Blogs from Northumberland, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 5

I received an early morning email from British Airways on Monday the 29th telling me our flight to England had been cancelled until further notice- there had been some power difficulties with BA at Heathrow that had affected travellers for over three days. We now needed an extra night's accommodation and luckily for us a hotel around the corner had a room. John and I meandered around Milan for the day and took off for England Tuesday afternoon. It was so good to finally arrive in Whitley Bay to the cheery faces of cousin Peter and Linda. We had a fabulous five days with them, visiting Thrum Mill in Rothbury, which appeared on an episode of Restoration Man on Channel 2 and we just had to see it! and the beautiful home of Lord Armstrong, Cragside, ... read more

So we left the swarming city of London behind in favour of long drives in a northerly direction. Wednesday 12th we packed up and headed to Stratford Upon Avon with the intention of seeing inside Shakespeare's birthplace, Anne Hathaways Cottage and any other Shakespearean experiences we could find. Instead we had brunch inside the coolest steampunk type cafe called the Boston Tea Party (a bacon bap and the first of what I am certain will be many Croque Monsier's), and we ended up waylaid inside an incredibly cool Wizard/magic shop called Magic Alley. Not just a shop but a Wizards museum - 3 floors - bottom floor sells books, wands, crystals, spells, and includes a coffee shop at the back, floor 2 and 3 are the museum , with magic numbers. stories, costumes and a puzzle ... read more

I got up around 7:30. When I drew back the curtains, I got a surprise, it was very foggy out there. I was wondering if it would even be possible to walk as I wouldn't be able to see a thing. However as time progress the fog receded. It did, however, still look cold and miserable. Ah, the British weather so unpredictable, especially after yesterday was so nice and warm. I pottered around getting ready, drinking coffee, packing my bag and watching TV, until it was time for me to go down to breakfast. When I had checked in the night before, I had selected what type of breakfast I wanted and it what time I wanted it. Of course, I had opted for the full Northumbrian and I helped myself to juice, coffee and toast, ... read more

The strange history of Berwick-upon-Tweed The main purpose with our visit in England on this trip was to hike the Hadrian's Wall Path. After finishing that we had a few days over and here we are going to write a little about how we spent those. . We didn't have any plans for the remaining days when we arrived in England. We did actually try to go to Scotland but had to abandon that idea when we didn't find any accommodation. When we sat down to make plans for the last days Ake remembered that he many years ago read a story about how a town in northern England ended up being in war with Russia for over 100 years. The town is called Berwick-upon-Tweed and here comes the story. Berwick-upon-Tweed lies near the b... read more

Our original purpose of stopping in Blyth on the Northumberland coast was to spend the day visiting the offshore islands of Farne to see the puffins that spend time there over the summer season. However when we made enquiry by email regarding the short boat trip we learnt that the puffins leave the islands at the end of July and head off to where they spend the winter. We had left our timing too late as of course it is now early August. So we changed tact and decided that a short drive to Alnwick the location of the castle owned by the Percy family for over 650 years and used in the Harry Potter movies and also the last programme of Downton Abbey would be a good replacement for our sightseeing. This is the first ... read more