Sedgefield

Sedgefield is a small town in the county of Durham in the north east of England.

Sedgefield is best known as being the parliamentary seat of Labour MP and former Prime Minister Tony Blair and was also visited by USA President George W Bush during a state visit. This whole area is quite picturesque and it seems there are a few things worth a second look. Sedgefield is also famous for a version of ‘Mob Football’ which is played every year on Shrove Tuesday and which a statue now commemorates.

St. Edmund’s Church – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Edmund,_Sedgefield

Ceddesfeld Hall – https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101160001-ceddesfeld-hall-sedgefield#.W-CdM_Z2uCs

Hardwick Park – http://www.durham.gov.uk/hardwickpark

The Racecourse

Sedgefield Racecourse hosts only National Hunt Racing.

Sedgefield is a left-handed, undulating oval track of one mile and two furlongs with sharp bends. The chase course has easy fences. There are eight fences on each circuit, the last an open ditch and then steep uphill for half a furlong to the finish.

Clerk of the course: Roderick Duncan

Course telephone number: 01740 621925

Getting Here

Sedgefield is 260 miles from Central London, 183 miles from Birmingham, 272 miles from Bristol, 293 miles from Cardiff, 123 miles from Manchester and 147 miles from Edinburgh.

The racecourse is situated about three quarters of a mile south-west of the town near junction of A689 Bishop Auckland road with A177 Durham road. The nearest motorway junction is J60 A1(M), just a few minutes away.

The course post code is TS21 2HW

Course parking is free.

The nearest railway stations are Darlington or Durham Stations, each about a twenty minute taxi ride away.

Racecourse facilities

Course website: https://www.sedgefield-racecourse.co.uk/

Disabled access: https://www.sedgefield-racecourse.co.uk/plan-your-visit/venue-accessibility/

There are two enclosures at Sedgefield. They are The Grandstand and Paddock Enclosure and The Centre Course Enclosure. The dress code for the Grandstand and Paddock is ‘Smart Casual’

There is a very good view of the course from the stands and particularly of the final fence which is only a half furlong from the winning line. The parade ring and winners enclosure are also in front of one of the stands.

The racecourse list three restaurants on their website, two of which, Hoops Bistro and Silks Restaurant have views over the racecourse. The other is 1927 Bistro opposite the entrance. There is also a fish shop in the Grandstand and Paddock area which serves Fish & Chips and pies etc. It’s called The Sea Merchant and I tried the chips today and they were divine!

This is another friendly course and the staff here are very courteous indeed. I was impressed.

My Day

The day started with an absolute monster of a drive up from the West Midlands and then a bit more further on to Hexham straight after racing.

The local army lads were here recruiting today and apparently at the ripe old age of 58, I’m not yet too old. I’ll have to think about that one.

I only had the one bet today and it won at 2/5F (Backed last night at 8/13) I’m not expecting any accolades for this one. I don’t usually bet as short as this, not over the jumps anyway, but Informatuer really did look like a good thing. Mind you, having taken it up a long way out, he looked to idle all the way to the line so I think the jockey earned his fee.

So tomorrow, I’m intending to do Hexham in the afternoon and Newcastle in the evening. Looking forward to it.