We begin our virtual tour of the world in Cramlington, Northumberland. It's as a good a place as any to begin, and besides which it's my hometown so if I was to begin a trek around the world, this is where I would begin!!

Cramlington is a town and civil parish in the county of Northumberland, North East England, situated 9 miles (14 km) north of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The town's name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or an Anglo-Saxon  origin, the word "ton" meaning town. The population was estimated as 39,000 in 2004.

The first record of the Manor of Cramlington is from a mention in 1135  when the land was granted to Nicholas de Grenville. A register of early chaplains begins with John the Clerk of Cramlington (c.1163-1180). The register continues to the present day.

From the 12th Century onwards, its history has been mostly rural incorporating several farms and the parish church of St. Nicholas (built at a cost of £3,000 during 1865-1868 in the Gothic style). During the early 19th Century, coal mining with several mine shafts in the immediate vicinity (the first was sunk in 1824) began to change that. It remained small, however, until 1964 when it was proclaimed a New Town and developers such as William Leech and J.T. Bell developed large housing estates. Those estates have since been named Beaconhill, Collingwood, Eastfield, Mayfield, Nelson Village, Shankhouse, Southfield, and Whitelea and the town has effectively become a dormitory town of the much larger city to its south.

During World War I, the North East of England was protected by the No. 36 Home Defence Squadron. The squadron was formed at Cramlington on 1 February 1916 by Capt. R. O. Abercromby, with Cramlington subsequently becoming an important base for military planes and airships. A reference to Cramlington airfield is made in W. E. Johns 1935 book The Black Peril from the extremely popular Biggles series.

The Spoon 'Eating for England', Seghill, Cramlington (accessible on foot, from the underpass opposite the Bay Horse pub on the A189 in the east of the town). A large, unique aluminium spoon in fields near Cramlington. The Spoon was designed by Bob Budd.

Bob Budd's giant stainless-steel sculpture announces to walkers that they are on the Wildspace Network Art Trail. The title 'Eating For England' has echoes of the wartime slogan 'Dig for Victory' and is a reference to today's rampant consumerism.

St Nicholas Church is a beautiful Victorian church which was built between 1865 and 1868. When this church was built in the 1860's Cramlington was still a small mining village with a history going back before the Conquest. Now it is a suburb of the much larger 'New Town' developed in the 1960's.