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A few days in Northumberland (but not enough)
coolonespa wrote:
Lincolnshire
coolonespa
08:21 27-Apr-19
07Last time I was at Alnwick I connected with my inner wizard & tried riding a broomstick. Not a flicker of lift, so my magical skills were rated zero
Maybe because you are the wrong sex, Steve, @coolonespa (or not sufficiently in touch with your feminine side!!) 
@ESW wrote:
May be you needed to head to their Poison garden coolonespa to concoct a spell for lift off….
Brilliant idea Eleanor
May be you needed to head to their Poison garden @coolonespa to concoct a spell for lift off….
Last time I was at Alnwick I connected with my inner wizard & tried riding a broomstick. Not a flicker of lift, so my magical skills were rated zero 
Loved all of that @GBG – thanks.
When I was in Northumberland in March, I went to Alnwick Castle Gardens. This was my first visit and they more than lived u to all the Hype. They are wonderful. Still being early in the year, trees hadn’t come into leaf so it was still possible to see the underlying structure of the gardens and appreciate all the earth moving construction that had gone into them. The water cascade is the highlight, but there are so many other things to enjoy.
The poison garden can only be visited by guided tour and you are warned NOT to touch anything!
There are lots more pictures here.
I know @PamWnorth is a fan of the gardens too and hopefully she will have some pictures of the cherry blossom which is out at the moment….
I’m so glad Northumberland worked its magic on you too @GBG. There is also Kielder Forest and the Roman Wall area too…
I’ve a feeling we have been following each other around this year! I spent five days in Northumberland in April visiting many of the same places. Cragside is wonderful. I did the walk to the power house which was signed as half a mile. After ten minutes vigorous walking the next sign still said half a mile. Another five minutes it was down to one third of a mile and that was a long third too! Lord Armstrong was the most amazing man and I am always intrigued by all the C19th mod cons he devised.
We live in the South of England and had never been to Northumberland before. Somehow we either only got as far as Yorkshire or missed it completely on the way to Scotland. Well a few weeks ago we finally managed a short visit and what a treat it was. Our plan was to travel up the coast and to use out National Trust and English Heritage cards to visit many of the beautiful castles and homes.
On our first day, after leaving Newcastle-upon- Tyne we travelled north, but also taking some of the side roads that go down to the sea and beautiful beaches. The sun was out but there was a very strong wind and we were pleased to get a bit more shelter in the pretty harbour town of Amble. The harbour area has a group of pods selling crafts and local foods and the Northumberland Seafood Company. It was my birthday and we had ordered a seafood platter with lobster for our dinner. It certainly did not disappoint.
The following day was still very windy and the mist had descended. We visited Warkworth Castle and learned its history from the excellent English Heritage audio guide.
The next stop was the very pretty town of Alnmouth
We had considered going to the Farne Islands but it was still far too windy so we had to make other plans and decided to head inland to Cragside, a National Trust house and estate. We travelled through the foggy moors and, as we arrived in the valley where Cragside is, the mist lifted a bit to show the amazing lake, house and gardens. .
The mist was still with us as we headed back to the coast but it still showed us how beautiful the beaches and harbours are. We were really surprised how unspoilt and quiet the area is.
Craster
We were up early the next day to make the most of our time on Lindisfarne. The tide tables said we could cross from 8.30 and that is what we did. It was still very quiet , even though it was a Sunday, and we managed to explore quite a bit before heading to the castle for opening time at 10.00. This was again a good move as space is quite limited in the castle and as we were there early, we had it virtually to ourselves. As we walked back towards the Abbey we were met by a sea of people heading to the castle. The Abbey is interesting but sadly English Heritage do not have audio guides for this. The museum does however fill you in on the history and also has a few interesting artefacts. On the sea side of the Abbey, you can go up to an old coastguards tower. From there we could see and hear hundreds of seals on the beach of the headland opposite.
Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Abbey
We escaped from the island before the afternoon tide made us prisoners on the island and continued to Berwick on Tweed for an overnight stay before heading back home to the south. This was a short glimpse of what Northumberland had to offer and we did not see it in the best weather conditions, which also meant that we missed out on visits to some of the places that we wanted to see. We will be back and The Farne Islands, Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle and the moors will be on the list for the visit too. I think we will need at least a week to enjoy Northumberland fully.