Alnwick Castle

In the morning we visited Alnwick Castle which was labelled a ‘must do’ on Mr C’s list.  We both enjoyed revisiting the castle and were rather relieved that we were English Heritage members, which allowed us discounted entry to the castle which normally costs £14.50.  After I bought up yet another book from the gift shop, we lunched in the cafe before driving along the spectacular coastal route towards Bamburgh Castle.

St Aidan's Church

We stopped in Bamburgh so that we could visit St. Aidan’s Church, a place I had never even noticed let alone visited before.  In the graveyard there is shrine over the grave of Grace Darling who was famed for rescuing survivors of a shipwreck in 1838.  Opposite the church is a museum dedicated to Grace Darling, which we have penciled in for a visit next time we are in the area. The church itself was very interesting and well worth a visit. I was quite fascinated by the shadows cast by the Angels that top a recently installed commemoration to St. Aidan.

Fields at Flodden

After which we made our way back towards Crookham so that we could experience the ‘Flodden Drive’ as described in ‘The Battle of Flodden Why & How’ by Clive Hallum-Barker.  Along the way we called in at the Chain Bridge honey farm for a cup of tea in their tea shop which is a converted red double decker bus.  I eyed up the cakes but resisted temptation.  The tour around the battle field was very interesting and gave us more insight into the battle and the Scots’ difficulties due to the contours of the land.  We then returned to the Coach House where I packed my bags before our last dinner of this trip.

When we retired to the guest lounge for after-dinner coffee, Leona commented that she wouldn’t pop over later (to lock up); she needed an early night.  But to our surprise as the last of the other guests were leaving the residents’ lounge, both she and Toby turned up for a quick drink with us on our last night. Suddenly it was 1.45am!!!

Preparing breakfasts and long journeys back home sprung immediately to our minds…

Needless to say I went straight to bed after I entered my room :-)

10 Comments CherryPie on Sep 26th 2013

10 Responses to “Newcastle & Crookham – Day Nine”

  1. Ayush says:

    the occasional late nights with good company and drinks are quite nice CP! :P

  2. Ginnie says:

    I love how you and Mr. C get around, Cherry. If we lived there, we, too, would be English Heritage members and would take advantage of everything we could get our hands on! Good for you.

  3. This castle is rather big!

  4. Wow, the image of that castle brought back a few memories for me, I visited there as a child in 1990 on holiday before we moved to the UK. Thanks for the memories!!

  5. J_on_tour says:

    Classic Alnwick Castle view, the first castle I visited as a child, the first guide book I bought with my pocket money & my introduction to stately homes. I can’t quite believe that the price has crept up to that level … no doubt Harry Potter influenced ;-) but I think they do a combined ticket for the garden as well. However it’s probably not something I want to do on the same day, as it leaves no time for looking around the town which in a sense has pockets of its own charm to suit most tastes.