Huge redevelopment set to give England's North East a new golf oasis

England's North East isn't a place one typically associates with world class golf, with players' imaginations in that part of the world understandably captured by courses further north across the border.

That is, however, slowly changing, with courses like Goswick Links and Seaton Carew becoming increasingly celebrated once again and giving the area's golf offering a new shot of life.

Looking to bring a new energy to the region, however, is Ramside Hall: a hotel and spa with two championship courses located just 10 minutes east of the historic city of Durham.

Now, following a successful revamp of the venue's entertainment offering, including the opening of a new driving range, bowling alley and hospitality hub known as The PIN, Ramside Hall has embarked on a sweeping set of changes it hopes will cement the venue as the best golf venue in the North East.

While both of Ramside Hall's championship parkland courses, named the Cathedral and Prince Bishops respectively, are much loved by the locals, neither tend to crop up in conversations as to the North East's very best courses. However a multimillion-pound redevelopment of both is aimed at changing that, bringing Ramside Hall's golf offering back into full focus.

“Ramside has always had huge potential,” Course Manager Shaun Embleton, who is in charge of leading the changes, said in a statement. “The venue has everything, and it is now ready to burst onto the stage. I always describe the venue as a bit of a sleeping giant, but it’s starting to wake up now."

The Cathedral course, named for its vistas highlighting nearby Durham Cathedral, is being opened out and remodeled to transform from a rolling parkland course to more of an inland links, with new grasses and more naturalised roughs being installed.

The Prince Bishops, meanwhile, is being refined further to present a sterner but fairer test of true parkland golf. Extended tees, tree management and bunker refreshing will all take place as Ramside Hall's elder course approaches its thirtieth anniversary.

"The courses, the new facilities, the investment," continued Embleton, "it’s not just good for Ramside, it’s great for the whole region and gives young players somewhere to aspire to.”

You can find out more at Ramside Hall's website.