Ramside Hall Golf Club

Where to Stay: Ramside Hall Hotel & Golf Club

Prince Bishops Course

The par 72 course is 6,851 yards from the championship tees and provides overlooks of Durham Cathedral. A UNESCO World Heritage Site inspired Ramside's second course, The Cathedral Course, opened in September 2014. The Prince Bishops' course is named after the military clerics who reigned over the turbulent North from Durham Castle after the Norman Conquest in the 11th century. 

With 16 water hazards, reachable par 5s, driveable par 4s, and short holes requiring shot-making skills ranging from wedge to woods, the course has an adventurous air. 

Jonathan Gaunt created a golf course that embodies risk and reward at its best. Water comes into play on eleven holes, while nine doglegs necessitate strong strategy and the ability to move the ball both ways if you wish to score low. 

The Cathedral Course 

The Cathedral Course was created amid the undulating countryside between Belmont and Pittington, and it boasts spectacular natural features such as hills, becks, and valleys. The course spans across a vast hilltop, with views of Durham Cathedral and as far away as Gateshead's Angel of the North. Before falling into a valley and rising again to return to the parkland estate, the final holes culminate back at the clubhouse and hotel. 

The middle holes are scattered across a high plateau, historically known as 'Hilltop Farm,' with a wide-open sky and 360-degree vistas, before falling into a stunning valley with dramatic elevation changes, mature trees, steep banksides, and a coursing beck. 

According to designer Jonathan Gaunt, the series of holes from the 11th to the 14th is regarded as 'Ramside's Amen Corner.' The downhill par-three 12th hole is very similar to its famed Georgia equivalent. 

Two excellent golf courses complement one another.