Northumberland Break
01st November 2021
Back from a very nice mid October Break from work on a family trip to Northumberland. Being land locked in the middle of the country, I enjoy a break by the seaside and the change of scenery. The only difference being these days that there aren't as many sand castles. Which, being in Northumberland, seemed to be the only type of castle that I didn't actually see. Wake up in the morning - castle. Drive a few miles - castle. Go for a walk - castle. Try to invade another village - castle.
It quickly become apparent that village/castle invading would have to wait until we got around to building the Trebuchet and, as we only had a week, cooking the tea would have to take priority. Plus, space in the car made it hard to carry around the necessary equipment for a long siege. Remember, we were only there for a week. Probably not enough time to starve the castle into submission. No wonder then there are still so many of them around these days.
Of the ones that we did see in non-siege tourist type of capacity, my favourites were Bamburgh Castle, Holy Island Castle and Dunstanburgh Castle. All firmly on a photographers to do list for good reasons. Our base in Warkworth (within view of, you've guessed it, Warkworth Castle) was a good location for this part of the coast and I'd happily stay there again. We went to Alnwick Castle for a tour of all the people dressed as Harry Potter characters. This was made slightly harder by not ever having seen a Harry Potter film. We decided that this must have been anyone who had on some sort of smock. And a hat.
They had a nice talk on medieval armour. My dads favourite helmet was the basinet. My favourite was the maisonette - similar to the basinet, but two up two down.
We also had a trip to Hadrians Wall which was good although, being some 4ft high, I was surprised just how much smaller Scotsman must have been in those days. Presumably, this made the construction of the wall easier but it must have been harder to spot the Scots sneaking up in the long grass.
I was very impressed with Vindolanda Roman Fort and their excellent museum of Roman artefacts. Ground conditions have preserved a vast array of goods and objects of all types - from leather shoes, jewellery, tools, glasses and pottery to the preserved tablets of Roman correspondence detailing all aspects of everyday Roman life. Truly amazing to see the words written in the 1st and 2nd Century AD.
In 2000 years from now I wonder what future archaeologists will make of life today when the find a hard drive full of dancing tiktok cats and You've Been Framed videos. They will probably think its has high class religious status which seem to be the norm when archaeologists have to guess at things.
Anyway, he's a few of the photos from the trip. There may be some castles.
Dunstanburgh Castle - high tide during the afternoon
Holy Island Castle reflected in a rock pool
Pre-dawn on the coast at Craster
Sunset at Low Hauxley
Roughting Linn
High tide at Bamburgh Castle
Sunrise at Dunstanburgh - standing in the sea as usual
Bridges over the River Tyne
It quickly become apparent that village/castle invading would have to wait until we got around to building the Trebuchet and, as we only had a week, cooking the tea would have to take priority. Plus, space in the car made it hard to carry around the necessary equipment for a long siege. Remember, we were only there for a week. Probably not enough time to starve the castle into submission. No wonder then there are still so many of them around these days.
Of the ones that we did see in non-siege tourist type of capacity, my favourites were Bamburgh Castle, Holy Island Castle and Dunstanburgh Castle. All firmly on a photographers to do list for good reasons. Our base in Warkworth (within view of, you've guessed it, Warkworth Castle) was a good location for this part of the coast and I'd happily stay there again. We went to Alnwick Castle for a tour of all the people dressed as Harry Potter characters. This was made slightly harder by not ever having seen a Harry Potter film. We decided that this must have been anyone who had on some sort of smock. And a hat.
They had a nice talk on medieval armour. My dads favourite helmet was the basinet. My favourite was the maisonette - similar to the basinet, but two up two down.
We also had a trip to Hadrians Wall which was good although, being some 4ft high, I was surprised just how much smaller Scotsman must have been in those days. Presumably, this made the construction of the wall easier but it must have been harder to spot the Scots sneaking up in the long grass.
I was very impressed with Vindolanda Roman Fort and their excellent museum of Roman artefacts. Ground conditions have preserved a vast array of goods and objects of all types - from leather shoes, jewellery, tools, glasses and pottery to the preserved tablets of Roman correspondence detailing all aspects of everyday Roman life. Truly amazing to see the words written in the 1st and 2nd Century AD.
In 2000 years from now I wonder what future archaeologists will make of life today when the find a hard drive full of dancing tiktok cats and You've Been Framed videos. They will probably think its has high class religious status which seem to be the norm when archaeologists have to guess at things.
Anyway, he's a few of the photos from the trip. There may be some castles.
Dunstanburgh Castle - high tide during the afternoon
Holy Island Castle reflected in a rock pool
Pre-dawn on the coast at Craster
Sunset at Low Hauxley
Roughting Linn
High tide at Bamburgh Castle
Sunrise at Dunstanburgh - standing in the sea as usual
Bridges over the River Tyne