Grand Tour of Great Britain: Edinburgh to Newcastle, Alnwick Castle and Gardens
Woke up in Edinburgh Wednesday, October 11 at 5:30 a.m. without an alarm. Not sure why. Read a bit while Jay slept. Our alarm went off at 7 a.m.. Bags to the lobby at 7:45, then on to buffet breakfast.
We're on the bus at 8:45 a.m. and heading to Newcastle. We pass by Berwick-upon-Tweed, a border town between Scotland and England. Richard the Lion-hearted sold it to the Scots to help fund his Holy Way. It's located in Northumberland, just 3 miles from the Scottish Border.
No time to stop, we're on our way to Alnwick Castle and The Alnwick Gardens. But don't call it "Aln-wick", it's pronounced "an-ick", however you say it, it's gorgeous.
The castle is the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest, and renovated and remodeled a number of times. The Percy family were powerful lords in northern England. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland (1341–1408), rebelled against King Richard II and helped dethrone him. The earl later rebelled against King Henry IV and after defeating the earl in the Battle of Shrewsbury, the king chased him north to Alnwick. The castle surrendered under the threat of bombardment in 1403.
The current duke and his family live in the castle (so no photography is allowed of the interiors), but occupy only a part of it. The castle is open to the public throughout the summer. After Windsor Castle, it is the second largest inhabited castle in England.
Our tour is scheduled after lunch so we get to explore the stately gardens while we wait.
Alnwick Gardens
The gardens were neglected over the years but under the current Duchess were revived. The garden now features various themed plantings designed around a central water cascade. The revival of the gardens led to several public disputes between the Duchess of Northumberland and various garden experts concerning preservation and the use of public funds.The garden now belongs to a charitable trust, which is separate from Northumberland Estates, although the 12th Duke of Northumberland donated the 42-acre (17 ha) site and contributed £9 million towards redevelopment costs.
We took some time to tour the Poison Gardens and learned that a lot of common plants can be poisonous if not handled properly. Visit http://thepoisongarden.co.uk/ for more information.
We also took the woodland walk past the Treehouse and checked out the arts installations.
We walked along the river path.
Alnwick Castle
We joined the group for our tour of the Castle. As I said above the Percy family does still live there so no photography was allowed inside the castle. Bu they welcomed photos of the exterior.
Harry Potter Fan?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was filmed on location at Alnwick Castle in autumn 2000. The following year, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (the second film in the series) used Alnwick Castle for shooting too.
The Outer Bailey is recognisable as the area where Harry and his fellow students learned to fly broomsticks with Madam Hooch (Zoe Wanamaker). Harry also learned the rules of wizarding sport Quidditch in the Outer Bailey.
After we've had our fill of Alnwick Castle, we're back on the bus and heading south to Newcastle. There's a request on the bus to see a part of Hardian's Wall. So we make a stop to view the ruins of Denton Hall Turret.
We arrive at the Sandman Signature Hotel in Newcastle, Jay and I draw room 506 with views of the Newcastle United Stadium.
We have a "dinner included" meal tonight at the hotel. They have us in a "conference" room and have a buffet set up for us. Beef, Curry , potatoes, carrots, rice, carrot cake. I don't think anyone was impressed with the food but I liked the fact that we could all talk fairly easily. The beer offered with dinner was American domestic (YUK-we're in Newcastle-for god-sake serve Newcastle!) Nick had to buy extra wine (THANKS NICK!) The carrot cake was yummy.
We said our good-nights and hit the room. Jay checked emails and I backed-up my photos. At 10:50 p.m. all the lights went out in our room. Only the lights and air, not the receptacles. WEIRD. I didn't call the hotel desk because Jay was asleep and I figured it would be fixed in the morning.
Well it wasn't. I called down and the manager on duty checked the breakers in the hall and said they had tripped but we had water and cell phone flashlights so we showered by electronic device light!
We made the breakfast buffet with time to spare and the luggage was loaded on the coach and off we went, leaving the Sandman in our dust. LATERS!
We're on our way to York with a couple of stops along the way...Durham
Lots more photos: Alnwick Castle
Grand Tour of Great Britain with Go Ahead Tours
