Wallington - Wooler

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The sun is still shining today!!! That makes four glorious days in row. Kath and Albert are minding Samantha this morning and not heading off to Northumberland for our caravanning holiday until lunch time. We discovered that we could visit yet another NT property on our way up so we decided to travel up in our car and meet them at the caravan park in Wooler later this afternoon when the caravan will be available to check in.

From Stalybridge Edna took us through Grasscroft, Uppermill, Dobcross and Denshaw to the M62. I’m pretty sure this is the way we tried to go when we went up to Castle Howard a couple of years ago, but Edna did a much better job than I did navigating through all these small villages!! I think I lost the plot at Denshaw and took us onto the motorway at Junction 21 rather than Junction 22?

Once on the M6 it was pretty much straight on until Newcastle upon Tyne! After we had driven around Newcastle I programmed Edna for Wallington. Edna took us off the A1 at Morpeth and then directed us along a B road towards Belsay where we took a right turn onto the A696. From the A696 we headed along a couple more B roads until we reached the Wallington House and Garden near Cambo.

Goodness, it is getting to be a case of another day, another National Trust property! We never use our National Trust cards at home in Australia, but our membership is worth every cent when we visit the United Kingdom as there are NT properties literally everywhere!

We bought some sandwiches for lunch and sat in the sun to eat those. I have to be careful out in the sun today as I caught a bit of colour on the top of my arms yesterday! The trouble is that the sun is shining, but it is not really hot like it is in Australia so the sunburn sort of sneaks up on you!

After lunch we went into the house which was absolutely filled with period furniture and decorations and amazing collections of porcelain, needlework and curiosities!! The curiosities were collected by Lady Jane Wilson who went on fossil-hunting expeditions every summer after she was widowed in 1798!! She also collected beetles, stuffed birds and shells to create a Cabinet of Curiosities that is actually an entire room full of the things she collected!

From the house we proceeded down the Serpentine Walk to the Garden Pond and the Walled Garden beyond. At the end of the garden pond we encountered a pair of Canadian Geese with their five goslings. Very cute!

The Walled Garden, what can I say?! Another beautiful garden on another beautiful day to show it off to best advantage! This garden is probably not as large or as diverse as the garden at Biddulph, but stunning none-the-less. And absolutely filled with senior citizens! All the OAPs must go on excursions to NT properties during the week? Still it must be quieter than it would be on a weekend?

From the walled garden we headed off on the river walk to the stone bridge on the B6342. When we drove over the bridge on our way in we thought that it looked very photogenic. Unfortunately, however, after walking around to it, it was a case of it looking much more photogenic from the car than from the riverside!! With the afternoon getting away from us we walked back to the house along the B6342 rather than completing the rest of the river walk.

On our way out we bought a few apples from the farm shop in the car park. Back in the car, we programmed Edna for Wooler and off we went. Rather than taking us back to Morpeth Edna guided us along the B roads through Scot’s Gap to Rothbury and then onto the A697 to Wooler. We arrived at the Riverside Caravan Park at about 4.50pm and sent a text to Kath to discover where they were. Kath’s reply told us to ask at reception for caravan 223 as they had just arrived and were opening up the van!

This has to be the most appealing caravan park we have ever seen in the UK. As the name suggests, it is right by the river and it has trees and shrubs!! The van itself is very well appointed and looks very comfortable. Albert announced that we could even take the double room as they slept in the double room the last time we went caravanning together in Wales. Mind you when I discovered that the cupboard in the double room was actually a second toilet and basin Kath was dead sick about it and wanted to change rooms!!

Bernie and I went into the town to try to find a supermarket and something for tea. Albert had in mind to have a supermarket curry. We couldn’t find a large supermarket, there only seemed to be a Food Co-Op in town. They had some curries in the fridge, but not much of a range to choose from late on a Monday afternoon. We made an executive decision and decided to buy the ingredients to whip up a spaghetti Bolognese. While we cooked, Kath and Albert went on a walk to the pub/restaurant associated with the caravan park. When they arrived back they announced that it will be curry night at the pub on Wednesday night so we can have curry for dinner then!

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