Exciting Adventures in Northumbria

Yesterday morning we awoke to a bright blue sky with just a slight nip in the air, so we seized the opportunity for an early morning outside adventure right in the backyard of our B&B.  We are staying on the grounds of an older water mill, hidden from the world, with a small stream running along the back yard.  Peace and tranquility at our fingertips. 

I walked around the grounds, absorbing the beauty that surrounded me, 

while Marty pretty much walked up and down the stream in search of the excitement of a catch.  He tells me that he had a couple of bites, but wasn't quick enough to actually get a photo.  (We've all heard that story before...right?)

We then headed inside for some breakfast before heading on the road north to Wallington, a large estate run by the National Trust.   I know that I've mentioned previously that we are Royal Oak Members, which partner with the National Trust of England as well as Scotland.  One pays a membership fee for the year and is issued a card that allows entry at no charge.  I decided that after paying for a membership for several years gone untouched, we were going to see as many of these "free" establishments that I could muster.  You better believe my goal is to get my money's worth out of the investment!

This estate is located among the rolling hills of the country, and the weather certainly made for a picture perfect day.  Probably a bit too perfect as it seems as if I took a boat load of photos, but I'll try to curb my enthusiasm regarding posting. 

After entering through the stables, 

the house stands grandly in the distance. 

We showed up just in time for the house opening, and we were permitted to walk along the bottom floor rooms at our leisure, but there were guides in house to answer any questions that we might have. 

The house was built in 1688 by Sir William Blackett who used it as a hunting estate.  It was passed down to  his nephew, Walter, who transformed it into the building that it is today. 

He not only added the clock tower through which we entered, but interior staircases with room improvements as well as gardens on the grounds for pleasure. Upon his death, the house passed to his sister’s son, John Trevelyan, which is the family line that held the house for centuries before being gifted to the National Trust. 

I was enthralled with the beauty in the rooms. There were such fine detail, from the mirrors and embellishments on the walls to the plaster work on the ceiling.

There were information "plates" set up around the room, giving an insight to the every day life of the family living among these rooms. Isn't that clever? 

I walked through to the parlor and was taken aback at the beauty of the color scheme.

and I had to chuckle when I saw that Marie Trevelyan  not only stitched her name on this tapestry, but also included the years that it took to finish. 

Twenty three, it appears, and I can't blame her for wanting people to know that! 

The house contains items from George Macauley, who wrote the first edition of the History of England.   This clock is among one of those items. 

One of the rooms had an odd color difference on the wall paper. When I asked why there was a variation, I learned that there had been water damage at the top of some of the walls, and the paper had peeled.  The National Trust wanted to be sure to keep the integrity of the original rooms, so the curator had planned on finding wallpaper that would match the original.  The owner of the house at the time suggested that they look to see if there was any left over paper in the attic of the house, and sure enough, there it was.  So  the trust patched it to blend, but, obviously, the original paper on top, had somehow managed to maintain the original colors that had faded over time on the wall. 

Now, does this imply that one should keep extra rolls of wallpaper in the attic, just in case?  I'll leave that decision up to you. I certainly found it amusing that it was an advantage in the upkeep of this ancient home.

This woman, Julia, was instrumental in many of the upgrades in the house.

She commissioned a center atrium, with sun lights in an arched ceiling above, allowing light to brighten the room.  Around the walls, she had paintings of historic events, beginning with one depicting the building of Hadrian's wall. 

and including important events in history, like the story of the Darling family who aided the men who were victims of a ship's crash into the rocks along the shore of Northumberland.

There were also motifs of famous men featured on the walls as well. 

Unfortunately, it appeared that several were famous for having been beheaded. 

The Trevelyan family were no strangers to royalty, having been invited to no less than three coronations, including that of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. 

One of the rooms held a collection of dollhouses that were on display, although they are not associated with the family who lived in the house.  

The details were quite amusing, and extremely detailed.  I could just see little girls having a grand time playing with these remarkable structures.

After spending quite a bit of time scouring the collections in the house, we decided to head to the gardens, and the first thing we passed was this tree with doors in the trunk.  I have no idea who lives there.

We saw several giant redwood trees on the grounds

as well as some comfy benches for enjoying the views.

Although a lot of the blooms have faded this time of year, the gardens still had a wide array of beauty to enjoy.

We stopped for our daily cuppa and scone, which actually was a bit of a commotion when a dozen or more bees decided that my jam, placed upon my scone, would be a tasty treat.  We did manage to escape any harm, but at last look, the little glass vial that held the jam was crammed with bees attempting to lick it clean. Whew!

From here we headed in search of Hadrian's wall.  We were unsuccessful in reaching the wall when we attempted several years ago when Marty was working in Scotland, and I made it a goal to reach it on this trip.  And, so we did!

It is run by English Heritage, in conjunction with the National Trust, so admission was free, of course. 

It's a bit of a hike to the top to view the wall, and along the way, one passes through a long field filled with sheep grazing.

Once at the top, the views are amazing.

Where the gatehouse once stood, guarding the fort just below the wall, an ornate building has been built by the local townspeople. 

I'll admit....I'm not a fan.  I can appreciate the natural beauty of ruins without needing to embellish it for whatever reason.  I will admit that the view from standing on one of the interior platforms, was pretty amazing, and gave one the idea of what it looked to the Roman Soldiers back in the first century.

We took the time to enjoy the views around us.  It was nearly 5:00 pm at this time, when access would be closed.

We felt very lucky to have such beautiful weather to enjoy the experience.

Dinner was in Greece.

Well, Hexam's version of Greece.

And, it was delicious!  

I'm behind getting this blog out, so it's time to get out and enjoy this new day!

Adventures in Northumberland

This morning we were greeted with a glorious day in the picturesque town of Berwick upon Tweed.  In case you couldn't guess, it is located on the Tweed River, and was actually famous in the past for its huge catch of Salmon which enter the town's waters via the North Sea for several months a year. 

Marty went out early in the morning, to attempt to catch something in that river.  He didn't have any bites, but he did take some awesome morning photos.

This bridge, referred to as the "old bridge",  dates back to the mid 1600's.  It was commissioned to be built by King James VI of Scotland, also known as King James I of England.  He had traveled from Edinburgh to London for his coronation, and passed over the rickety old bridge as part of the journey.  One of his first acts as King was to have a better bridge constructed for travel over the Tweed River.  It's really kind of amazing that it has lasted all of these years.  It has only one lane of automobile traffic, traveling in a single direction, along with wide sidewalks for pedestrians. 

There is a more modern bridge, built in the 1920's, that I presume lets the traffic travel the opposite direction.  But I can't say for sure as we did not drive on it.

While Marty was out fishing, I managed to capture a few morning photos myself, from the comfort of our room, which, conveniently, looked over the Tweed River.

Well, actually, it had a wall half way up the window, so I stood on a chair to take this photo.

I did forget that the chair swiveled, until it began to move as I positioned the camera, but, luckily, I managed to steady myself.   I decided that it was probably best to stay on ground level.

Before breakfast, Marty and I took a quick walk along the wall, down to the railroad bridge. 

It was built in the 1820s and continues to stand for passenger trains to pass from London to Edinburgh.

At night, the lights in the windows are lit up, and watching it travel along reminded me of a miniature train display.  It was such a delightful experience to just sit in the room and watch the train at a distance.

At the base of the supports we watched a loon stand along the water's edge for quite some time. But we never saw him dive for a fish, which was probably a good thing, because I didn't need Marty deciding that he wanted to go back out and fish again.

The sites coming back to the room were unique.  The wreath certainly seemed appropriate.

and I just loved the streets with the colorful rooftops. 

I spotted this touching memorial displayed in a little window along the walkway.

We have noted that every flag is at half mast, and the B&B proprietor was wearing a black mourning band on his left forearm.  Although we are on holiday, there are signs all around us showing just how loved this woman was by her people.

We both wished that we could have stayed in this lovely town longer, but the woman only had one night available when I was booking, so we had no choice but to move on. 

The first planned stop was Washington Old Hall, located in Washington, just outside of Newcastle upon Tyne.  We were driving along the A1 when I noticed a brown designated tourism sign that said, "Hardy's Fishing Tackle Museum" and it was pointing to the left at the next exit.  Luckily for me, Marty didn't see it until it was too late to turn.  But we both did get quite a chuckle out of the fact that such a museum exists. 

By the way, if you are interested, it's along the A1, just north of Alnwick. 

Traffic was super congested today, as it seems that every major road that goes through Newcastle (and there are several) was under some kind of construction.  So, it took awhile but we finally arrived at Washington Old Hall, just in time for the guided talk.

Now, if you are thinking that this manor house is in somehow connected with George Washington, then you are correct. 

However, the connection isn't as exciting as one might suppose.  It is the ancestral home of the Washington family built in the mid 1300s.  But it passed through many family members, became a tenement house for mining families, and was finally rescued from demolition by a man named Fred Hill. 

The structure is original, with some additions over the years.  But the contents of the house reflect pieces from the 17th century time period as there are no original items to display. 

The outside of the building is quite grand

and the gardens were full of little surprises.

Upstairs, a musical duo were playing some lovely tunes on various instruments.  The melodies echoed through the house, and we really enjoyed listening to this exceptionally talented couple. 

We had a wee chat regarding one of the pieces that they had played, Ashokin Farewell, and it was mentioned that this had been a favorite from the past, with Marty accompanying two of our children on guitar while they played the violin part.  The next thing I knew, Marty had a guitar in his hands and the duo had become a trio!

It really was all quite fun.

We headed west to the North Sea, once again,  this time to see the Souter Lighthouse.

Unfortunately, a weather front had moved in, so the bright clear skies were no longer set for viewing.

Although it did appear that there was much better luck just a bit north of where we were.

Of course, a little adverse weather wasn't going to affect us!

The light house was commissioned in 1871 along the coast, as there had been numerous ships that had sunk due to rocks hidden underground near the shoreline.

I found it amazing to see that the original equipment to work the lighthouse was still held in perfect condition.

We made the trek up the 75 or so steps to the top, the last set being more like climbing a ladder.

We were right up in the room where the lights are held behind the rotating lenses that would have been the warning beacon for any ships in the area.

I learned that every lighthouse as a unique foghorn sound, and this one was in the key of F.  Now, I have no idea how someone listening would know what key a foghorn was in. Luckily, it also had a distinct timing pattern, as did the flashing of the lenses, which were also unique to each lighthouse. 

This way, the ships would know where they were located when they heard the foghorn (if it was foggy....and this is northern England....so you know that happened frequently) and they saw the timing of the lights in the lighthouse.

The lighthouse keeper's cottage had a list of letters associated with weather conditions, which I found to be quite amusing. 

Today, we experienced B, C, D, M, O and Z, with a little G.   

By the time we left, it looked like B was well on its way!

Once more, Marty drove through the congestion of Newcastle, making our way west to a little village called Dilston,  that is southeast of Corbridge. 

Well, actually, I'm not sure that there is a village called Dilston.  I can say that we are staying at the Dilston Mill, which is a former mill located on quiet stream.  It was a bit disconcerting when we turned into a tiny lane that said no cars were permitted to travel further.  But we decided to venture onward, and, sure enough, there was the mill.  We were greeted by Susan, the owner, given a tour of our rooms, and we headed back into Corbridge for dinner as I had secured reservations prior to leaving. 

Susan had given us the heads up on parking on this side of the river Tyne, then walking across the bridge into the village.

It was the perfect night to do so, as the weather had cleared (or, perhaps it never did rain here....who knows?). After a fabulous dinner at an Italian Restaurant, we took a quick jaunt around the village before it became too dark.  Isn't it just delightful?

The sun was setting as we headed back to the car park.

I'd say that view was the perfect ending to a fabulous day, wouldn't you?