If my train will come

Browsing. It’s a good way to pass some time. For me, I’d always opt for a book shop over a record shop, for MOH it’s probably the other way round. But when we were in Northumberland in the summer neither of us wanted to pass up the opportunity to browse Barter Books on the day we visited Alnwick.

We’d opted to visit Alnwick Castle and then headed into the town and found our way to one of the largest second hand bookshops in Britain, which is also home of the original ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster.

The bookshop opened in 1991 and as its name suggests was based on the swap system. It opened in Alnwick’s old Victorian railway station, where it remains today. Today the bookshop is made up of seven rooms, and retains the Old Waiting Room as a place to sit, have a meal, read newspapers and enjoy the open fire with a coffee.

A model railway circles above you as you browse the books, and I must admit I became quite taken with it, trying to get a shot of the engines as they passed by. There’s so much more than I can share with you in a single blog post - but if you’re in the area, or close enough to visit, then it’s really a must visit kind of place. But if not, there’s so much more for you to see on their website.

The books, the building, the trains and the whole ambience was a wonder to experience. And that’s without mentioning the cafe, ice cream bar, the art installations and the poetry on display.

SUNSET AND EVENING STAR. AND ONE CLEAR CALL FOR ME! AND MAY THERE BE NO MOANING OF THE BAR. WHEN I PUT OUT TO SEA. - TENNYSON.

TO POSTERITY

WHEN BOOKS HAVE ALL SEIZED UP LIKE THE BOOKS IN GRAVEYARDS
AND READING AND EVEN SPEAKING HAVE BEEN REPLACED
BY OTHER, LESS DIFFICULT MEDIA, WE WONDER IF YOU
WILL FIND IN FLOWERS AND FRUIT THE SAME COLOUR AND TASTE
THEY HELD FOR US FOR WHOM THEY WERE FRAMED IN WORDS,
AND WILL YOUR GRASS BE GREEN, YOUR SKY BE BLUE,
OR WILL YOUR BIRDS BE ALWAYS WINGLESS BIRDS?

LOUIS MACNEICE (FROM VISITATIONS, 1957)

We spent a good hour or so here, and could quite easily have spent the same amount of time again. It’s a place you could come back to again and again, and each time find something new to marvel at. And that too is part of what makes it great.

A Jubilee tea party at Wallington

The weather for our Northumberland trip was mixed to say the least, but it seems the weather at home was similar so that’s something at least! We arrived at Wallington just outside of Morpeth in torrential rain - and quite frankly we were surprised that the National Trust volunteer came out of their hut to give us the welcome talk, it was that bad. But he did and with our membership cards scanned and each of us a little bit soggier than before we made our way to the car park, parked up and waited for the rain to subside.

We weren’t the only ones, as when the rain turned to sunshine, tentatively at first and then gloriously, we weren’t the only ones opening our car doors and donning our waterproofs and walking boots, just in case the weather were to return. Spoiler - it didn’t, but as we weren’t sure instead of starting in the house we headed towards the Walled Garden which was a fantastic spot. By the time we got there the sun had decided to shine gloriously and it was drying up nicely, so much so that the garden benches were being used.

I’ll share more of the garden in another post, today I want to share more from inside the house. One that I liked a lot, and could quite happily move into, though I’m not sure the National Trust would be quite so keen on that!

The rooms are arranged around a central hallway, but in a way that you can also walk between rooms without accessing the corridor. Our visit started in the Dining Room which had been dressed for a Jubilee tea party, which made me smile - I mean, who doesn’t like a bit of bunting?

There was a cake too (cardboard I suspect) which was also doubling up as a screen for the projector showing excerpts from the Queen’s Coronation, the Union Flag and other film clips, and this was a really nice and unusual way to pay a tribute.

The dining room was forty paces along the corridor from the kitchen, and the servants would carry the food here using the far end of the room where the columns are as a serving area. The room also shows some of Wallington’s ceramic collection, which is one of the most important in the National Trust, including some fine examples of Chinese porcelain.

I’ve no idea if the photo below is that fine Chinese porcelain or not, but the detail and the design on the cups especially caught my eye.

Moving on we found ourselves in the Drawing Room, which was one of those rooms where I found myself taking a sharp in breath. It really was beautiful. It wasn’t always the principal reception room though, originally it was the Great Hall and the entrance of the 1680s house. The Central Hall took its place for entertaining, and this room became a family space used for less formal gatherings and for music making.

The library is the third grand room on the south front of the house, and contains over 3000 books making it one of the most important 19th century libraries in the National Trust. The books are fragile, and not just because of age but also reassuringly through use having been read many times by the family.

Next we found ourselves in the study, which would originally have house a three storey staircase which was removed when the South Staircase was installed in the 1740s. It was on this desk that the first history bestseller The History of England by Thomas Babington Macaulay was written. That’s what I love about these visits, history everywhere you look.

The Parlour was a much more feminine room, decorated in the Arts and Crafts style, and was used by the ladies of Wallington for ‘socialising and personal affairs.’ You might recognise the Morris & Co design. It looks like a room that it’d be easy to spend some time in.

The Central Hall is quite a statement, but an unfinished one. Pauline, Lady Trevelyan commissioned local artist William Bell Scott to create a series of ‘wall paintings to illuminate the history and worthies of Northumbria.’ The canvases were completed by 1861 and span history from the building of Hadrian’s wall to mid-19th century industry on Tyneside, but it was the paintings of the flowers and plants on the ground floor pillars that really appealed to me. They were absolutely stunning and I’m hoping to share more on these in a separate post.

The plan was for these upper pillars also to be decorated, and for the ceiling to be blue with gold starts - but as you can see this work never took place. It’s stunning without this, but I imagine with it it would be even more so. Light floods into the central space through those twelve sky-lights, which are something that we see more in our modern day homes.

Wallington really is a stunning house, and here I’ve shared just a selection of my photos from our visit - I’ve many more to share of the garden too. But that’s for a future post.

A week in the North East

Well, where to start?

As you may have guessed from the title of this post we’ve been to the North East. It started in Yorkshire for a family wedding, one that was on its third date - thanks Covid. But this time it happened and it was great. The journey there took us a little longer than we expected, and it did for quite a few guests, but that was pretty much forgotten once we saw the view looking over Robin Hood’s Bay from our hotel room.

The hat bought in 2020, only slightly just before the pandemic, finally got its outing - though it was pretty windy outside so I mostly held it, or held it on my head, just in case. My dress had cape sleeves, and luckily they were attached, but during my reading I’m sure they were making a bid for freedom.

I told you it was a stunning view.

OVERLOOKING ROBIN HOOD’S BAY

Northumberlandia: The Lady of North

Once we’d caught up with family, friends and the newly weds over breakfast and said our goodbyes, we had an overnight stop close to Morpeth. We didn’t have much planned and it wasn’t until the next morning we realised we were staying right next to this large land sculpture. It’s the largest in the world - and in our defence it wasn’t visible from where we were staying!

It’s really quite enticing and shows a reclining female, with viewing points and paths around and up and down the sculpture. I’ll share more on this in another post, but it really was quite a lovely thing to find and to explore, and if you’re close by it’s worth a stop.

Cragside

Our plans for the day, before checking into our accommodation for the week, was to head up to the National Trust’s Cragside - billed as Britain’s original smart home, being illuminated with hydro-electricity and powered by hydraulics. It was fascinating, and beautiful too - and lots to see, and share!

After learning more about how the hydro-electricity system powered the house we headed through the woodlands and approached the house over the iron bridge and up through the rock garden, which made for quite the entrance - a more usual route is also available! Inside the house there was so much to see, so much that I’ve struggled to choose the photos to share with you in this post.

The kitchens are, for the time, high-tech but there’s also the traditional butler’s tray and so many copper moulds, and some so, so tiny!

In the dining room they had what looked to be a very patriotic table, but one which extends to sit many more than you’d think. Out in the hallway, and an entrance hall that was added later on are arts and crafts style tiles, which wouldn’t look out of place in a modern day home.

And still there was more to explore, and so we headed off towards the formal garden with its Edwardian glasshouses which are currently being repaired. There were some surprises in this part of the property too, but I’ll save that for a fuller post.

The Treehouse, Beacon Hill Farm

Cragside was slightly north of where we were staying for the rest of the week, so after a stop for tea and cake we were able to jump back in the car just as the rain started. By the time we arrived at Beacon Hill Farm after a quick shop for supplies the rain had stopped, which made unloading the car into the golf buggy a lot easier task. It was great to get a lift down to the Treehouse, but it actually wasn’t that far we discovered quite quickly!

The treehouse was stunning, and just as we expected it to look. It was much warmer inside, which was a pleasant discovery and useful throughout the week where the weather had everything: wind, rain, hailstorm and even some sun. While we got out and about, we did spend quite a bit of time mesmerised by the views and on cow-watch.

Alnwick Castle

I was keen to get to at least one castle on our trip, and we did. And if you’re going to chose a castle then why not Hogwarts? And so that’s where we went. It turned out to be the only castle on our trip, but I’m sure we’ll be back to this part of the world to visit some of the others - there are many!

Alnwick Garden had been on my list to visit too, and even though they’re next door to each other, each was charging its own entry fee - and both were pretty steep, but I couldn’t help but try and sneak a look at the gardens as we walked past. In fact of all the places we visited on this trip Alnwick, while great, is the place I have the most criticism for. The double entry fee which I’ve already mentioned, without even a discount for visiting both felt a little too one-sided and grabby. I know these places must cost a small fortune to upkeep, and the past few years have been tough, but even so.

In the Castle pictures weren’t allowed in the State Rooms, but you could buy a guide book for £5 and throughout the rooms there were banners promoting their new book. I’m pretty sure that the pictures I’d want to take wouldn’t be in the guide book, so it’s a shame not to be able to have taken any.

The gates though, on part of the garden boundary, were pretty spectacular.

Barter Books, Alnwick

Now this wasn’t on my list before we arrived in the North East, but it is one of the Alnwick attractions and I’m glad we went. The bookshop is in the former train station and has pretty much every genre of book you could ever want. And there’s model trains running overhead, and much more. Definitely visit here if you’re in Alnwick.

Wallington

My photos might show bright sunshine, but we arrived in a torrential shower. One so heavy that I was surprised that the National Trust man came out of his hut to share information and zap our membership cards - we were happy to have waited, we waited before we got out of the car in any case, and were grateful that our walking boots remained in the car.

You wouldn’t believe how quickly the weather changed, and how quickly it started to dry out - by the time we reached the Walled Garden, having decided to head there first in case the rain came again, the sun was out and the warmth was so welcome.

The walled gardens were spectacular, with many more plants than you’d expect from the shot above. I’ll definitely be sharing some more from the gardens so look out for those. Back in the house the dining room was set for an afternoon tea party for the upcoming jubilee, which made me smile.

It was a lovely house, with the rooms set around a central hall and the decor was simply stunning. The ceiling in the Drawing Room took my breath away, MOH was rather taken with the library and I’ve a feeling he’s keen to have one in our new house!

The painted panels in the central hall were also stunning, and there were at least twelve panels each one different.

After seven nights away we spent Friday travelling back south, knowing that we’ll be back to explore the North East at some point again. There’s so much to see, and our four nights there meant we only scratched the surface. If you’ve been to Northumberland where would you recommend?