Charles and Dia travel thousands of miles from the USA and New Zealand respectively to visit their family ancestral ‘home’ in Northumberland

They also enjoyed a tour of an ancient tower that has stood guard over Cresswell since the 14th Century.

Lawyer Charles Cresswell travelled nearly 5,000 miles from his home in Austin, USA, to visit the village, while Dia May journeyed more than twice that distance from Hamilton in New Zealand to spend time learning about her family’s past.

Records show that members of the Cresswell family, which gave its name to the village, have been living in the area since at least the 1100s.

During their visits to England, which were just a few weeks apart, Charles and Dia made what they both described as a ‘pilgrimage’ to the village. Both had learned about Cresswell from their own families, some of whom had emigrated to North America and New Zealand in the 19th Century.

Charles said he was determined to go and see Cresswell for himself, while Dia – travelling with Fono Talo, a friend from their university days – said she was especially keen to see the newly-restored Pele Tower dating back from around 1382.

Dia said: “To learn that Cresswell members of my family were living in the village around a thousand years ago is just mind-blowing.”

Charles said: “It has been an unbelievable visit, one that I will remember for the rest of my life.

“The stories about Cresswell that I will be able to tell my family and friends when I get back home are so memorable.”

Both Charles and Dia were shown around the tower by local resident, historian and archaeologist Barry Mead, one of the key figures behind the restoration project.

It had been near-derelict, but was saved and removed from Historic England’s ‘At Risk’ register thanks to a joint restoration project led by Cresswell Parish Council and Greater Morpeth Development Trust.

They together secured £800,000 of funding, largely from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to carry out the work.

When the tower was built, it was one of dozens of defensive structures described by some as mini-castles to defend local landowners, their tenants and livestock against pillaging, looting and murdering raids by gangs of the notorious Border Reivers.