka and larch take the higher ground; oak, birch and alder hold the burns. The rides are quiet even in high summer. Birds move in the canopy. On a still afternoon the sound of the village is the sound of the trees. Local tradition keeps a place for the Green Man, the leafy figure carved in the parish church (see the carving) and the name given to the walk that starts from the porch. Each summer the parish marks the season with the Green Man Gathering: a morning on the trail, tea at the hall, and talk of the woods and of the pit. It is a parish day, not a large festival, and it is the day of the year.

Asked for most often this season:
  • Walking the Green Man Trail (about four miles, moderate), with time at the church if the door is open
  • The mining heritage path and memorial garden, described under Walking
  • Forest paths toward the Kielder edge. These are not all maintained from this office; see The forest
  • Sunday afternoon tea at the Village Hall (seasonal)

A day in Plashetts

The village is best seen on foot. The tourist information point is inside the Heritage Centre, in the former school on the green, and can provide trail leaflets, a simple sketch of the village, and advice on rooms. We recommend half a day for the main paths and a further afternoon for the heritage sites. Visitors who like the colliery story may take the morning in the village and the afternoon on the parish trail; a short account is under Mining. First-time visitors may like to begin with Discover Plashetts and with Getting Here.

There is no shop in the village. Provisions are more readily found in Falstone and in Kielder, and a flask is a kindness to yourself on the longer rides. Accommodation is limited and is best arranged before travelling. The nearest further beds are outside the parish. Kielder Water and the castle lie in the same country and make a full day if you have one; they are administered separately, and their hours are their own.

We are glad you have found us. Come to the green, walk the trail, look in at the centre, and take the quiet of the woods home with you.

See also