Unattended Moments

I’m just coming to the end of a lovely week off work, most of which I spent exploring some local(ish) attractions with a dear friend. Unfortunately both of us had succumbed to a mild cold by the end of the week, but not before we had had four good days out. We hired a car for part of the week, which meant we could get to some places I hadn’t visited before. We had a black Ford Fiesta, which was my first experience of driving a hired car (and of driving a Fiesta), and though I was initially rather nervous of the strange beast, by the second day I decided I liked it a lot.

Day One (22 Aug): Cragside
There is a bus (Arriva 508) which runs only on Sundays and bank holidays during the summer season, from Gateshead via Belsay and Wallington up to Rothbury in Northumberland. It’s very handy for days out, and we’ve had several trips on it, though this was the first time we’d gone to the end of the line - Cragside House, a National Trust property at Rothbury.

The grounds are beautiful, but as the weather was less than dry, we dived into the house after lunch (good food at the Stables Restaurant). Cragside House was the home of Lord Armstrong, a Victorian inventor, and features among other things an early dishwasher, a hydraulic lift and a Turkish bath suite. The drawing room also boasts possibly the most magnificent chimney piece I have ever seen. As we were going round, we soon discovered that each room had one item tucked away that was out of place, so that visiting children (of any age) could play ’spot the modern object’.

Having explored the house from top to bottom, we ventured out into the still slightly damp grounds, down through the rock garden to walk alongside the river through the woodlands back to the visitor centre. There is much more in the grounds which we didn’t get to see, so well worth another visit - hopefully when the sun is shining.

Day Two (23 Aug): Raby Castle
This was a day of getting used to the hired car, so we decided not to venture too far afield. Raby Castle is a magnificent medieval castle in County Durham. It was built by the Neville family in the 12th century, and it remained in their possession until it was confiscated by the crown following the ‘rising of the north’ - reputedly plotted in the Baron’s Hall at Raby - against Elizabeth I in support of Mary Queen of Scots. It is now the home of Lord Barnard.

We arrived just as the grounds were opening, and spent some time wandering through the extensive and rather lovely walled garden, and then walking through the parkland to see the herds of deer and magnificent views of the castle. Inside the castle are many sumptuous rooms - as well as the less sumptuous servants quarters, though the huge medieval kitchen - little altered and in use for 600 years - is itself very impressive.

Random tit-bit: The guide in the kitchen told us he was reliably informed that the greeny-blue Victorian paintwork in evidence on work surfaces here as in other Victorian kitchens was not simply a fashion, but was identified by the Victorians as a colour which flies did not like to settle on.

Day Three (24 Aug): Holy Island
Lindisfarne is one of the places I had been wanting to visit for a long time, though as it is a fair way away and visiting times are restricted by the tides, it’s not an easy place to get to without a car. This tides on this day meant that we could cross safely in the morning, as the tide was coming in, and were then ‘marooned’ on the island until mid-afternoon. With plenty to see and weather that promised sunshine as the day went on, we had no complaints about that.

We began by exploring the ruined Priory - the site of the monastery established in the 7th century by St Aiden, and settled by monks from Iona. This was a centre of Celtic Christianity, and it is likely that the Lindisfarne Gospels were created here. It is also closely associated with St Cuthbert, who was a monk and later bishop at the Priory.

After lunch and a tiny free sip of the honey-tasting Lindisfarne mead we took the Hopper bus to the Castle. The Castle was built in the 16th Century using stones from the demolished Priory, which was destroyed in the dissolution of the monasteries (Henry VIII was into recycling, our bus driver remarked). The interior of the Castle is decorated in the style of an Edwardian country house. The Castle is another National Trust property, and where Cragside had modern objects, Lindisfarne Castle had miniature cellos hidden in each room - a theme commemorating Mme Suggia, a famous cellist who stayed at the castle. Although not as luxurious as Cragside or Raby, of the three houses we visited I think Lindisfarne Castle is where I would most like to live: not too large but with plenty of nooks and crannies, and wonderful sea views - though no doubt rather cold in winter.

From the castle we walked to the tiny walled garden to the north of the castle, by which time it was about time to head back down the A1. We stopped briefly at Bamburgh for a walk along the beach and views of Bamburgh Castle.

Day Four (25 Aug): Ford and Etal
By this time we were trying to ignore the onset of sore throats, but determined to make the most of our last day with the car. The Ford and Etal estates are in north Northumberland, not too far from Lindisfarne. Lots of different things to see and do here - we headed straight for the Heatherslaw Light Railway, a miniature gauge railway which runs two miles from Heatherslaw to Etal. This was my steam train fix for this holiday. At Etal we stopped to visit the ruined Castle, which featured in the border wars with Scotland.

After a cup of tea at the Lavendar tearooms, we headed back by train to Heatherslaw, and then on to Ford to the Lady Waterford Hall. The Hall was commissioned by Louisa Ann, Marchioness of Waterford, and decorated by her with lifesize murals depicting Biblical scenes for which she used local people as her models. The Hall now houses a gallery of her artwork - delightful watercolours and sketches.

I have photos from this week to add to the photo galleries, but I am currently in the process of redoing these pages. This is taking quite a while as I have a backlog of photos which I’d never got around to adding - hopefully another update to follow before too long.