Saturday, 31 August 2013

Northumbria

Well before the summer finally disappears, I have one more long overdue milestone to share and that is we actually had a holiday, the first in over four years!   We stayed in a cottage at Beadnell Bay but on the way  broke our journey in Hexham:


 
We had tea in Mrs Minnigans coffee house followed by a short walk to the Abbey, there we followed an excellent children's trail, Pip wrote a prayer for her daddy and I admired some beautiful tapestries, made by this textile artist  We had time for a quick ice-cream treat before completing the last leg of our journey. 
 
 
 






 


After a good night's sleep and a yummy breakfast, the kids and I made our way to the beach, which was quite literally a two minute walk from the house:


We examined rock pools, built sandcastles, found a water snail and left a beach mandala as a gift to the sea.  After lunch a Sunday nap was the order of the day, followed by outdoor play on the front lawn and a tea on the picnic bench.

 
 

 
 
 
 
On the Monday we visited Alnwick Gardens:

 

Benedict and Pip had a great time charging around the green space and paddling in the various mini rock pools.  The rose garden smelt divine and the serpent maze was a welcome oasis of shade from the blistering heat.  We saved the splash park until last and it was well worth the wait!  Once the kids had dried off we made our way to the cafĂ© for a pot of tea and some gluten free cakes.  Despite having been on the go all day, B and P still managed to find the energy to run around the lawn just before bed!



 
 

 
 
 



 

 

 

 

 
 



On Wednesday we made a trip to Lindisfarne  it was not our best day, which was a real shame since it was the only place I had really set my heart on visiting; never mind it's an excuse for me to return before too long!

 

 




Our summer scrapbook was  very useful for documenting our days.  The Lindisfarne centre was a hit with the kids; Benedict enjoyed pretending to be a Viking and Pip made a friendship with a retired teacher!
 
 
 

 
 

 
 




 
 

 

Our last visit before returning home was a trip to Bamburgh Castle:

 


This place was great value for money and had loads for us to see and do.  A children's quiz sheet had been thoughtfully constructed and for anyone with a disability, there was a DVD of those rooms which were inaccessible.  After lunch we made our way to the smaller museum housing various  inventions courtesy of Lord Armstrong, followed by a mini dig in the children's archaeological pit!  From our seated position we could observe various archaeology students working on a full scale excavation.

 
 

 
 
 
 
 


 

 
 



Happy Memories!





5 comments:

sue said...

It looks like you had a wonderful holiday and such lovely photo's :) xx

Eva said...

Such nice pictures, I have to come back later and look at each one more closely to see that part of Great Britain. Right now Flora keeps telling me that she is really hungry.

sustainablemum said...

So glad you have finally managed to take a holiday, a beautiful part of the country too. Weirdly we were there too, we had lunch on Bamburgh beach yesterday (Weds)!

doe said...

So beautiful San!! What wonderful places you visited and learned about! Such special memories . . . :) The beach is always my favorite place to be. I'm so glad you got to go.

Eva said...

Dear San,

Veronika and I are reading about St. Cuthbert right now and I told her that you had been to Lindisfarne. So we had to come here and look up your pictures of your vacation again, something I had meant to do for a while. While looking at Lindisfarne and the picture of St. Cuthbert, we were wondering what birds are shown in the picture. We have several stories about St. Cuthbert and the birds, but our birds are ravens, eagles, or simply birds. Also, is it still possible to see his grave? So great you posted these pictures. Thanks again.

Eva and Veronika