In the 18th century it was part of the home of the smelt mill manager. For the 2007 season, the bunkhouse will sleep six in the upstairs bunkroom. Each bed is styled like a ship’s cabin bunk with curtains across for privacy and a small internal light and shelf. The former downstairs bunkroom has been converted into a sitting room / dining room.
The bunkhouse is fully heated, has hot water and showers. There’s a small kitchen, with a washing machine and tumble dryer
The assay house was the laboratory of the Assay Master, whose job was to analyse ore samples to determine their lead and silver content, and thus set the prices paid to the miners. For 2007 it has been converted into a bunkhouse, sleeping up to 12 people in double bunks, in two upstairs bedrooms. There is a kitchen / dining room downstairs. The bunkhouse is fully heated, has hot water and showers, and a small kitchen / dining room on the ground floor.
Lane Head Centre is a recently converted 19c village school situated in the scenic grandeur of Upper Weardale. Only a few miles from the North Pennine watershed, which is the highest point of any A class road in Britain, it offers panoramic views of the surrounding fells as well as easy access to the Lake District to the west, the Allen Valley’s and Hexham to the North, the towns and villages of Weardale to the East and Darlington and the Yorkshire Dales to the South.
The immediate area offers potential for fell walking, pony trekking, gill scrambling, canoeing, orienteering and rock climbing and industrial archaeology: in the first years of the 19c more lead was mined here than in the whole of the rest of the world.