Thursday, April 27, 2017

Alnwick Castle

Our drive today took us from Haltwhistle to Seahouses with a major stop at Alnwick Castle and gardens. As a point of interest the town is pronounced with a silent 'l' and 'w' so called 'Anick rather than Alnwick.
As we left our B&B we drove to the bottom of the hill for a final photo. This was our favourite accommodation to date.


The drive was wonderful. We did not use one major road. Along the way there were great rural scenes.


We passed by several National Trust properties and great little villages. Alnwick is actually the only city in Northumberland. Our favourite was Rothbury.




We spent half the day at Alnwick Castle. There were a lot of options!


                                               The walk to the Castle.

The castle is the ancestral home of the Percy Family, the XII Duke of Northumberland. They were in residence till Easter.


                                    Considered by many to be the finest castle in the UK.

The gardens are also beautiful if not at their best today! Yesterdays wind removed the flowers from the cherry trees.


                                                They were designed by Capability Brown.


We went to several special events. The Lost Cellars was a type of ghost tour but the film location tour was interesting.
The castle was the site for most of the filming of Harry Potter movies. You may recognise some of the scenes! The Christmas edition of Downton Abbey was filmed here and many scenes from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.


                                  We think that our guide was left behind from the filming! There were broomstick flying classes but we decided not to attend.





                                    Site of the Quidditch field. Mountains were added by special effects!


We also visited several museums, a Knights challenge and a Dragon event.




                                                   This was not the REAL dragon!

We are now at Seahouses on the coast and will be in Scotland tomorrow.


                                         Taken from our room. No zoom required!

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