THE NORTH PENNINES & THE UPPER CLYDE VALLEY

With the beauties of the Lake District to take in and the splendours of Edinburgh just a few hours North, you wouldn't necessarily think to stop off in the border lands in-between. After a family motoring holiday exploring the North Pennines and the Upper Clyde Valley, Jonathan Crouch thinks you should.

Alston isn't one of those places you would ordinarily go out of your way to visit. Not because it isn't picturesque or noteworthy - in fact, it's both those things, one of the highest towns in England and said to be the only one with a stretch of cobbled A-road running through it. The issue is more one of competing attractions, the tranquil Lake District lands just to the South, historic Hadrians' Wall border country just to the North. There's also an hour's twisty, turny drive to the nearest motorway. So you have to make an effort to come here. Which is always a good sign if you're looking for a relatively undiscovered destination.

Which was exactly my family's objective heading North for a showery May half term. We'd previously been to the Lake District. And we'd been to the Central cities in Scotland. What we hadn't done was to explore the rolling lands in-between, in England those of the North Pennines and in Scotland, the Upper Clyde Valley. Time to put that right.

Certainly Alston seemed like a good base for the North Pennines leg of the trip, an East Cumbrian town surrounded by quiet wooded valleys, green hills, bleak moors and misty crags. A place that's inspired poets, authors and artists throughout the generations. And drivers? Perhaps. The route you take here using the nearby A66 is, according to the AA, supposed to number amongst the 'Top Ten Drives in the World'. True enough, if I'd had a sportscar without three kids on the back seat, I'd certainly have relished tackling the dips and troughs, hairpin bends and occasional sheep hazards that spice up the journey in this part of the world.

Even with a family in tow though, this part of Cumbria is a great base for a motoring holiday, just an hour or so from the Lake District National Park and Windemere to the South West if you real...