Northumberland

Sycamore Gap Tree

Hi! My name's is Andy and I am taking over the guest article this month for Aaji's Thaali.  I have lived and worked in Northumberland for 40 years. I'd like to show you something of the spirit of Northumberland. Whenever I travel, I look for culture, historic interest and as a keen photographer, some picture opportunities. England's most northerly county offers plenty of these things and the opportunity to cross into southern Scotland.  I'd like to share a few with you.

ROMANS

This region is steeped in history and for centuries a land of border conflict between those north of the border and those to the south. Not always the English and Scottish. When the Romans arrived here they soon decided to build a wall to keep the Pictish tribes out from the Romanised south. Roman remains can be found all over the area but the obvious one is Hadrian's Wall. It was built from Wallsend in the east to Carlise in west and the best remaining bits are in the middle around Housesteads Fort. You can walk along the course of the wall and a good bit to walk is west towards Steel Rigg. An impressive piece of engineering along a volcanic extrusion. It passes Sycamore Gap made famous in numerous photographs. Come up here on a cool day and you get an impression of how uncomfortable life must have been for a Roman Border guard despite the state of the art toilets at Housesteads.

Steel Rigg

The Twice Brewed Inn is a good place to stop and get refuelled following any exertion. It brews its own beer and is also a B and B.

Hadrian's Wall was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and it has become increasingly popular to walk the wall from one end to the other, all 73 miles, and there are companies who organise walks.  If you are keen to explore the Roman remains in this area, the abbey town of Hexham is a good place to stay. An interesting town on the banks of the Tyne it is worth a walk around. A short distance from Hexham, you will find Corbridge a pretty village and the site of a substantial Roman fort. The Angel Inn has a wide range of food available and a range of local beers.

After the Romans left, Britain divided into regional kingdoms and one of the most significant was the kingdom of Northumbria which stretched from Edinburgh down to the Humber estuary, hence the name Northumbria. It was a centre for learning and culture much of it associated with the Irish monks who converted Northumbria to Roman Catholicism. They established monasteries such as Lindisfarne, where the Lindisfarne Gospels were produced in about 720AD. Sadly these are not on the island any more but in London. 

View from Northumberland National Park, Simonside

CASTLES

As the modern boundary between England and Scotland became established so too did the frequent outbreaks of war. Both sides of the border are littered with fortified Peel Towers and large and small castles. Drive the coastal route and you can take in the castles of Dunstanburgh, Warkworth and Bamburgh.

Bamburgh Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

Warkworth Castle

You could combine visits to these castles with some splendid coastal walks. The east coast has some great beaches and the castles make stunning view points.

Dunstanburgh Castle

 Dunstanburgh is reached by walking along the coast from the pretty village of Craster. A good place to eat is at thejollyfishermancraster.co.uk a pub with great sea views and local beers. Workie Ticket is a one of the beers and the phrase is a local term for someone who is a bit cheeky, a chancer always getting into a bit of trouble. 

In years gone by herring were landed in the small Craster harbour and taken directly to the curing sheds. Here the herring were sorted, some to be salted down in barrels for export to Europe and the remainder to be kippered. Over the years Craster kippers have earned an enviable reputation as one of the finest kippers in Britain. and still supplied by L Robson and Sons in operation for over a hundred years. Smoked salmon is also produced as well as other seafood. There is also a restaurant.

The herring fishery was a big industry in the early 20^th century all down the east coast of Britain. From Scotland the drift boats and the fisher girls who did the processing on shore followed the herring south and hundreds of boats were involved with smoke houses in every port. Nowadays the trade has all but vanished. More on local produce can be found at:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/10-things-eat-northumberland

You could approach Dunstanburgh from the north by walking along Embleton Bay, a fine sandy beach, accessed from Low Newton a small village with another good pub, www.shipinnnewton.co.uk/

I think the approach from the south is better from the photographer's point of view.

Two other notable castles are within a short drive. Seven miles south west is the town of Alnwick ( pronounced Anick) Here the Duke of Northumberland has his ancestral home, Alnwick Castle. It maybe familiar to Harry Potter fans as Hogworts and several scenes were filmed here. There is also a separate spectacular garden.

Fountain in the Alnwick Garden

The town of Alnwick is also worth a walk around and is often voted one of the best places to live in the UK. https://www.visitalnwick.org.uk/ If you are a book lover then www.barterbooks.co.uk is a must-visit place, with over 350,000 books housed in the old railway station. Barter Books is also now known as the home of the famous “Keep Calm And Carry On” poster – see the story on Youtube video.

Just seven more miles south east takes you to the small town of Warkworth and another big castle. The first Earl of Northumberland and his son, Harry Hotspur, are closely associated with this castle and both figure in many of Shakespeare's history plays. Hotspur is also supposedly the inspiration behind the Blackadder character Percy in the first series. The small village of Blackadder is not too far away just over the Scottish border.

Furthest North is Bamburgh Castle. It sits on a rocky outcrop and has a history dating back to the 5^th century. It was the capital of the northern Kingdom for some time and was a formidable fortress. However by the 18^th century the family who owned it were financially ruined and the castle passed to Lord Crewe Bishop of Durham. Hence the name of the pleasant small hotel The Lord Crewe Arms a good place to refresh yourself after a walk around the beach and castle.

The privately owned castle was extensively restored in the 19^th century and is open to the public. It has also starred in many films going as far back as the 1920s and even featured in El Cid, pretending to be in Spain

The causeway to Lindisfarne is a few miles south but you will need to check the tides before venturing onto the island which has a small castle and historic abbey associated with St Cuthbert.

Lindisfarne Castle

GARDENS

With a mild climate and little in the way of extreme weather, the area is well-suited to gardening. Both flowers and vegetables. Northumberland was for a long time a mining area and although the coal mines have closed, some of the traditions still survive. Allotments are small gardens grouped together away from houses and they are used by people to grow mainly vegetables. It was common for miners who lived in terraced houses with no gardens to have an allotment and for some reason leek growing was popular. Leek shows were held to judge the best leeks and the way to grow them was a special skill with all kinds of special secret fertilizer brews. The other that I remember was the growing of Chrysanthemum. So gardening is a long established tradition in the North East of England.

If you like gardens then there are several worth visiting.

Wallington Walled Garden

 It is also worth noting that one of the great landscape gardeners Capability Brown was born in Northumberland and it is estimated that Brown was responsible for over 170 gardens surrounding the finest country houses and estates in Britain. His work still endures at Blenheim Palace, Warwick Castle, Harewood House, Highclere Castle, and in traces at Kew Gardens.

He was born not far from Wallington Hall but didn't work on the gardens here. It is none the less a worthwhile garden at any time of year. The walled garden in particular is a personal favourite. There are woodland walks, cycle trails and hire and activities for children so a great family visit.

A very different style of garden can be found just 12 miles north at Cragside House built by the industrialist Lord Armstrong in the 1870s. The house highlights his inventiveness featuring many firsts including hydroelectric power. Immediately around the house there is an extensive rock garden and a fine selection of rhododendrons making late May the best time to visit.

Cragside Garden

The larger estate is also a showcase for rhododendrons and can be driven around with many stopping-off points to explore the hilly landscape with numerous lakes and small waterfalls. There is also a children's play area.

Cragside House Grounds

Both these properties are owned by the National Trust and feature tea rooms and light lunches based on local produce.

I have already mentioned the garden at Alnwick Castle but it is worth giving a little more detail about this modern garden. Created only 20 years ago and closely associated with Jane, the current Duchess of Northumberland, the garden is centred on a large cascade and fountain set. Around this are various themed gardens and water features. My favourites are the roses and the chocolate cake in the restaurant where you can sit and look over the gardens.

Two other gardens are worth mentioning. English Heritage manage many castle in the region and Belsay has a castle a grand house (under renovation) and a spectacular quarry garden on the walk between the two. It also has a rhododendron wood. If you take a keen interest in garden design then the name Gertrude Jekyll will be familiar. She has been described as the premier influence on garden design in the 20^th century and she created a small garden on the island of Lindisfarne so if you visit the island it's worth taking a look.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

As already stated there is a spectacular coast line with its castles and sweeping beaches but Northumberland is a big open county with a National Park and some great open countryside for walking and exploring. The long distance Pennine Way walking route passes through the Cheviot Hills and St Cuthbert's way crosses the border starting in Melrose and ending on Lindisfarne.

Also just south of the border is the Kielder Forest an area of forest mainly conifer. Kielder water the largest man made lake in northern Europe has many water activites and there is also much wildlife. It has been suggested that Lynx be reintroduced to this area but that hasn't happened yet. Kielder is also recognised for its dark skies and star gazing. And finally there is a castle.

Whether you’re just passing through or have a week or two, prepare to discover just how much Northumberland has to offer.

Farne Islands Nature Reserve

GETTING THERE

KLM runs 3 flights a day to Newcastle Airport and connecting flights to the rest of the world.

Emirates also flies into Newcastle from Dubai.

The train takes 3 hours from London with hourly trains and 1 hour from Edinburgh with hourly trains

DFDS operates a daily ferry service from Amsterdam.

Public transport in Northumberland is limited so a car is essential to visit most of the places mentioned.

FURTHER READING

Two series of novels set in Northumberland you might find interesting are The Vera Series by Ann Cleeves and Holy Island the first DCI Ryan novel by LJ Ross. 

Thank you for joining me on this virtual trip. For more travel and nature photos, you can follow me on instagram. My handle is @arrowphotographic