Alnwick Castle

Just remember that the "l" and the "w" are silent and you'll be okay. I think it must be French. Anyhow, I had resisted going into Alnwick back in 2013--I'm not fond of these proprietary castles with their many side-bar undertakings--but this time Vicki insisted. And this time we found a camping site at the Alnwick Rugby Football Club, very similar to the one back in Kenilworth, except Alnwick caters to campers specifically, also footballers, and we were very definitely not alone. The pub at Alnwick RFC was somewhat larger and more festive than the one at Kenilworth, with longer hours and wider selection. FWIW. (Come to think of it I have yet to see a rugby football club site without a pub; there must be some connection). Anyhow, we were in town to see the castle, home of the Dukes of Northumberland since way back when, and Hotspur (Henry Percy), and Harry Potter, and other things.

But first, walking from the football club to the castle, you come upon something else
of note

Barter Books, occupying the old Alnwick train station; pretty famous UK bookstore

True to its heritage, the train runs during opening hours

Don't laugh: this is where the last "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was found,
and from which a billion pound industry has sprouted; rumor is they're working
on a new one: "Keep Calm and Make Britain Great Again" 

Backside of Alnwick Castle

Which you get to see if you backtrack from this ancient town gate, evidently
not designed for RVs

Among other interesting landmarks

Anyhow, here we are back at Alnwick Castle

The ticket-taker cracked up when I asked her where we could buy the mouse-ears

Archery practice, I think

So we did the grand tour of the main hall--impressive in many
ways, including some museum quality art--but, alas, thankfully,
no pix were allowed, so we have nothing to show here...except
that we then went on one of the movie tours...Alnwick figured
in a couple of the Potter movies, and that, frankly, is why
most people are here

Broomstick riding, training and practice; what would Freud say?

The figures are 14th century, like the castle

In my next life I want to be one of these; OK, some would say I have already
fulfilled this wish, despite the lack of appropriate costume

Hotspur, Henry Percy, member of the Northumberland clan, great soldier of his
age, from Scotland to France to Ireland, until he went again his king, Henry IV;
things went quickly downhill from there (read your Shakespeare); as a traitorous-
type personne, he doesn't get many monuments

Hagrid's house (seriously)

Alnwick Garden; maybe next time

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...