Newcastle to 3 x castles to Kelso (Scotland) - 8 May

Exciting day today as we are heading towards Scotland and before reaching our destination visiting the following three castles:

  • Alnick Castle
  • Dunstanburgh Castle
  • Bamburgh Castle

Last night we stayed in a fantastic airbnb with 3x bedrooms, ensuite and huge living & kitchen area. Sadly there was no lift and 2 sets of steps, but a guy met us and carried up our suitcases whilst I was off parking the car in a car park for the night - which thankfully turned out to be very reasonably priced.

We were pretty much in the city area of Newcastle, which isn't what I wanted, but our airbnb Host couldn't accommodate us in my original booking and swapped us to his 'best' airbnb for the same price. It ended up all OK and we were really comfy 🛏. Grabbed a chicken pizza and a meat lovers pizza for dinner about 3 mins walk away and then we were all set.

As we were driving to Alnick Castle, Sue informed me she thought we'd eaten half of each others pizza the night before - hilarious. I was distracted talking to my sister and didn't even notice - silly me!!

Alnick castle has been home to the Percy family since 1309. Couple of fun facts:

  • 'Aln' is Celtic for bright river and 'wick' an Anglo-Saxon settlement. This may point towards the possible origins of the word 'Alnwick'
  • from the Normans to the Tudors, Alnwick with it's castle, offered a strategic defence against the Scots and civil war
  • in the 15th century it was a busy medieval town with Royal Charters, but its fortunes declined until the industrial revolution bought wealth and re-development in the 18th and 19th centuries
  • In 2000 Happy Potter was filmed here
  • In 2014 - 2015 - The Castle's State Rooms featured for the first time in two Downton Abbey Christmas specialsr
  • In 2016 filming of The Last Knight and the Transformers movie occurred.
It's a fantastic castle home to the current 12th Duke and Duchess of Northumberland - who open it up for the public and we actually walked through their current state rooms and dining room - which were spectacular. Due to the fact it's their home, there is no photography in the house, but I've taken a few outside:

State Coach of Duke of Northumberland circa 1825

Where the kids learnt to ride brooms

First arch is where Hermione runs up to speak with Harry and Ron

Above is the view Hermione saw as she was speaking with Harry and Ron. 

Hagrid dragged the Xmas Tree through this arch

People learning to fly brooms!!

She's off the ground!!

The next six photos are of the grounds inside the castle: 







Before leaving Alnick we grab a spot of lunch and sit in the sunshine to enjoy it. I had a sausage role with haggis - yummy. It was also a bit windy so my napkin decided to fly off the table. I dutifully went to retrieve it, but because of the wind, every time I tried to stomped on it, it flew away. After entertaining others eating their lunch in the courtyard, a man grabbed it for me and I was able to put it in the bin. One of the staff saw my 'clean up' efforts and said I had a job their if I wanted it 👀👌.

This final photo is taken from outside the castle as we headed to Dustanburgh Castle:


Dunstanburgh Castle was only 30 mins from Alnick. So with the sun still shining we headed off. Here's some fun facts:
  • it began being built in 1313 on the orders of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, the wealthiest nobleman in England
  • he was later executed for his role in the barons' rebellion against Edward II, but the castle was extensively modernised in the 1380's by John Gaunt
  • it played a role as a Lancastrian stronghold in the Wars of the Roses, but fell into disrepair at the end of the Middle Ages
  • by 1326, the castle had been returned to Earl Thomas' younger brother Henry, who succeeded him as Earl of Lancaster.
Great start as this is what we passed through to reach the town of Dunstanburgh:


My research in to this castle said we had to park at the local quarry and then walk about 15mins to reach the castle.

What a load of poppycock!! - 45 mins later we reached the castle, but it was a beautiful walk along the coastline that included sheep:







Above is the first view of the castle in the distance. Below, we are getting closer!!


Made it!! These pics are from the top of the one tower that remains intact enough to climb:









Final shots from ground level as we walked around its inside perimeter:





As we headed back to the car, we realised we wouldn't have time to enter Bamburgh Castle as it was a 40 min drive away. So we decided to drive by and take whatever photo we could muster. This was the outcome:



Huge castle that was originally destroyed by canon fire and rebuilt - sorry that's all the info I have!!

Long day with over 15,000 steps achieved and I have Sue's grunt, groans and comments about sore feet to prove it!! Weather hit a beautiful 19 today.

Easy day tomorrow as we visit Kelso Abbey and go Martine grave hunting in old cemetaries, before driving to Polmont for the night. 

Here's to a good nights sleep.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rosslyn Chapel and High Tea at The Balmoral - 24 May (last day before flying home)

Image
Very excited about our trip to Roslyn Chapel this morning. We have a booking for 10.30am - 12pm and need to catch a local bus to take us to Roslyn - about 50 mins away. It only costs two pounds each way, which is excellent value. The weather appears to be a bit better than yesterday, although still overcast with a bit of drizzle. We jump off a couple of stops early which works out fine as we have a pleasant 20 min walk to the Chapel (no rain) and arrive with 15 mins to spare - if you are wondering, yes we did align from the bus early by mistake 😃.  Founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, the Chapel took forty years to build. The beauty of its setting and the mysterious symbolism of its stonework has attracted, inspired and intrigued visitors ever since. No photos are allowed inside (sadly), but here's some from each side on the outside: We were lucky enough to catch a 20 min chat from one of the guides about the history of the Chapel and all the restoration work they are doing. T...
Read more

Thurso Castle (meeting current owners) & John o' Groats - 20 May

Image
We have one more thing to do before we leave Thurso - visit the ruins of Thurso Castle. But just before we head off, this is the view we've had from the front gate whilst in Thurso - check out that blue sky again!! We believe one of my ancestors on Mum's side worked at Thurso Castle as a farmer - perhaps tending the fields. As we draw nearer to the castle, I notice a multitude of 'Private Property' signs. Luckily a lady appears from behind a stone fence, so I jump out of the car and ask her if I could speak with any one about the castle ruins. She was very helpful and told me to go through the stone archway, turn left, walk through the next stone fence and knock on the door of the house on the right, Maryanne should answer. So off I trotted, passing some very old buildings and ending up at the house with their door open and a pair of discarded work boots just inside. I knocked but got no answer. I then used the two prong approach, knocked and shouted out in my friendly ...
Read more

Berlin - here we come (8 & 9 Apr)

Image
It's been a long time coming - 13 months of 'meticulous' planning, countless hours pouring over topography, google maps and 'the 10 best things to see and do in xx websites'!! The day has arrived. One of my oldest friends and I are heading off to the airport to board our plane and commence our travel adventure in Berlin (Germany). Our trip commences on a high as I'm chauffeured to the airport in a new Skoda recently purchased by Sue's youngest daughter. I'm treated to the front seat in her lovely new car. Here's the 2 of us, enjoying the view of the sky through her (very) large skylight: Very comfortable and occasionally interesting ride to the airport as we tackle Melbourne road works. Here we are attempting to keep a lid on our excitement levels at the drop off point. We head off to join the check-in queue. Once we find QATAR (it's moved since my last trip) we join what I thought was the Bus Class queue - which looked large, but given my excite...
Read more