Bank holiday today, and I think that we have the best weather of the country, warm and sunny – hurray! Rothbury is hosting a street fair with music, so we are going to investigate that before we take a wander around Cragside a National Trust estate of some magnitude!
It felt a little like Petticoat Lane at Malmesbury Carnival and Musical Lea all rolled into one. It
was all colour and enthusiasm but not necessarily a lot of style!! But we did enjoy our wander round, and ate our sandwiches on the green, and listened to the local bands give it their all!
A little reluctantly, it has to be said, we moved on to allow enough time to do justice to a visit to Cragside, which had been full and the volunteers were turning folk away, when we had passed it earlier.The first stop was the house, as it was the first to close, and it was an Arts and Crafts delight with William Morris wallpaper in nearly every room. But the best bit was possibly the Turkish
Baths in the cellar, with some fabulous tiling. If you are an engineer, it is possible though that the best bit was seeing the first domestic hydraulically operated lift.After the house, we decided to drive the six miles of grounds some natural and some landscaped, and after our luxury tea break(!) over looking Nelly Moss Tarn, we parked up and walked round
the formal and the rock gardens. Unfortunately we had to do this at the usual rush, as gates were closing at 7pm and as usual we had dawdled too long some where along the way!Tuesday 27th May - day 213
It is our anniversary today, and we are going to spend the day visiting Lindisfarne – “the cradle of Christianity”, where we can stop awhile and say thank you for 8 years of happy friendship and
loving companionship. For such a little island there is so much to see, and we start at the Winery, but pass quickly through, and go on to the Priory. The wind was whistling and howling around the ruins, making it very atmospheric, and made it a little easier to imagine how life must have been for the monks back in AD 700.We had our sandwiches on the green, but as it was a special day we went into the Bean Goose for a very welcome pot of tea. We must have lingered too long there (can you believe it!!) as when
we set off to visit the Castle, we were told that it had just closed – drat. We could still go up and walk round, and it was still worth visiting the Lime Kilns and Gertrude Jekylls garden – which 
was a pretty rectangular design of plantings, protected by a high stone wall, rather a long way from the Castle, we had to assume it was something to do with the viewing position, as she had been asked to design something that Edward Hudson – Editor(?) of Country Life (owners, who had bought it as a holiday retreat!!) could could gaze out at it whilst there!The tide was due in at 7pm, making Linisfarne an island again, so we had to make a decision, we had thought that we made us feel like celebrating, so we headed back and ended up at the “Blink Bonny” at Christon Bank for a very relaxed pub meal, a very pleasant way to end the day.
Wednesday 28th May - day 214
There must have been something in the wind yesterday, because we were just too whacked to go out in it again today, plus the rain didn’t help, although it didn’t rain for long. So we decided to stay in and book a few more camp sites, and confirm with the workmen in Ambleside, ready for next week.
By late afternoon though we were beginning to get a little stir crazy though, and had to get out for a blow.
The campsite is just the other side of the road from the sea, so we put on boots/wellies and went
out to see the sea. It was out so we went to explore the exposed rock pools and seaweed flats, but as we were gazing about, I noticed that the water was moving and flowing with increasing speed around behind us. We were not really in any danger, but it was quite exciting making our way back to the sand and sea weed as water levels rose and rivulets became, streams then fast flowing rivers! Once on dry land, we stood for ages watching the seascape change, and the hungry birds that were making the most of it!!Thursday 29th May – day 215
This is our last day at Annstead Farm before we go to the flat for 2 weeks, and it is a glorious day, just as well as we have planned a walk from Craster back to Beadnell. We catch the bus to
Craster, and pay the most we have paid for a single fare - £3.20 for a 20 minute journey, Chris could not help coughing a little at the thought!!But we were dropped right in the harbour, which was perfect. We decided to check out the Kipper Smokery first, it was more commercial than Whitby and sold much more than the kippers, but it gave us some good ideas for meals next week!!
Along with the madding crowd we made the first leg of our walk to Dunstanburgh Castle, another relic, which dominates the Northumbrian coastline. I think the best bit was the panoramic views from the top of the Gatehouse tower, but it was another interesting piece of Northumberland history so we lingered there, stopping to have our lunch overlooking some craggy rocks that were being pounded by the foaming surf. The next leg took us along the shore 
line of yet another vast and magnificent sandy beach. There were more people about enjoying it today, but it still didn’t feel in any way crowded.We walked close to the sea, until we got near Low Newton-by-the-Sea. Here we veered to the left until we came to the little triangle of 18th century fishermen’s cottages, who had in their midst a pub called the Ship Inn, which has a good reputation locally. We felt it necessary to stop
and patronise the establishment, and some 60 minutes later, left feeling nicely hydrated!
The final leg of our walk was over the headland and back onto the golden sands of Beadnell Bay, another 2 miles easy walking by the sea, and much stopping to watch the birds.Actually we nearly felt like we were in the Hitchcock film “Birds” as we walked into a large
colony of Terns, who were very noisy, especially when disturbed, and though not aggressive at all, as they had been on Farne, they made a cacophonous noise as they flew off in all directions, swooping and darting and making great show off displays in the air, until all human life had moved on and they could return to their resting positions on the sand.We approached Beadnell Bay as the tide was beginning to come in, and we stood for quite a while
watching the harbour, which had been completely empty, begin to refill. We left just as the first little skiff started to float, but it would be a long time before the harbour was really full I think.We had driven into Beadnell at the start of the day, which is only a mile or so from the campsite, but as we didn’t know where the bus stop was, or had the time to wander round looking for it, we drove there. Good plan in the morning, but a bit of a whoops in the evening as it was further into the village than we had thought, and that last mile, was probably the longest of the day!
Friday 30th May – day 216
We are leaving Northumberland today for two weeks at the flat. We have to move the caravan first to its storage bay at Elford Farm, and then go to Craster to pick up Kippers and fishcakes for the family. So it was about 1pm before we were really on the road to Cumbria. We had decided to go cross country as there is an almost direct route from Alnwick to Ambleside,
passing through lovely Alston, (where we had to stop to purchase more bread from the “Moody Bakers!”) so we estimated that it would take two and a half hours to do the 100 miles, so you can imagine that we were a bit surprised to find that we were only just arriving at the flat at 5pm, which meant that there was only time to throw everything in the rooms and head off for Oxenholme to pick up Hannah, who was joining us for a few days. I am not sure that she was very pleased to start her trip by pushing the trolley round Morrisons, and not being fed before 9pm, the wine did help but we must do better tomorrow!!Saturday 31st May - day 217
We are being joined by the wrinklies today, (also learned that we are Hannah’s wrinklies, now that is a worry!!!!) so it will be a day of feeding and resting! We started with lunch at Lucy’s of
Ambleside as Mum had made a request to eat there for her birthday treat. Unfortunately it had recently had a very poor review from the Telegraph, but it was still a lovely dining experience for us, and we enjoyed ourselves!After a little wander round town, it was time for a rest! By early evening the light was so inviting
that we set off for an appetite enhancing stroll to the lake side! On the way back we had a real treat though as “Virgin” was preparing to take a basket load for a spin in their hot air balloon. We were passing the rugby ground at the beginning of the process, and stood with the warm sun on our faces to watch how they inflated the balloon. The whole procedure took about 40 minute to complete, and by the time they were manoeuvring the basket into place as the balloon lifted 
from its horizontal position to the vertical they had drawn quite a crowd. In fact such was the interest that I thought that there may be a cheer when the balloon and its occupants set off!We had stood so long that it now meant a shuffle round the cooker to get the very yummy Craster kipper cakes (and salmon cakes for the faint hearted!!) on the table before the fainting began!! The wrinks left at about 10pm, which was late for them, and we watched some rubbish on the box until the duvet called!
Sunday 1st June – day 218
The weather starts out lovely again today, and we decide to take Hannah up Wansfell, but by the time we were ready to go the rain had started, so there was some discussion about whether it was worth setting off, but we did, and I am so glad that we did!!!
We decided to go up the steep side as Chris’s gammy knee is better at going up than down, and Hannah set a cracking pace, so we had made it to the summit by within the hour, which is pretty good going for us! The views were once more spectacular but the top was crowded so we carried on, not stopping for lunch until we got to Robin Lane in Troutbeck.
Once refreshed we were off again at a bracing pace and by 5.30pm we were sitting in the “WaterEdge” beer garden enjoying our well deserved pints by the lake, until it got too cold and we retreated inside. We had not been to this hotel before, and were impressed with its layout and décor, I think that we may make a return visit.
been kind, the scenery and walks superb and the visits to the magnificent Hadrian’s Wall have been fab. But we are on now to Beadnell Bay up on the Northumberland coastline, and we are excited to discover the delights of this beautiful spot too! We have another sunny day for the journey, and we arrive safely at Annstead’s Farm by 3pm, and spend the rest of the day cleaning! The site is clean and well maintained, but lacks the charm of the last place for me. No doubt it will grow on me!
much cheaper than the 128.9 a litre being charged in Alnwick, thank goodness for petrolprice.com!!!! We also had to fill up the cupboards so we went on to Alnwick to do some shopping, in the hope of having time to go to the famous Gardens designed by Lady Northumberland, which received some attention whilst it was being developed, as the BBC did a programme on it. Anyway, at £10 each to get in, we decided to return tomorrow, when we will have more time to do the visit justice. So we left Alnwick to visit Alnmouth (further down the 
river), and we were so glad that we did. The light was lovely, and the air was fresh, so after our cuppa, which we drank sitting next to a patch of the most beautiful and enormous double headed Poppies, we set out for a long stroll along the beach. It was the dog walking time of day, and we watched as Labradors hurtled themselves with speed into the water, then two of them made a bee line for us, fearful of a soaking, Chris was very encouraging of their equally speedy departure!
dinner on the table before 9pm we decide to pack food for the day. So I made a selection of salads and accompaniments, and we packed the box, complete with wine and glasses (well this is a first of the season!) and by lunch time we were ready to go!!!!!
before us. The principle attractions were the water features and fountains, but there were also some amazing gardens. The first we visited was the ornamental garden, with 16,500 different European plant species – and all of them delightful. We wandered round for ages, David Bailey 
taking every opportunity to capture a bloom! We had our lunch by a large fountain set against a wonderful beech green back drop of an arbour, and then drifted through the Rose garden, still yet to come into full glory, and lost ourselves for a while in the Bamboo labyrinth – not quite a maze, but a series of smooth corners leading to another high and narrow avenue of rustling Bamboo, it was easy, for a moment, to forget that we were in the middle of a busy garden. We were almost ready for tea, but wanted to visit the interactive water garden first, but we stayed there so long we almost missed our tea opportunity! The water garden was FAB. The designers had used smooth shiny stainless steel to set off the water play, and there were many shapes and 
water movement concepts to be explored and explained but the one that held most of us captive with fascination of small children, for a long time, was the vortex. A 4ft diameter cylinder, that shot water in through horizontal pipes near the bottom of the basin, causing a swirl that settled into a vortex, changing shape and rhythm as the water rose up to top, where it seemed to settle and become very still at the waters edge, whilst the vortex was a maelstrom of movement in the middle, utterly mesmerising, and even aging cynics were dipping their fingers in just to be part of it!!
Our final visit before leaving was to the poisonous plant garden, which you could only see by joining a tour. We learned at speed (well it was nearly 6pm) about Belladonna, Daffodil bulbs, Salix, Rhubarb leaves and much more. We staggered out, not sure what we could touch now, as a fair few things that we had seen were growing back in 104’s garden!
huge eatery had been built, quite literally up in the trees. It was approached by rope bridges and wooden gangways, and the terrace was full of gnarly old wooden seats, benches and tables; the restaurants interior was a darkly woody weave of tree roots and old bark, and would have encouraged many childhood fantasies I’m sure.
attend to, before we can go and play. We had packed a picnic lunch, but by the time we were ready to leave it was lunch time, so we picnicked at the campsite before departure! We decided to go and organize a trip to Farne Islands for tomorrow, and after a wander round the lovely little harbour at Seahouses we set off for a walk along the sea shore towards Bamburgh, and enjoy a little bird watching in practice for tomorrow. We did not do too badly as we saw Eider, Ringed Plover and Pipits in the Dunes. What we did not expect to see was a small pond isolated from the sea, filled with wriggly frog spawn, we did wonder how many would make it to adulthood though.
harbour by 12.00, as we are booked with “Sovereign” to take a 3 hour tour around the Farne Islands, stopping for an hour at Inner Farne. Although the sea looked calm from the harbour, when we were sailing it was really choppy, and between that the heady smell of the guano, I was 
feeling quite queasy by the time we reached land! However it did not spoil the fun as we sailed between islands and the Skipper took us alongside the cliffs for closer inspections. I have to say that the cliffs really did smell like a Gents Lavatory block that had not been cleaned for weeks, it was bad indeed! But the bird life was amazing. On the first few stops the cliffs were filled with 
Guillemots, but later we spotted Puffins, Razorbills, Shags and the occasional Cormorant, and flying overhead were big white Gannets.
for the first time, what a joy, not so graceful when they are on land, but still very appealing.
and most of the birds were sitting on eggs, we had to tread very carefully, the Eiders just sank further into the earth, as we approached, trying to look like a stone, but the Terns got very cross and screeched and dive bombed us if we got too close for them, ( a little tricky when they were sitting on the gangway)
it was worth including in our itinerary, but alas it lacked the necessary charm; and the enormous car boot sale, which was desperately trying to redistribute creaking table loads of rubbish, did nothing to persuade us to stay. Warkworth on the other hand was delightful, almost cotswoldy in parts. Our first stop was to the castle, now owned by English Heritage. They may not be quite so classy as the National Truss, but they do provide an excellent free audio tour. We had a 12th century guard took us right round the keep, introducing us to scenes from his working day, amazing that the tape recording was still working after all those centuries!
We left there to explore the town; it was a little like Burford to walk down, but without all the expensive antique shops. We reached the river and spotted a Heron, which gave the impression that he was fishing for supper, we watched for a while, but he moved very little - but come to think of it, neither did we!!
by several of his pieces, and could have bought an old gentleman’s chair, a blanket box, an occasional table or a hat stand, they were all superbly restored, but in the end, after several interesting conversations and a little haggling we left with a beautiful old chest of drawers and two beautiful decorative chairs. We may not have somewhere to live, but we now have furniture!!!
our picnic to eat it down by the sea, which was out so we sat by the muddy channels in the sunshine, it was still lovely though to watch the birds forage for their lunch too.
surfers could be seen screaming down the surf at high speed being pulled by their colourful semicircular kites.
blissfully along the shallow waters, great until we had to detour further onto the sand, when all romantic notions vanished and then began the painful business of trying to make progress across very soft and shifting sands!
And very nice it was too, we finished the evening with a stroll from the entrance to the site where there is a profusion of bluebells and wild garlic, then along the river path, reminding us just what a delightful site we are staying on! 
visiting Allen Banks and Staward Gorge near Haltwhistle, now under the watchful eye of the National Truss, which means free car park and toilets, hooray! We pack our picnic lunch and sun 
cream and off we go. It was a walk of two parts really, pre Plankey Bridge and post. The first half was through a Beech wood, all translucent green and glowing with ferns, violets, wild garlic, and trickling brooks all around us. The second half was mostly through pine wood, much darker quieter, and ascending. However both sides of the walk ran mostly alongside the River Allen, and through the gorge. We had hoped to see Red Squirrels or Roe Deer along the way, but they were 
hiding, though we did see Bog Orchids, Bugle, London Bobs and bright pink Red Campion.
ridge with very steep sides and the river on one side, I do wonder who would try and attack, when the odds would be so obviously against them!
river was quiet this afternoon, and all that remained was to meander back along the river, through more iridescent green woodland where we did see some beautiful little Heartsease bobbing in the late afternoon sun, and just to finish our walk we had to cross over a rope bridge to gat back onto the right side of the River Allen to reach the car park.
most remote countryside in Britain. We stopped at Blanchland for a wander; it is a little jewel of a place with soft warm stone cottages all with dark red woodwork - the colour choice of their landlord Lord Crewe. It even had a little Abbey, Arts Gallery, and its own Hat shop – it must get a lot of visitors! We moved on to have our picnic lunch overlooking Derwent reservoir, again a 
popular visitor attraction we think. We parked up just off the road, to get the best view, and when I looked out of the window (too cold to eat out!) there was a delightful purplish haze on the grassy verge, and on closer inspection there were hundreds of little violets laying close to the ground – beautiful. We drove on then to Stanhope, to see an ancient fossilised tree stump, which we did, but it was not photogenic enough to record its presence, and off we went to Middleton on Teesdale. We had high hopes for the interest factor of this old mining town as it was owned by a Quaker run organisation, and there is still evidence of the old temperance infrastructure. It was lost on us though so we hurried on to begin the last part of our tour which was the drive over the moors to drop down into the beautiful Allen Valley. The lack of sunshine prevented it from looking its best, but it was still very pretty, particularly its lead town Allendale, which with its soft warm stone cottages and wide verges looked a little like a larger version of Blanchland.
the end of the year, mortgages are harder to get and inflation is rising. From our own perspective although we are still having fun, petrol is costing £1.24 per litre on average, and the prices in the supermarkets going up weekly, and our slush fund is almost gone, so who knows how much longer we can really continue to live like this; so we were completely heartened to see this rare rural scene, as if unaware of all that is raging around him, this old man and his horse were doing again, what they had been doing for years, with no difference in the way they were doing it, it was enough to soothe the spirit, and remind of why we are on this year out!!
lake and into the surrounding forest. However, things don’t always go to plan and this was no exception. Firstly, a false start as we are not able to find the start of our path, so we spent a good 40mins walking up our chosen route to find a dead end. We retraced our steps back to the start, 
and on to another route, with willing steps and a push into the surrounding forest we found that there is some forestry works in progress and we would have to divert to yet another path. At this point we decided that the gods were not with us so we retraced our steps back to the car and set off for a drive along the road flanking the reservoir. As we moved along we took some detours of our own to take in some of the view points to look out over the reservoir, and as the sun came out to greet the late afternoon we were treated to some fine views over the water. We 
drove further up the road to look back over the length of the reservoir from the castle, but soon realised that the castle as not in a position to view the water so again retracing our route to the water sports centre and here indeed we did get that wanted view. So here we stopped, revelling in the sky, water, afternoon sun and that all important cuppa. After full refreshment we returned home, or at least where our caravan home is at present, (via Haltwhistle to pick up a bottle of tonic water for a serious G & T before supper.)
by now, accustomed tour of the Roman remains, courtesy of English Heritage. We have built up quite a picture now of the wall, which stood 4mtrs tall, and ran from coast to coast punctuated very regularly by Forts, Milecastles and Look out post (Turrets), all carefully engineered and executed to protect the English bit of their empire. They were a very civilised people, and sadly all their work slowly crumbled as, over time, the stone was used for other buildings.
much softer today, and more pleasing to meander though. There was a moment of concern though as we passed a large detached house. It had several large holes in the roof (and plant life growing out of it!), and a lot of broken glass in the upstairs windows, however there was a man moving in and out of the house, and tending to his hens in a garden full of scrap. There was much discussion (well I talked a lot) about whether he was meant to be living there, or may be he was a squatter, but one thing was for certain, he was living there, in very uncertain conditions!
We walked back to Wall Town Quarry where the car was parked, but after our picnic we decided to walk a little more of the wall, so we looped our way back to the car via a couple of ups and downs!!
more to be enjoyed in the country than the town, (and fewer Wine bars, Coffee Houses and posh eateries to pass by!!), but we enjoyed our wander round the old city, with its bridges and cobbled streets. We made the usual visit to the Cathedral, even though by now Chris’s eyes start to glaze 
over at the thought of another ecclesiastical tour!! There was a large chapel (called Galilee Chapel) at the back dedicated to St Bede, which will remain in the memory as a little different, with a lovely wooden sculpture of the bread ad wine. Whilst at the front there was a shrine to St Cuthbert (we look forward to learning much more about these two when we visit Lindisfarne)
The second thing that will remain in the memory unfortunately, is of a large group of women, of varying shapes, sizes and ages, mostly skimpily clad, all sporting fluffy black and pink antennae bands, squealy voices and clicky high heels, all definitely off for a good night out!
an almost vertical hike through a wood completely covered by Wild Garlic, what a smell!
Our route took us up into the moor a little, though still near the river, and we were delighted to see this waterfall. It was quite noisy, but a weird thing happened, as we tipped over the top of the hillock the sound stopped immediately and completely. We were so surprised we retraced several steps and the sound of running water rushed back at us – amazing how the sound could be so blocked.