The Percy family, current holders of the title Duke of Northumberland are closely associated with the town of Alnwick and have been for over 700 years. The most famous family member - Henry Percy, better known as 'Harry Hotspur' was immortalized in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. He was a knight who led a rebellion against the King and his statue stands in the middle of a park in the town.
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| Statue of Harry Hotspur |
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| Plaque in tribute to Harry Hotspur |
Alnwick Castle
One of the homes belonging to the Duke of Northumberland is Alnwick Castle. This 14th century landmark has appeared in many films and television series including:
- Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter films
- Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (with Kevin Costner)
- Elizabeth (with Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush)
- ITV drama series Downton Abbey where filming for series five wrapped up there last week.
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| The castle from the bridge |
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| Near the front entrance to Alnwick Castle |
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| The lion, symbol of the Percy family |
Stop 3 - Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
We headed back onto the A1 motorway and drove further north to Budle Bay where we parked on the side of the road to get a glimpse of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. This island is often cited as the location of the first Viking raid in the England in 793AD and news of the attacks spread across the country signally the start of the Viking Age.
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| Some of the seabirds at Budle Bay |
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| Holy Island of Lindisfarne |
We continued driving along the coastline, marked on the map as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The white sandy coastlines reminded us of the islands visited along the Whitsundays in Queensland, Australia.
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| Sand not the pebble beach of south England |
Stop 4 - Bamburgh Castle
This castle is marketed as the 'King of Castles' - rising majestically above the surrounding area and dominating the coastline. It reminded us of Edinburgh Castle sitting on a scraggy piece of rock above the city. A fortress has stood at Bamburgh since the days of the Romans. It was in use during the Anglo-Saxon era, damaged during Viking raids, rebuilt by the Normans and then destroyed during the War of the Roses. The castle is now privately owned and besides public visits, can be rented out for wedding celebrations. We spent a couple of hours touring the castle fortifications and viewing the collection of medieval armour and weapons.
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| Welcome sign for Bamburgh Castle |
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| View from the parking lot |
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| Scale model of Bamburgh Castle |
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| Castle fortifications and ruins of a chapel |
Stop 5 - Lumley Castle
On Mei's 'to do list' of UK experiences was to stay overnight in a castle. Olie was clearly paying attention to this hint and booked a night at Lumley Castle, located in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
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| Front entrance |
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| Full view from the front lawn |
With a history that dates back to the 14th century, Lumley Castle is a boutique hotel and wedding reception venue - there were two wedding parties on the night that we stayed at the castle. It also has a reputation for being haunted, predominately by a ghost called Lily (a lady murdered by priests by being thrown down the castle well) and she made an well publicized appearance during the stay of the touring Australian cricket team.
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| Hotel Reception |
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| Outside our room |
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| Castle packed with guests from the wedding |
The interior of the castle is decorated with paintings (including in the bathrooms) and statues. The 73 bedrooms are split over several floors, accessible using the grand staircase near the State Rooms or the narrow spiral staircases from the towers.
We ate dinner at the Black Knight restaurant located on the ground floor. For pre-dinner drinks, we sat in the Library where our meals were ordered. When the food was ready, we moved to our seats in the dining room. We ate scotch eggs, a beetroot risotto with sea bass and lamb steak.
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| The Library |
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| Drinks and dinner |
The castle wraps around a central courtyard that is used for entertaining wedding guests. We walked through it on Sunday morning as the staff were cleaning up after the previous night's celebrations and Olie found himself locked up in stocks.
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| The courtyard |
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| Olie locked up and not looking too happy about it |
Stop 6 - Fountains Abbey
Visiting UNESCO listed sites goes hand-in-hand with our travels in the UK and overseas. Fountains Abbey is a well preserved ruin of a Cistercian monastery in North Yorkshire. It was foundered in 1132AD and was in operation up until Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of all monasteries. We traveled to the Abbey via the historic town of Ripon and braved the pouring rain to walk around the grounds. Although the Abbey has been left in ruins after stonework was used to construct nearby buildings, it is possible to get an impression of the size and wealth of the community that once lived here.
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| Panorama of Fountains Abbey |
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| Our ponchos came into good use |
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| Collage of the ruins |
Fountains Abbey Cafe
The visitor's center for Fountains Abbey contains a restaurant and shop where you buy souvenirs or pick up a National Trust membership. We ate a traditional pork roast for lunch and were joined by some actors on stilts dressed up as 18th century aristocrats who might have been booked to perform outside but the rain brought them in to 'harry the peasants' in the restaurant.
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| Enjoying the roast pork lunch |
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| One of the actors in the restaurant |
Stop 7 - Grewelthorpe
We used Google Maps to navigate our way through the roads in Yorkshire, however the lack of reception made it difficult for the GPS to re-route and we made a few wrong turns that led us off the main roads and onto smaller country single carriage laneways. In doing so we passed through a number of small villages such as Grewelthorpe, famous for its duck pond.
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| Grewelthorpe duck pond |
Stop 8 - Swinton Park
We arrived at our destination - Swinton Park in the middle of the afternoon and were amazed by the ivy covered tower sitting in prime position in this country estate with a helicopter parked on the front lawn. Swinton Park is a boutique hotel and cooking school in North Yorkshire.
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| View the castle from the front lawn |
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| Parking for helicopters |
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| Panorama of the hotel |
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| The cooking school entrance |
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| View from the back garden |
Swinton Park is a privately owned estate on the border of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Construction commenced in 1695 and in later years it was used by the Conservative Party as a college and the Cunliffe-Lister family had links with politics.
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| Telegram from Winston Churchill to the Viscount Swinton |
The 3rd Earl of Swinton married the daughter of the 1st Viscount Whitelaw (William Whitelaw) who was deputy to Margaret Thatcher while she was Prime Minister. As a result, the hotel has many photos of politicians from that era.
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| Margaret Thatcher and party |
The estate gardens are quite large but due to the rain we didn't go out exploring except for the deer park and Birds of Prey aviary.
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| Photographing the deer |
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| The estate offers classes in falconry |
We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the welcome drink set that had been provided in our room - small bottles of whisky and gin with mixers and reading books in the Library.
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| The interior of the hotel |
Samuel's Restaurant
Olie had booked us in for the signature tasting menu dinner at the onsite restaurant. Pairing the meal with matching wines was only £28 more, however as we needed to return the rental car back to Durham by 10:30am, we decided to go light on the alcohol.
We started the meal with canapes in the Drawing Room and then moved into the main room for the rest of the courses.
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| The Drawing Room |
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| Inside of Samuel's restaurant |
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| Broad bean and truffle |
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| Seared scallop with Yorkshire chorizo |
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| Yorkshire quail |
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| Apple sorbet |
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| Yorkshire duck |
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| Strawberry with elderflower parfait |
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| Whipped goats cheese ice cream with honey and grapes |
The next morning we woke up early to have breakfast - a delicious Eggs Benedict with a raspberry champagne drink, before making the drive back to Durham.
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| Cheers to breakfast |
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| Picture perfect Eggs Benedict |
Stop 9 - Durham Cathedral
After we returned the car, we were dropped off back in town at Durham Cathedral. This Romanesque landmark dates back to 1093 and is also on the UNESCO World Heritage list and is a pilgrimage site as it holds the relics of Saint Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede. The Cathedral stands next to Durham Castle, once the home of the Prince-Bishops who had a duty as the head of the diocese and also to protect the Kingdom against the Scots invading from the north. It is now part of Durham University.
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| In front of the Cathedral |
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| Panorama of the Cathedral |
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| Durham Castle |
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| The UNESCO plaque |
Lego Durham Cathedral
A fundraising activity was underway to encourage visitors to donate £1 per brick to build a Lego version of the Cathedral. Our bricks contributed to a stained glass window. The project had been active for over a year and raised over £92,000.
Stop 10 - Durham City
As our train back to London was not due until 4pm, we had time to explore the city of Durham starting with Market Place. Durham is a peninsula, bounded on three sides by the River Wear. When we visited, a number of tourists were out in row boats and walking along the riverbanks.
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| Market Place |
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| Boats for hire |
After lunch at the local pub, we took a walk along the river where some of the best views of the cathedral and city bridges can be found, before heading back to the station and our onward train home to London.
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| BBQ ribs for lunch |
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| One of the stone bridges across the River Wear |
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| One of our favourite views of the Cathedral |
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