Cragside Garden And Grounds

As I said in the previous post, to us the most marvelous thing about Cragside is that, before Lord Armstrong came along, it was not much more than a cliff rising from the Northumberland wastes, above a valley where he played and fished as a boy (and began learning about hydraulics, presumably). After seeing the house, we wandered a bit, but not too far, in the extensive grounds. The National Trust has done its usual superb job in preserving and enhancing all.

Map of extensive grounds

Just below the house, rock terraces, a beautiful Victorian iron bridge over the creek

Water feature in the rock terraces

Miles of forest paths, beautifully signed

Creek; or "crick" as we say in Montana

View of the house from the iron bridge

Nice furnishings all around

It's a cliff terrace trail, but there's probably not a single rock not placed here by human
hands

The specimen trees have had a century and a half to mature here and are gorgeous
in every direction

Vicki walks past, disregarding a new Monkey Puzzle; it's a
long story

In the distance, where the road goes, is what this place might have looked like in the
mid-19th

Now we are in a garden, overlooking a lawn, where this Honda F1 Grasscutter Drone
seems bent on mowing us down: but ha! There's a ha-ha! It bumped and turned on
its mindless way...

Sweet Pea

In the rock garden

This year's border

Greenhouses

Did I mention the place is covered in Rhodos? We might try to revisit on the
flip-side next spring, if the bloom is right: nothing beats a Rhodo Riot!

Cragside House

William George Armstrong was a Victorian inventor, industrial magnate, philanthropist, etc. He did not rise from humble origins. Educated initially in law, he was more interested in mechanical engineering, principally hydraulics, and developed several new machines, after which he went into manufacturing. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society at mid-century. He also got into armaments, inventing the first rifled, breech-loading cannon, the Armstrong Gun. His industries on the Elswick and the Tyne eventually employed some 25,000, building machines, bridges, guns, and even warships. He was knighted in 1859, and elevated to the peerage in 1887. Cragside originally was a hunting retreat, but then grew and grew, incorporating several of Armstrong's other dabblings: hydraulically-powered dumbwaiter, dishwashers, kitchen rotisseries. It was the first private home to have hydro-electricity. Be impressed. We were impressed that all this, especially the garden and grounds, grew from a featureless Northumberland crag in the mid 1800s. As we were told by a gardener, there is scarcely a plant or tree in sight that was not placed there by a human hand. It is a marvel.

Drone view; Cragside is sometimes called the "northern Neuschwanstein,"
evidently by people who have seen neither Neuschwanstein or the Alps; nevertheless...

View from the Iron Bridge, which I hiked down to in order to get this photo

Drive-up view

Lord Armstrong of Cragside

In the kitchen with its hydro-electrically powered rotisseries

Touring the house, the usual nice digs, furnishings, etc.

Plunge in the Turkish bath area

Note peacock fire-place screen

After a long hall of curios, specimens, paintings, busts, the usual Victorian things...

You enter the great hall, with this, the most intricately carved fireplace we have
ever seen--done in Milan, for Cragside

Sanctum sanctorum of the fireplace

A bit more of the great hall, three sides of which are paintings

Including this Turner

The usual Olympic size pool

 

Scientific paraphrenalia on display

Music room; there was plenty more, but you get the picture...

 

Durham And Its Cathedral, 2019

I think this was our 4th visit to Durham and its cathedral, the first being in 1989, the next in 2009 (http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2009/08/durham-cathedral.html) and the next yet in 2013 (http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-river-runs-through-durham.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/08/durham-cathedral-2013.html). If you're into cathedrals, particularly very old Norman/Romanesque ones, Durham is a must-see. Plus it's an agreeably-sized and charming city, the old bits of which are easily reached via the P&R.

The P&R is actually adjacent to the university's suburban campus; yes, that Bill
Bryson; he was chancellor at Durham, one of Britain's most prestigious, from 2005
to 2011

"Pointers"--volunteers pointing the way to the city's sights for tourists

Main old town square

There's a World Heritage Site office--Durham and cathedral are so designated--
in the old town, with a wealth of information, including this helpful model
showing the river's bend around the cathedral and old town

OK, I know it's silly, but perhaps the best thing we saw this time in Durham
was the five-part history of Durham cathedral in LEGO: the first part is at
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156220671719182, and the rest are at https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/learning/history-durham-cathedral-lego;
something to behold

Outside the old university library building

In its gift shoppe, a literary map of the island

In the cathedral; taking pix has been an issue here; see my previous posts;
apparently no more; I took a few nonetheless, but will post fewer still

The cathedral has "pointers" too

Helpful model

Nave view

Elevation

Chancel

Crossing

Good grief! Is this part of the Dracula thing?

Cloister: the Holy Roller is gone! See previous Durham posts

Refectory, now a permanent exhibit of cathedral treasures

Durham's LEGO cathedral...finished some years ago...probably the first done,
I'd guess

One of the nicest of the cathedral gift shoppes we've seen

Bumper in cathedral colors

The river Wear--practically right downtown