A promotional film produced by Rayant Pictures Limited for The British Travel Association and the North East Development Council to encourage tourism in the Northeast region. The film looks at both the history and the varied landscapes of the counties of Northumberland, Durham, and North Yorkshire dissected by the rivers Tyne, Tees and Wear. Title: The British Travel Association with the North East Development Council Presents Land of the Three Rivers. Credits: Photography Douglas Ransom...

A promotional film produced by Rayant Pictures Limited for The British Travel Association and the North East Development Council to encourage tourism in the Northeast region. The film looks at both the history and the varied landscapes of the counties of Northumberland, Durham, and North Yorkshire dissected by the rivers Tyne, Tees and Wear. Title: The British Travel Association with the North East Development Council Presents Land of the Three Rivers. Credits: Photography Douglas Ransom Unit Manager Michael Dufficy Editor Nicholas Gurney Production Consultants Anthony Gilkison Associates Produced and Directed by John Durst Commentary by Steve Race who also wrote the music A hotel bedroom door opens, and a maid enters carrying a breakfast tray which she places on a bedside table. After laying out a pair of shoes and hanging a man’s suit in a wardrobe she draws the curtains to reveal a moorland landscape outside. A montage of regional landscape and coastline are intercut with road signs for the North Riding of Yorkshire, Northumberland, and County of Durham. From East Cliff near St Mary’s Church the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby below with several yachts moored in the harbour. Visitors walk along St Ann’s Staithe beside the River Esk changes to the path towards nearby Robin Hood's Bay with waves crash onto the rocks below. In the village itself a group of children stand at the bottom of New Road near to the Bay Hotel, outside the pub adults drink and chat. Views of the narrow roads and alleyways around the village follow. From the edge of the causeway poles or stakes mark the Pilgrim’s Way from the mainland onto Holy Island in Northumberland while on the island itself views around the ruins of Lindisfarne Priory with Lindisfarne Castle in the distance. On the nearby Farne Islands seabirds such as Puffins, Guillemots, and Black Shags nest in the cliffs while a photographer takes a picture of one of the nesting birds and their chick. Flying around their nesting site in the grass are Terns changes to St Cuthbert’s Chapel on Inner Farne and visitors in the near distance waiting on their boat to take them back to the mainland. Inside Durham Cathedral the tomb of St Cuthbert behind the High Altar changes to views of the building’s architectural features such as the Norman columns and gothic vaulting of the roof. A procession of choir boys followed by two men in colourful vestments make they’re into the Quire with choir boys singing as they walk down the aisle. A Latin inscription carved into the wooden choir stalls changes to the central tower of the cathedral from outside with bells ringing. Nearby Durham Castle and the cathedral seen from the River Wear. A diesel cargo train crosses the Durham Viaduct, in the distance the towers of the cathedral. Dramatic smoke is blown around George Stephenson’s ‘Locomotion No. 1’ on display at Bank Top railway station in Darlington. Another early steam locomotive ‘Derwent’ is on display next to it while on nearby Platform Four a modern diesel passenger train pulls into a platform heading north towards Scotland. On Westgate Road in Newcastle a statue of George Stephenson. Rides and amusements on Newcastle’s Town Moor lit up at dusk as part of the annual Hoppings fair. Large crowds wonder around enjoying the various attractions and rides or eating fish and chips purchased from a mobile lorry. A fishing trawler heads out to sea from Whitby with St Mary’s Church and Whitby Abbey visible in the background. A seagull hovers in the air as another small trawler passes by a larger vessel. The passenger ship ‘Kronprins Frederik’ sails into the River Tyne passing trawlers and other fishing vessels moored at North Shields Fish Quay. As it continues its journey upstream it passes two large vessels that are in dry dock at Smiths Docks also at North Shields. Along the Tyne at Newcastle a cargo ship moored along the Quayside changes to road traffic crossing the Tyne Bridge and a train crossing the High-Level Bridge towards Newcastle. The Castle Keep at Newcastle changes to traffic crosses the Swing Bridge into the city from Gateshead. A montage of streets in the vicinity of the Quayside including The Side, Sandhill and Queen Street ending on Grey Street with pedestrian and vehicles passing the Theatre Royal heading towards Grey’s Monument in the distance. Back on the Newcastle Quayside, traffic crosses all four bridges. A cargo ship is under construction at a shipyard on the River Wear at Sunderland changes to Smith’s Dock Company shipyards at Southbank near Middlesbrough where the drilling rig “Ocean Prince” is on a slipway ready for launching. A large crowd cheer and clap as a woman launch the rig into the River Tees with a bottle of champagne. Inside the Newcastle Museum of Engineering four schoolboys look over the “Turbinia” the first steam turbine-powered steamship in the world. As they wonder around the museum, they look at displays of ship models and a mechanical steam train. A montage of paintings showing early railway trains follow. An older couple examine a decorated mug and other pottery in an antiques shop chatting with the owner. They leave appearing outside Bettie Surtees House on Sandhill in Newcastle. In the showroom of Hardy’s fishing rods at Alnwick in Northumberland the husbands speak with a salesman about a potential purchase. In the company’s workshop craftsmen work to produce cane fishing rods with one of them pushes a trolley of completed rods into a warehouse. In another workshop women are tying fishing flies using wool and feathers. From the banks of one of the regions salmon rivers a man fly-fishing, two other fish in the River Tweed near the Scottish Border. With sand dunes and the North Sea in the background two young men play a round of golf on the course at Seaton Carew near Hartlepool in County Durham. At Alnwick Castle in Northumberland stone statues standing on the castle's turrets, beneath it an archway with a stone crest inside the castle walls. In the library cabinets and shelves full of books and a bust over the fireplace and a display case containing three books with images of a historic map, William Shakespeare and a painting of a town or city scene. Other items on display include a highly decorative wardrobe next to a marble fireplace. Back outside again and two women appear from an archway to look around the castle’s bailey. A young couple walk along sections of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland changes to another couple walking around the remains of Housesteads Roman Fort. An aerial of Hadrian’s Wall and of traffic moving along the modern Military Road which runs parallel to the wall and its vallum. The film comes to an end with an aerial of the bridges crossing the River Tyne at Newcastle followed by ships under construction at one of the Tyne’s shipyards. At the mouth of the river the Tyne Piers and out into the North Sea the aircraft flies over a fishing trawler. End title: Produced for The British Travel Association with the North East Development Council by Rayant Pictures Limited