We actually managed to get away for a week at the end of October. Autumn is our favourite time of the year although we were pushing it a bit here. Decided to go self-catering in a part of the country that we had not visited before and booked a Grade II listed Victorian cottage in Rothbury in Northumberland. One of the interests that drew us to the area was the National Trust property Cragside just outside Rothbury. The cottage that we stayed in was in fact built for retired estate workers.

Saturday: On the way up we stopped off at Fountains Abbey north of Leeds. Very atmospheric with an excellent single-room interpretation centre. The monastery grew fat and wealthy on the wool trade but was in fact in a state of decline before the dissolution of the monasteries starting in 1536.

Cellars at Fountains Abbey

Fountains Abbey

Arrived at the cottage just after dark which wasn't very clever. Fairly major detour due to closure of the direct route. Learned subsequently that this was due to the road sliding into the valley the previous winter.

We had the ground floor of this listed house.

The cottage very comfortable and not far off the size of our house.

Sunday: Short drive round the corner to Cragside. A Victorian construction, home of the enormously wealthy industrialist Lord Armstrong who died in 1908. A very inventive man, ahead of his time. Sadly he made most of his money from armaments (the Amstrong in Vickers-Armstrong but also Amstrong-Sidderley cars). He had a penchant for building battleships for the Japanese navy. Made the famous swing bridge in Newcastle. Invented hydraulic dockside cranes.  etc.etc.

Cragside

Rubbish picture of a 1900 dishwasher

Chandeliers intentionally left bare to show the electric lamps -  a wonder of the age.

The houses claim to fame is that it was the first in the world to be electrically lit using hydro-electric power fed by specially constructed resevoirs. He also used water power to install a lift in the house and to power kitchen equipment. The property is run by the National Trust and they have spent huge sums of money on its restoration since taking over management in 1977. There is a story to this which we only learned later at Bamburgh Castle.

Early photo's show the house surrounded by bare moorland although the huge estate is now forested including many giant redwoods. 

Monday: 'Did' Newcastle. Went and parked at the Park and Ride near Newcastle airport and used the excellent Metro. Started off at the Baltic Centre for contemporary art. Lovely use of an old flour mill. Pity about the art exhibition by some retard called Thomas Scheibitz.

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

Walked across to Norman Foster's Sage Gateshead theatre building. Absolutely stunning with the striking exterior containing a large and a smaller auditorium as well as the attendent shop, bars, restaurants, education and practise areas. Busy even in the stillness of day. Nicely complimented by the amazing Millenium pedestrian bridge across the Tyne.

Inside Sage Gateshead looking back to Baltic Art Gallery.

Millenium bridge from the top of the Baltic Gallery

Went out into the sticks to Jarrow on the Metro to visit St. Pauls Church, the home of the medieval historian Bede. Thanks to the robbing of the nearby Hadrians Wall the church was, unusually for the time, built of stone. Unlike its wattle and daub contemporaries it therefore remains albeit heavily modified over the centuries. The volunteer guide point out that worship had been ongoing in this building for 1300 years. Stretching it a little thanks to the attentions of our Nordic cousins who laid waste to most of the North-east but still an amazing building.

Further up the road was Bede's World Museum. We arrived so late they let us in for free (which was nice) although we learnt a lot in the hour we were there.

Back to Newcastle and took a wander around the very attractive Georgian heart of Newcastle at Grey's monument. The labour opposition will tell you of the deprivation in 'the north' and of waifs begging on street corners. We didn't see it. The place was buzzing. A notice board at the waterfront had told us that the Millenium bridge would be raised at 18:30 so we had a meal in one of the quayside  bars and watched the show. Very pleasant.

Sage Gatehead in the evening light

Millenium bridge in the 'raised' position

Tuesday: Went to Alnwick Castle about half-an-hour away in the town of Alnwick. Ancestral home of the Dukes of Northumberland and known as 'the Windsor of the North'. Still a home albeit only for the six months of winter. During the pleb season the family retreat to another pad in Scotland. Popular with kids as it is one of the filming sites for Harry Potter. Broomstick flying lessons etc. Also used in many other films. The very good guide was explaining the intricasies of the Barbican defences with moat, portcullis, drawbridge, swinging mantraps, boiling tar, archers and the rest. Drily commented that in the 1000 year history of the castle only one man had made it from the outside through into the outer bailey: Kevin Costner in 'Robin Hood Prince of Thieves'.

Alnwick Castle

Norman Arch under the Octagonal Towers

Jen had been very keen to see the acclaimed gardens but found them a disappointment. Unlike other places we visited the staff seemed to be battening down the hatches for Winter. The large cascading water feature was sterile. She was subsequently discussing this with a gardener at a National Trust property. He said he thought the Alnwick water feature belonged at a large out-of-town shopping centre. Ooh! Get Him! Quite apt though.

Water feature - Alnwick gardens

Wednesday: Went further afield starting at Bamburgh Castle on the coast. The Cragside Armstrongs had bought what was effectively a ruin in the late 1800's and had spent a huge amount of money with an extensive rebuild. Well he did have a lot to throw around. It now contains an interesting and quirky collection of objects. The original Amstrong had died childless and had passed the empire to a nephew. A second Baronetsy was created for this new owner and he part-adopted the old name, calling himself Watson-Armstrong. A subsequent generation messed up and huge death duties became due in the 1940's. Because of its history as the seat of the Kings of Northumbria, Government wanted to take Bamburgh in lieu but the family robustly defended their rights and gave Cragside instead. Government was not pleased. Hooray for the Watson-Armstrongs.

Bamburgh Castle

Bamburgh Castle from the land side

A guide at Bamburgh offered a possibly apocryphal story: On taking residence at Bamburgh the Lady Watson-Armstrong did a bit of re-decorating and desired a piece of furniture from Cragside. She despatched Jeeves to go and retrieve said item. Jeeves returned tail between legs. They had, he said, changed the locks and access was denied. So the thieving whatsits grabbed the expensive paintings and furnishings as well. The National Trust plays down this unattractive aspect at Cragside itself. One of the Cragside guides cryptically said that '95 percent of the interior is original'.

The Bamburgh Great Hall had no roof when Armstrong was renovating in the late 1800's. Nothing that 600 tons of Burmese Teak can't fix.

Bamburgh Great Hall roof

From there we drove round the bay to Holy Island. The island is accessed from a tidal causeway so timing is important. We had to be off by 16:15 or risked being stranded overnight. Lindisfarne Priory is an English Heritage ruin. It is a Norman priory destroyed during the dissolution and not the site of the original priory of St Cuthbert and the Lindisfarne gospel.

We visited Lindisfarne Castle, a Tudor fortress interesting because it was made over in the Arts and Crafts style by the famous architect Edward Lutyens for the owner Edward Hudson, editor at the time of Country Life. It must have serious atmosphere during winter storms.

Lindisfarne Castle

Lutyens is credited with making amazing use of what are very small spaces.

Inside Lindisfarne castle

Having been unceremoniously kicked off the island by the rising tide, we zipped up to Berwick Upon Tweed and spent the last of the day walking the town walls. Berwick was perhaps not as twee as we had expected from photos. It is only 4km from the Scottish border and has been fought over by Scots and English for centuries. Assuming no further hostilities, England finally won in 1482. Our walk was on well-preserved Elizabethan ramparts although the medieval town walls still exist.

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Thursday: Good weather was promised so we decided to split up. I went for a long walk up Simonside Hills in the national park and Jen, after dropping me at the Forestry Commission car park, went to Wallington, another nearby National Trust property owned by the eccentric and bohemian Trevelyans. It was here in the magnificent gardens that she and the gardener damned Alnwick gardens with very faint praise.

Simonside Hill with Cheviot (on the Scottish border) in the distance

Simonside Hills looking back to Rothbury.

Gardens at Wallington

Autumn colours at Wallington

Wallington House

Friday: A long trek down to the Beamish open air museum in County Durham. This is an open air heritage museum. A circular route with hop-on hop-off trams takes you to themed areas to which buildings have been moved from the surrounding districts. There is an early victorian 'model farm' to a prescribed pattern. The farm has always been there though the model design (a building layout designed by the experts of the age) is an addition. 

Beamish 'Model Farm' complete with farmyard smell.

In many of the buildings, very welcoming staff will offer scones or breads baked on the coal fired ranges in the building themselves. There is a mine area with headgear and steam powered winding engine. 

Old mine village school (preparing frantically for the following weeks activities during half-term). A row of terraced miners cottages complete with the most adorable resident cat. 

Beamish resident cat in miners museum

A Methodist chapel still licensed for weddings. Many other buildings being constructed. There was also a High Street: Bank, Bakery, Motor Engineers, Drapers, Grocers, Newspaper publisher, sweet shop, stable yard with five shire horses. Old but functional pub. Even a transplanted masonic temple.

Beamish High Street

The highlight for us came late in the day with a visit to an early georgian farmhouse still in its original position. Much of what we saw reminded us of the flats above our shop.

Panelling concealing a meat smoking cupboard.

Saturday: Started on our way home but stopped off in Durham itself. Took another Park and Ride from the A1 and wondered round the Cathedral peninsular and into the cathedral itself. 

Durham Cathedral

Took an excellent guided tour of the adjacent Durham Castle which belongs to and is used by Durham University. The tour guide was a very well spoken and self-assured student (final year Philosophy and Theology). 'I am now taking you into what is undeniably the finest University in the land'. Students? They are all the same. Highlights were the 600 year old Great Hall and kitchens both still in daily use. The Great Hall was Hogwarts dining room. A splendid Norman arch re-discovered at the original entrance in 1820 after having been bricked up. The hair-raisingly atmospheric Norman chapel.

Got home at about 20:00 in desperate need of a holiday.