South Shields - Day 2

---

So, this morning we looked at the places of interest that we still had on our list. We could go north along the coast to Seaton Delaval Hall (NT), St Mary’s Lighthouse and Tynemouth Priory (EH) OR we could go west to Aydon Castle (EH), Cherryburn (NT) and Prudhoe Castle (EH). To avoid using the Tyne Tunnel again and having to faff around paying the toll online we decided to … Go West!

The SatNav was set for Aydon Castle. Syri directed us south westerly to pick up the A1 heading north. Ooh, déjà vu, as we flew past the Angel of the North again before taking the exit onto the A69 to start heading west. We only travelled a couple of miles on the A69 before we were heading off onto the B roads again. Syri loves a direct route even if it means taking us down among the hedgerows where we can’t see anything much except, well, hedges.

This morning Syri’s preferred route did not take account of the road closure at the intersection of B6318 and B6321 AND there didn’t seem to be any helpful ‘Diversion’ signs to follow. We took the next left, but we were not confident that it would take us far enough around the reason for the road closure?? Phew, we made, it although we suspect that the road was only open for local traffic as we had to make our way past works vehicles and traffic cones before we eventually reached the turn off for Aydon Castle.

Another day, another fortified manor house rather than a ‘proper’ castle. Plagiarising shamelessly from the English heritage website:

Almost completely intact, it is one of the finest and most unaltered examples of a 13^th-century English manor house. Set in a beautiful and secluded Northumberland woodland, it was originally built as an undefended residence, but was almost immediately fortified on the outbreak of Anglo-Scottish warfare. Nevertheless, it was pillaged and burnt by the Scots in 1315, seized by English rebels two years later, and again occupied by Scots in 1346. The castle later became a farmhouse in the 17^th-century and was lived in up until 1966.

The EH website also has a lovely birds-eye photograph of the property. Oh, for a drone!! We had to make do with a photograph from the apple orchard being the prettiest shot we could manage. We had a long chat to a couple visiting from Yorkshire while we were prowling around the interior of the house. They asked if we were visiting from New Zealand, South Africa, Australia or … Canada? We are regularly asked which of those southern hemisphere countries we are from, but Canada is a first! We’re sure we don’t sound even remotely Canadian … or like Kiwis or South Africans for that matter, but I guess to the untuned ear we just sound Not English, ha, ha.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry about the roadworks again when we left as Syri advised us to head south towards the A68 and then east onto the A695. We crossed the River Tyne, but this far west we were able to cross over a bridge rather than negotiating the Tyne Tunnel to go under the River Tyne in Newcastle. No toll to worry about and we soon arrived at Cherryburn, the birthplace of Thomas Bewick a famous artist and naturalist.

Now this turned out to be a ‘closing the circle’ moment. When we visited Croome Park in the Cotswolds a couple of weeks ago they were hosting an exhibition of Thomas Bewick wood prints in one of their rooms. With the house at Croome Park being mostly unfurnished it provides the National Trust with perfect spaces in which to display temporary exhibits and currently they are featuring Thomas Bewick. We enjoyed the prints that we saw at Croome, but didn’t properly appreciate their importance until today.

After a wild childhood, Thomas Bewick went on to publish several important works that were all illustrated with his amazingly detailed prints made from wood blocks. After an introduction from one of the enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers in the original cottage where Thomas was born, we entered the 19^th-century farmhouse that was the later home of the Bewick Family. In the kitchen another fabulous volunteer was demonstrating printing as it would have been done in Thomas’s time. We were given the print she produced as a souvenir.

Bewick was a natural artist and chose as his medium wood engraving. A passionate naturalist he used his skills to produce incredibly detailed wood blocks of the animals he observed. With his woodblock engravings he revolutionised print art in Georgian England. His illustrations could be incorporated with typeface to produce a page of text with an illustration in one pressing rather than the multiple pressings that were required with copperplate images. Because this method involved less labour it reduced the price of books and made them more accessible to the masses rather than only the rich.

His first publication, in partnership with Ralph Beilby, was ‘A General History of Quadrupeds’ published in 1790. He was producing the work at a time when explorers were bringing back exotic specimens from all over the world. Incredibly his book includes, in an addendum to the main work, a platypus, at the time known only as ‘an amphibious animal’ and on the preceding pages the ‘wombach’.

Thomas went on to produce ‘A History of British Birds’ in two volumes. Volume 1 published in 1797 featured Land Birds and Volume 2 featuring Water Birds appeared in 1804. These publications were the first field guides for bird watchers and most guides produced to this day follow much the same format. A trailblazer indeed. Thomas did not limit himself to the natural world, he also produced several editions of Aesop’s Fables. Another fact that I found interesting is that Thomas Bewick’s books are still in print AND they are available on Kindle. Having revolutionised printing and making books cheaper and more accessible I wonder what he would think of the advent of e-books??

In addition to the woodblocks he carved that were specifically relevant to the text they would accompany, he also produced ‘tail-pieces’ that were inserted to fill what would otherwise have been blank spaces at the end of entries or chapters. These were usually humorous or depicted a moral observation on life. The exhibition at Croome featured many of the tail-pieces that he created. His body of work is truly remarkable. Not bad for a wayward boy who received little formal education due to his bad behaviour and truancy!

After our fascinating visit to Cherryburn we had lunch at Buddie’s Café. When we returned to the ‘main’ road the café was immediately opposite and there was parking available. Since it was lunchtime, it seemed like a good choice. The café served up some pretty decent BLTs and we were happy to support this little café that is operating to support vulnerable adults in the community.

Just a few miles away we found Prudhoe Castle, yet another English Heritage property. We have now recouped the cost of our annual membership so, even if we don’t travel to the UK again next year, we are ahead! Prudhoe Castle was part of the series of Norman castles built along the River Tyne after the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was originally the home of the Umfravilles, but was later taken over by the Percy family. The castle survived two sieges during the 12th-century. The only Northumberland castle to resist the Scots it was continuously occupied for over nine centuries.

With three more historic properties under our belt, it was time to head back to South Shields. Hmmn, Syri wasn’t having a bar of our plan to not use the Tyne Tunnel today! She decided to take us North on the A1 to go south again on the A19 … as we did yesterday afternoon. We have no idea as to her rationale for this seemingly odd and circuitous route back to South Shields. Perhaps we avoided road works, perhaps we avoided traffic congestion? We will never know, but that meant jumping back onto the website this evening to pay the toll online!

The weather has been good ALL DAY today. We’ve had three wet mornings followed by three reasonably pleasant afternoons, so it’s been great to have good weather for the whole day. We arrived back in South Shields in time to walk out to the mouth of the River Tyne and the sea front. With it being such a lovely afternoon, we walked all the way out to the lighthouse on the south side of the river. The North Sea was very calm this afternoon and/or the tide was out as there were no waves breaking against the foundations of the breakwater.

Tonight, we went to Kuzey Turkish Restaurant for our dinner. We ordered a mixed entrée for two that would easily have fed three - which made it difficult to fit in our main course! Fortunately, Bernie was feeling hungry, so he ate two thirds of the entrée and half of my main!!



Steps: 14,640 (10.03 kms)

---