This is my photo video of photos I took during the Saturday of the 49th Northumbrian Gathering.
It was an event I really enjoyed, despite the weather 😀
Tuesday, 3 May 2016
Saturday, 30 April 2016
Ladies Morris Dancing at the Northumbrian Gathering
Another old tradition is ladies Morris dancing, and again I was lucky enough to see the Hexhamshire lasses at the Northumbrian Gathering this year, and they were great. Ladies Morris dancing is a bit different from the men's as it involves hoops and less bells.
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
Morris Dancing at Northumbrian Gathering 2016
An old tradition in England is Morris dancing, and it's something that can still occasionally be seen at local fairs.
I was lucky enough to see the Hexham Morris Dancers at the recent Morpeth Gathering. It was fun to watch, and if you get a chance to watch some I recommend it.
Sunday, 24 April 2016
Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering 2016
The Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering now in it's 49th year, is held the first weekend after Easter.
It is a celebration of the traditional lifestyle and crafts from Northumberland and Morpeth.
This year I went on the Saturday, and I would describe it as a treasure hunt of events. There is a lot going on, but it is spread across the town and apart from signs telling you what's on when, and the farmers market it would be easy to miss. I first learned about the gathering from my mum, as she had seen a poster advertising the opening of Morpeth Castle for the event.
It is a celebration of the traditional lifestyle and crafts from Northumberland and Morpeth.
This year I went on the Saturday, and I would describe it as a treasure hunt of events. There is a lot going on, but it is spread across the town and apart from signs telling you what's on when, and the farmers market it would be easy to miss. I first learned about the gathering from my mum, as she had seen a poster advertising the opening of Morpeth Castle for the event.
Morpeth itself isn't short of car parks, although they do operate a parking disc system. For the event they had a park and ride system from the local council offices. We decided to park at the local train station as we expected the other car parks to be busy. That turned out not to be the case, probably because of the rain.
We started of at the castle, as it is privately owned by the Landmark Trust (who rent it out for holidays) so it is rare you can visit it. The castle itself is quite small as it's just the original gatehouse, but it is nice inside, especially if you were staying there. In the castle grounds there were medieval style tents, and people dressed in medieval clothes as part of the celebrations.
We started of at the castle, as it is privately owned by the Landmark Trust (who rent it out for holidays) so it is rare you can visit it. The castle itself is quite small as it's just the original gatehouse, but it is nice inside, especially if you were staying there. In the castle grounds there were medieval style tents, and people dressed in medieval clothes as part of the celebrations.
After we had finished at the castle we walked into town via the park. Here we came across some Morris dancing. Morris dancing is an old English traditional dance, and it is great fun to watch, even if by now it was pouring down. We saw men dancing, and the ladies.
The next thing we visited was the clock tower, this is in the centre of the town, and is something I've often admired. The visit turned out to be a chance to try something that should have been on my bucket list, bell ringing. First though a lovely lady told us all about the towers history.
The tower dates back to the early seventeenth century, but the bells were first installed in 1706 in repayment for voting someone to parliament. Today the bells still chime every night for the curfew.
The next thing we visited was the clock tower, this is in the centre of the town, and is something I've often admired. The visit turned out to be a chance to try something that should have been on my bucket list, bell ringing. First though a lovely lady told us all about the towers history.
The tower dates back to the early seventeenth century, but the bells were first installed in 1706 in repayment for voting someone to parliament. Today the bells still chime every night for the curfew.
In the towns main market square there was the farmers market on, with a welcome surprise of a Punch and Judy
Finally also in the town were various storytellers and work shops, there was also a craft show in the town hall. The gathering on the Saturday also started with a parade.
The gathering is held each year on the first weekend after Easter, and if you are in the area I would recommend it, as there was lots to see and do and it really was an interesting and fun day out.
The gathering is held each year on the first weekend after Easter, and if you are in the area I would recommend it, as there was lots to see and do and it really was an interesting and fun day out.
Monday, 6 July 2015
Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, UK
Once upon a time there was a kingdom called Northumbria that was ruled by King Aethelfrith, when he married to strengthen his kingdom, he renamed his fortress after his new wife Bebba (Bebbanburgh later became pronounce Bamburgh)*. At the time Bamburgh castle and it's king was the most powerful force in northern England, and Bamburgh castle would be one of the most powerful castles in England for hundreds of years until the vikings attacked around the 10th century. Bamburgh's prominence was such that it had links with early christianity through St Aidan who was bought to neighbouring Holy Island by King Oswald, who also became a saint following his death.
The castle that stands today, has been rebuilt and renovated over the years, due to being attacked and neglected. For much of it's history this has been a royal castle, and was built and maintained by them as an important defensive fortress. Some of the main keep dates from around 1163 when the castle, had the great tower started for the sum of £4*, now that sounds a bargain although I'm guessing it was worth a bit more then :)
Today the castle is in owned by the Armstrong family, who bought it in 1894*, at the time Lord Armstrong of Cragside (see earlier review), saw it for sale in the Times and decided to buy it for £60,000*. He did quite a bit of renovation to the castle, as it was in need of it when he bought it. It's funny my first thought when I realised he owned both Cragside and Bamburgh castle, was why would you buy Cragside if you owned Bamburgh castle, but I now see it was the other way around :)
Bamburgh castle is probably the castle most recognised, outside Northumberland, unless you were watching Harry Potter (that's Alnwick castle), as it is the one on most advertising, due to it's magnificent appearance.
I visited on a windy day in February, the timing being because I had bought a Groupon deal for £12 for 2 people and it ran out at the end of February (I bought it in December, not realising the castle was only open on a weekend up to February). I visited with my dad one Friday, as that's the day we go out together :) Normal price is £9.95 for adults, £9 for senior citizens, £4.50 for children or £25 for a family (2 adults 3 children), so we saved £6.95 (my dad is a senior, not me :) )
**Our Visit**
The day we visited was initially windy but dry, and we really hit on as, as we were leaving a storm hit and it started to rain heavily. Bamburgh is on the Northumberland coast about 42 miles north of Newcastle, it's about 30 miles from us and took us about an hour to get there going up the A1 and then following the route across to the coast. On the way back we came the coastal route which took maybe 15 minutes longer, and this is considering we were taking it steady due to the weather.
Bamburgh castle is high up above Bamburgh village, overlooking the sea (150 feet above), and sand dunes. It affords great views of the neighbouring Farne islands, and Holy island, as well as the sea and beach. We parked in the council car park at the bottom, paying £1.80 for 2 hours, we chose here as we had visited the castle years before and remembered the parking above being limited. The council car park now offers free parking. Walking up to the castle is quite steep, and at the top we discovered the parking has now been extended and there is a reasonable sized car park with all day parking for £2 :) Still I needed the exercise :)
The entrance to the castle is further up hill through a large gatehouse, with the ticket office being in the constable tower further up. From here you are outside the main section of the castle in the outer ward, the path is quite steep, and you can either follow it up, or walk along the battery (outer defensive wall) as we did. We chose this way so that we could admire the view of the sea, and the nearby islands, although it was quite overcast so we didn't get the best view. There are also lots of cannons along here :)
**The Outer Ward**
The battery, and path both lead to the outer ward. There are a lot of buildings here, although the castle grounds themselves are reasonably compact. The ground here is hilly, with the ground sloping rapidly down to the west ward. In the outer ward, is the old stables, which now house the toilets, and a cafe on the left hand side. There is also some stocks on the green, and a replica of the King's of Northumbria's royal stone seat (which I had a seat in). At the bottom of the slope is another gateway which leads into the west ward.
In the west ward there is a picnic area, 2 sites where they are doing an archeological dig (in summer you can watch them), the armstrong aviation museum, and an old mill. The museum is quite small, but we both found it really interesting with huge engines, and old cameras that had been used on planes. There was also a model of a spitfire, and a large gun.
The walls on this side of the castle give a great view of the village of Bamburgh.
**The Inner Ward**
Uphill is the inner ward of the castle, this has an inner curtain wall, from which you again get a great view of the sea. There are also the remains of the chapel, with a large bell. The entrance to the state rooms, and keep is here. There is one entrance, that is open as you actually go through the state rooms to get to the keep.
**The castle, and state rooms**
While you can't explore all the rooms, as there are private apartments above, the parts you can see are interesting. My favourite was the King's Hall, which is a beautiful room with a lovely wooden beamed ceiling which you can admire with mirrors that are provided. In here there was a lovely guide, who we had a nice chat with. This room has a minstrel's gallery at one end, and a lovely seating area (roped off) raised up at the other, the room is actually from the victorian times as it was renovated and designed by Lord Armstrong. In total I think there are about ten rooms that you can look around, including the rooms in the keep itself. Other highlights for me were the secret stairway in the keep's wall, the model of the castle, the well (dug through over 40 feet of solid whetstone), and the victorian hoover (I like my old gadgets :) ). There were a further two guides in other rooms, both of which were friendly and knowledgeable.
The keep leads to the shop, and from here you can visit the dungeon. This has several figures showing old torture methods, and was pretty interesting. Next to the shop there is also the archeological museum, which houses various finds from the castle's grounds. The exit opens back out onto the outer ward. From here we took some more photos before hurrying away as by this time we were over our parking time (not that we expected a ticket as Bamburgh is pretty deserted in winter), and it was bucketing down and windy.
**The cafe and shop**
We visited the cafe for a warming cup of tea during our visit. This is a nice room and the prices were reasonable, about £5 for a sandwich. The drinks were slightly more expensive, at around £4 for a pot of tea for two.
The shop has the usual range of gifts, as well as some local wine and foods. There is also a small art gallery, with some lovely pictures you can buy in the shop.
**So what did I think?**
We both really enjoyed our visit, the only downside was the weather as the views weren't as clear as we might have liked, and quite a lot of it is outside. However, as they say "every cloud has a silver lining", and the weather and time of year meant that there were only a few other visits so we could get some great photos without lots of people in them, and we had plenty of time to see what we wanted to see, as well as to talk to the guides.
The grounds and buildings are really well looked after, and there are plenty of signposts telling you where you are and what things are, which we found really useful. It is also possible to buy a guidebook or hire an audio tour, although we didn't bother preferring to discover things ourselves. As said inside there are also several guides, who are knowledgeable and friendly.
Bamburgh castle surprised me as when I visited it in the past I didn't really enjoy it, and my memory was just of lots of plates. I was left feeling that the best thing about it was the outside, but now I have been again I have completely changed my mind, as there is so much to see. From their web site I can see that they have won several awards, including one from trip adviser, and I can see why. Everything feels really well thought out, informative and welcoming, I can imagine that if I visit again in summer, while it would be more crowded you would still enjoy yourself, and it would be pleasant to enjoy a picnic overlooking the sea.
We spent about 2 and a half hours there in total, including getting a cup of tea in the cafe before going into the castle proper. We took advantage of the walk back down to the car park, to take some more photos of the castle, although by then we were pretty wet.
**Anything else?**
The castle has pretty good disabled access, including a separate cafe room, as the cafe entrance is upstairs. By it's nature parts of the castle are not wheelchair accessible, but a surprising amount is, and again this shows how much thought has been put into it, including tarmac paths which while steep provide a good surface.
The castle is also available for weddings, and wedding receptions, and if I wasn't already happily married I'd be tempted as it would be a great location :)
The castle is open everyday until the 2nd of November, 10 am until 5pm
For more information there website is http://www.bamburghcastle.com/index.php
*Bamburgh castle website
This is updated from my review on Ciao
The castle that stands today, has been rebuilt and renovated over the years, due to being attacked and neglected. For much of it's history this has been a royal castle, and was built and maintained by them as an important defensive fortress. Some of the main keep dates from around 1163 when the castle, had the great tower started for the sum of £4*, now that sounds a bargain although I'm guessing it was worth a bit more then :)
Today the castle is in owned by the Armstrong family, who bought it in 1894*, at the time Lord Armstrong of Cragside (see earlier review), saw it for sale in the Times and decided to buy it for £60,000*. He did quite a bit of renovation to the castle, as it was in need of it when he bought it. It's funny my first thought when I realised he owned both Cragside and Bamburgh castle, was why would you buy Cragside if you owned Bamburgh castle, but I now see it was the other way around :)
Bamburgh castle is probably the castle most recognised, outside Northumberland, unless you were watching Harry Potter (that's Alnwick castle), as it is the one on most advertising, due to it's magnificent appearance.
I visited on a windy day in February, the timing being because I had bought a Groupon deal for £12 for 2 people and it ran out at the end of February (I bought it in December, not realising the castle was only open on a weekend up to February). I visited with my dad one Friday, as that's the day we go out together :) Normal price is £9.95 for adults, £9 for senior citizens, £4.50 for children or £25 for a family (2 adults 3 children), so we saved £6.95 (my dad is a senior, not me :) )
**Our Visit**
The day we visited was initially windy but dry, and we really hit on as, as we were leaving a storm hit and it started to rain heavily. Bamburgh is on the Northumberland coast about 42 miles north of Newcastle, it's about 30 miles from us and took us about an hour to get there going up the A1 and then following the route across to the coast. On the way back we came the coastal route which took maybe 15 minutes longer, and this is considering we were taking it steady due to the weather.
Bamburgh castle is high up above Bamburgh village, overlooking the sea (150 feet above), and sand dunes. It affords great views of the neighbouring Farne islands, and Holy island, as well as the sea and beach. We parked in the council car park at the bottom, paying £1.80 for 2 hours, we chose here as we had visited the castle years before and remembered the parking above being limited. The council car park now offers free parking. Walking up to the castle is quite steep, and at the top we discovered the parking has now been extended and there is a reasonable sized car park with all day parking for £2 :) Still I needed the exercise :)
The entrance to the castle is further up hill through a large gatehouse, with the ticket office being in the constable tower further up. From here you are outside the main section of the castle in the outer ward, the path is quite steep, and you can either follow it up, or walk along the battery (outer defensive wall) as we did. We chose this way so that we could admire the view of the sea, and the nearby islands, although it was quite overcast so we didn't get the best view. There are also lots of cannons along here :)
**The Outer Ward**
The battery, and path both lead to the outer ward. There are a lot of buildings here, although the castle grounds themselves are reasonably compact. The ground here is hilly, with the ground sloping rapidly down to the west ward. In the outer ward, is the old stables, which now house the toilets, and a cafe on the left hand side. There is also some stocks on the green, and a replica of the King's of Northumbria's royal stone seat (which I had a seat in). At the bottom of the slope is another gateway which leads into the west ward.
In the west ward there is a picnic area, 2 sites where they are doing an archeological dig (in summer you can watch them), the armstrong aviation museum, and an old mill. The museum is quite small, but we both found it really interesting with huge engines, and old cameras that had been used on planes. There was also a model of a spitfire, and a large gun.
The walls on this side of the castle give a great view of the village of Bamburgh.
**The Inner Ward**
Uphill is the inner ward of the castle, this has an inner curtain wall, from which you again get a great view of the sea. There are also the remains of the chapel, with a large bell. The entrance to the state rooms, and keep is here. There is one entrance, that is open as you actually go through the state rooms to get to the keep.
**The castle, and state rooms**
While you can't explore all the rooms, as there are private apartments above, the parts you can see are interesting. My favourite was the King's Hall, which is a beautiful room with a lovely wooden beamed ceiling which you can admire with mirrors that are provided. In here there was a lovely guide, who we had a nice chat with. This room has a minstrel's gallery at one end, and a lovely seating area (roped off) raised up at the other, the room is actually from the victorian times as it was renovated and designed by Lord Armstrong. In total I think there are about ten rooms that you can look around, including the rooms in the keep itself. Other highlights for me were the secret stairway in the keep's wall, the model of the castle, the well (dug through over 40 feet of solid whetstone), and the victorian hoover (I like my old gadgets :) ). There were a further two guides in other rooms, both of which were friendly and knowledgeable.
The keep leads to the shop, and from here you can visit the dungeon. This has several figures showing old torture methods, and was pretty interesting. Next to the shop there is also the archeological museum, which houses various finds from the castle's grounds. The exit opens back out onto the outer ward. From here we took some more photos before hurrying away as by this time we were over our parking time (not that we expected a ticket as Bamburgh is pretty deserted in winter), and it was bucketing down and windy.
**The cafe and shop**
We visited the cafe for a warming cup of tea during our visit. This is a nice room and the prices were reasonable, about £5 for a sandwich. The drinks were slightly more expensive, at around £4 for a pot of tea for two.
The shop has the usual range of gifts, as well as some local wine and foods. There is also a small art gallery, with some lovely pictures you can buy in the shop.
**So what did I think?**
We both really enjoyed our visit, the only downside was the weather as the views weren't as clear as we might have liked, and quite a lot of it is outside. However, as they say "every cloud has a silver lining", and the weather and time of year meant that there were only a few other visits so we could get some great photos without lots of people in them, and we had plenty of time to see what we wanted to see, as well as to talk to the guides.
The grounds and buildings are really well looked after, and there are plenty of signposts telling you where you are and what things are, which we found really useful. It is also possible to buy a guidebook or hire an audio tour, although we didn't bother preferring to discover things ourselves. As said inside there are also several guides, who are knowledgeable and friendly.
Bamburgh castle surprised me as when I visited it in the past I didn't really enjoy it, and my memory was just of lots of plates. I was left feeling that the best thing about it was the outside, but now I have been again I have completely changed my mind, as there is so much to see. From their web site I can see that they have won several awards, including one from trip adviser, and I can see why. Everything feels really well thought out, informative and welcoming, I can imagine that if I visit again in summer, while it would be more crowded you would still enjoy yourself, and it would be pleasant to enjoy a picnic overlooking the sea.
We spent about 2 and a half hours there in total, including getting a cup of tea in the cafe before going into the castle proper. We took advantage of the walk back down to the car park, to take some more photos of the castle, although by then we were pretty wet.
**Anything else?**
The castle has pretty good disabled access, including a separate cafe room, as the cafe entrance is upstairs. By it's nature parts of the castle are not wheelchair accessible, but a surprising amount is, and again this shows how much thought has been put into it, including tarmac paths which while steep provide a good surface.
The castle is also available for weddings, and wedding receptions, and if I wasn't already happily married I'd be tempted as it would be a great location :)
The castle is open everyday until the 2nd of November, 10 am until 5pm
For more information there website is http://www.bamburghcastle.com/index.php
*Bamburgh castle website
This is updated from my review on Ciao
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Not quite ambling around Amble
Last Friday I went to the nearby seaside village of Amble.
Amble is a pretty village on the coast of Northumberland, it is on the south side of the River Coquet and from the small harbour you can get boat trips to nearby Coquet Island.
We walked along the river, and than along the pier. The pier goes around in a circle, and offers some protection to the small beach.
We walked all the way along and around the pier, it offers some lovely views back towards Amble. The first section has the river on one side and the small bay with the beach on the other, at the top end the pier is open to the sea, and has a great view of Coquet Island.
Amble is a pretty village on the coast of Northumberland, it is on the south side of the River Coquet and from the small harbour you can get boat trips to nearby Coquet Island.
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| Coquet Island |
There is ample parking near the harbour and small beach, although you do have to pay even if you have a parking disk.
We didn't visit the shopping street on this occasion, but it's a nice shopping area with a variety of shops. The quayside has a market every Sunday, as we went on a Friday it wasn't on :).
On our visit having parked up, we went to the Quayside cafe, which is in the harbour. This is a chip shop cafe, and I had a lovely cheese patty and chips, whilst my dad had haggis and chips. Haggis is actually a Scottish delicacy. The chips from here are lovely, and if you are visiting the area I would recommend them.
After we had eating we braved the weather outside, which was extremely windy.
Amble has a lovely small harbour in the river, and you can look across to get some great views of Warkworth Castle.
 |
| View to Warkworth Castle |
We walked along the river, and than along the pier. The pier goes around in a circle, and offers some protection to the small beach.
 |
| Amble Beach |
 |
| Amble Pier |
We walked all the way around the pier, and then back along the houses in the bay, before walking across the small beach.
We finished up with a nice hot tea in a small cafe opposite the harbour. I can't remember it's name but it was friendly, if a little strange and cluttered. We got chatting to some locals about aeroplanes of all things.
 |
| Amble Beach and view looking back to the pier. |
We finished up with a nice hot tea in a small cafe opposite the harbour. I can't remember it's name but it was friendly, if a little strange and cluttered. We got chatting to some locals about aeroplanes of all things.
Saturday, 21 February 2015
An A to Z of Northumberland A
Hi, last year I started an A to Z about Northumberland in the UK on Bubblews, and I thought I would tweak it a bit and share it with you.
So starting with A;
A is for Alnwick (pronounced An-ick), which is a small town and home to the Duke of Northumberland, who owns the rather magnificent Alnwick Castle. The Percy family have been the Dukes of Northumberland for hundreds of years. The castle is also famous for being used as Hogwarts.
Alnwick is also famous for having one of the UK's largest second hand book shops called Barter Books, in it's old train station.
The town is called a market town, as it holds a weekly market selling all kinds of different goods. Throughout the year they also sometimes have special fairs, for example French ones, and a Christmas fair.
The town is called a market town, as it holds a weekly market selling all kinds of different goods. Throughout the year they also sometimes have special fairs, for example French ones, and a Christmas fair.
Alnwick also has a great museum called Bailiffgate, which is about the history of the town and surrounding area, and the award winning Alnwick Gardens which is a separate part of the duke's estate, and visitor attraction.
My favourite thing to do in Alnwick is to explore the streets, which are full of history and the Alnwick pants (water fountains), and to sit in one of the many cafes and let the world go by.
A is also for;
Ashington, a town in the south east of Northumberland. Ashington is the opposite of Alnwick in that it is an ex pit (coal mining) town, and is all back terraces and shops (unfortunately now mostly charity ones).
It sadly had it's hay day when the mines were still open. Although the council are supposed to be doing something to improve it, and are currently building a new leisure centre.
It is still though a lovely friendly town, and has a leisure centre (the old one), as well as the nearby Woodhorn museum ( a local museum about coal mining), and the beautiful QE2 park and lake.
Amble, is a small coastal village, with a lovely harbour and some great fish and chip shops, my favourite is the Quayside cafe, great friendly service and lovely chips.
Alnmouth, a small coastal village with some pretty houses.
Aydon, a small village in south west Northumberland, with a lovely castle.
Acklington, a small village best known for it's prison.
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