DURHAM has it all. Cathedral, castles and coast; city and country. The dark skies of the north Pennines and the bright lights of Lumiere. A county with a deep industrial heritage and the broadest moors, and the friendliest people with the widest smiles.

It would be so appropriate for this unique county of immense diversity to become the first new style City of Culture in 2025. The rules now allow a wide group of communities to pool resources to bid, and a declaration in favour of Durham would bring the widest of cultures together.

The Northern Echo:

It has always been this way: the high glories of the cathedral and the cerebral studies of the university have lived alongside the more down-to-earth movements of the miners with their battling brass bands and their pitmen painters – where else but Durham can the Canalettos of the Bowes Museum be in the same county as the Cornishs from the coalfield at Spennymoor?

Where else but Durham can you find a light show bringing warmth to the city streets in deepest winter while the balmy summer nights are lit up by a riotous romp through 2,000 years of history at Kynren – undoubtedly the most extraordinary outdoor performance anywhere in the country?

The Northern Echo:

Where else but Durham do you find the awesome majesty of High Force in the heart of the dales in the west and the heart-breaking, thought-provoking statue of Tommy, in the east on a clifftop?

Indeed, Durham might even be able to boost that culture would be coming home, as the cathedral contains the shrine of the Venerable Bede, the father of English history, and the original culture buff.

But this is not a culture that stands still.

The Northern Echo:

For 2025, Redhills, the pitman’s parliament, will be restored to its full majesty, telling of the county’s universal values of democracy and fairness in the place where the miners created the first welfare state.

For 2025, Beamish will have its 1950s town ready to tell the latest chapter of the county’s rolling story.

The Northern Echo:

For 2025, Bishop Auckland will have a museum of Spanish art of world renown alongside its palaces dedicated to faith, mining art and local crafts.

And, of course, for 2025, Shildon will have Locomotion No 1, the world’s first passenger engine, for at least half of the year as it celebrates the 200th anniversary of the railway which got the world on track. Half the Stockton & Darlington Railway line lies in Durham so the global icon that is the engine will have to feature centre stage.

The Northern Echo:

Plus, of course, there will always be a warm welcome and the finest food in the country pubs and the town hotels, for Durham is blessed with cheese makers, beer brewers and gin distillers; it overflows with the finest farmers, bakers and if not candlestick makers then certainly artisan blacksmiths.

For the county itself, the bid speaks of its pride in itself and of its ambition. The bid will boost the self-image of the people who live here and, in this era of staycations, bring the county’s diverse attractions to a wider audience.

The Northern Echo:

In 2017, Hull was the UK City of Culture and it generated at least £89.3m of investment and increased tourism by 10 per cent.

It certainly put Hull on the map, and Durham would love to emulate that, especially as many of Hull’s events were based around the Ferens art gallery, which was founded by a philanthropist from Bishop Auckland which is, of course, in County Durham.

The Northern Echo:

You’d have to need your eyes tested if you can’t see the all-round culture of Durham – and where better to find an optician than Barnard Castle in the county that has it all.