A few days up in the North east

Lindisfarne Priory

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Attraction | "Must have been a fine building in its time"

Quote:

This little island off the Northumberland coast can only be accessed when the tides are low and the causeway is above water level. Any visit to the island therefore needs to be carefully planned around tide times as you do not want to risk getting stranded on the island or worse getting washed away into the North Sea. There are 150 permanent residents on the island as well as a small primary school, post office cafes, hotels, guest houses, holiday homes, a couple of shops and of course the Castle, Priory and some local wildlife.Once you arrive on the island you have to park your car in the car park which is pay and display and then you have to walk where ever you want to go. At certain tim...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 20, 2012

Lindisfarne Priory
Holy Island
Berwick Upon Tweed, Northumberland TD15 2RX
+44 1289 389200

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Lindisfarne Island

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Lindisfarne or Holy Island, NorthumberlandThis little island off the Northumberland coast can only be accessed when the tides are low and the causeway is above water level. Any visit to the island therefore needs to be carefully planned around tide times as you do not want to risk getting stranded on the island or worse getting washed away into the North Sea. There are 150 permanent residents on the island as well as a small primary school, post office cafes, hotels, guest houses, holiday homes, a couple of shops and of course the Castle, Priory and some local wildlife.Once you arrive on the island you have to park your car in the car park which is pay and display and then you ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on May 19, 2012

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Lindisfarne Castle

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Attraction | "A very fine holiday home"

Quote:

LINDISFARNE CASTLEThis was originally an Elizabethan fort and on days when the shuttle bus is not running this is quite a long walk although until you get to the actual castle the road is pretty flat and accessible and follows the coast so you have lovely views across to the mainland and back to the island harbour, Priory and just generally of the village.The castle is open 12 March until 30th October from Tuesday to Sunday except bank holidays. It is also open every day in August. The opening times are dependent on the tides and will either be 10 am till 3pm or 12pm till 5 pm. You know when it is open as the National Trust will be flying. It is a NT property do members get in free otherwi...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 19, 2012

Lindisfarne Castle
Near Berwick-upon-Tweed
Lindisfarne TD15 2SH
+44 1289 389244

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Alnwick Castle

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Attraction | "BATTLE AXE AND BROOMSTICKS tours in the castle"

Quote:

When we booked our few days up in Rothbury we had a list of several places we wanted to visit and Alnwick Castle was top of my list because I always enjoy visiting places used as locations in films I have enjoyed. Alnwick castle has been used in many films but its most recent claim to fame as a film location is for the Harry Potter films. We hadn’t done my research that carefully and imagined that this place would be a bit like other stately homes and a morning visit would probably be all we would need. How wrong we were, the place is huge and there is so much to see that a full day visit still probably isn’t really enough. Alnwick Castle is in Northumberland in the town of Alnwick just ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on May 19, 2012

Alnwick Castle
Just off the A1 Road
Alnwick, Northumberland NE66 1NQ
+44 (1665) 510777

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Alnwick Castle

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Attraction | "A man's castle is his family home"

Quote:

When we booked our few days up in Rothbury we had a list of several places we wanted to visit and Alnwick Castle was top of my list because I always enjoy visiting places used as locations in films I have enjoyed. Alnwick castle has been used in many films but its most recent claim to fame as a film location is for the Harry Potter films. We hadn’t done my research that carefully and imagined that this place would be a bit like other stately homes and a morning visit would probably be all we would need. How wrong we were, the place is huge and there is so much to see that a full day visit still probably isn’t really enough. Alnwick Castle is in Northumberland in the town of Alnwick just ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on May 17, 2012

Alnwick Castle
Just off the A1 Road
Alnwick, Northumberland NE66 1NQ
+44 (1665) 510777

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The Alnwick Garden

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Attraction | "Cascades and poison plants"

Quote:

Alnwick Castle is in Northumberland in the town of Alnwick just off the A1. It is sort of half way between Newcastle and Edinburgh to give you an idea. I would suggest that you would need a car to get there as public transport would involve local buses as there is no train station in the town and the nearest one is Alnmouth which is 15 minutes away by car .PRICES AND ADMISSION TIMESWe were quite shocked when we saw the price of tickets. I believe we paid $14 each for the Castle and £12 each for the garden. This ticket does however allow us to go back as often as we like for one year from date of purchase however the castle is not open all year and I understand they are closing early ...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 17, 2012

The Alnwick Garden
Denwick Lane
Alnwick, Northumberland
+44 (0)1665 511350

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Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury

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Restaurant | "The restaurant is better than the hotel"

Quote:

We stayed two nights at this hotel recently and this is my review of the restaurant rather than the accommodation there.BREAKFASTThis was served in the restaurant and the tables were set for the number of people staying in the hotel. The juice (orange only) was in a jug on a table with a jug of milk, a bowl full of mini butters, some large jars of jam and spoon with small dishes into which you were meant to put what marmalade or jam you wanted. Bread in plastic wrappers and a toaster as well as three packs of cereal in the boxes they come in. Coffee in a machine was on a window sill behind a trolley full of all the cutlery and condiments used for laying the tables which made it not ...Read More

We stayed two nights at this hotel recently and this is my review of the restaurant rather than the accommodation there.

BREAKFAST
This was served in the restaurant and the tables were set for the number of people staying in the hotel. The juice (orange only) was in a jug on a table with a jug of milk, a bowl full of mini butters, some large jars of jam and spoon with small dishes into which you were meant to put what marmalade or jam you wanted. Bread in plastic wrappers and a toaster as well as three packs of cereal in the boxes they come in. Coffee in a machine was on a window sill behind a trolley full of all the cutlery and condiments used for laying the tables which made it not at all obvious and quite hard to get to. Tea was freshly made for you in the kitchen. Next to this small table of breakfast stuff was the server which was used as storage and all this gave the impression that you were eating somewhere temporary, a bit like a building site or how we ate when our kitchen was out of action when we were having a new kitchen installed.

The male chef cooked breakfast the first morning and the female chef the second. She was much more chatty and I believe the owner/manager and she informed me that they had recently acquired the place so hopefully they will start to make a few improvements. Many things could be sorted without spending a lot of money but to make it really nice it would need a major makeover which may not be worth it if they don’t get that many guests.

Anyway we were offered anything from a full English breakfast to any type of eggs or kippers. I stupidly asked for a kipper the first morning and it was hard work and repeated on me for the rest of the day. On the second day I asked for bacon only and made a bacon butty with some toast. My husband enjoyed his full English both mornings. I would have preferred fruit and yoghurt with nicely presented toast and things to spread on it. The food was well cooked although I was not impressed with the kipper as parts seemed to be cold and I only had a couple of mouthfuls.

DINNER
We ate in the pub/hotel restaurant on the first night and we hadn’t booked, it was packed but luckily they fitted us in. They hadn’t said it was necessary to book or asked if we wanted to eat there that night which could have been a bit annoying if we had not been able to get a table.

The menu was varied and reasonable prices. Most starters were around £4/5 and the mains were around £10 to £14 at the most. My husband chose the battered fish and chips and was very happy with his choice while I had the cod with creamy wine and pea sauce which came with mash and a bowl of freshly cooked vegetables. I enjoyed the meal it was tasty and I found no bones in my fish. I decided I’d like a dessert and chose two scoops of Movenpic ice cream which was about £3. The meal with two beers and two spritzers came to £37 which we thought was a good price for what we had.

The service was friendly, efficient and we had no complaints about the meal at all. Obviously the pub had a good reputation for meals within the town as it was so full on a Monday night.

WOULD I RECOMMEND?

Sorry but I do think attention to detail was lacking and some things like the stained duvet cover in our room and the way breakfast was laid out showed a complete lack of any thought for the way a guest might view things. Cereal should be in fresh looking sealed jars not tatty looking cereal packets and toast should be freshly made and presented in a basket or bread put in a basket near the toaster not in the plastic bread bag!! Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 23, 2012

Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury
Front Street
Rothbury, Northumberland NE65 7UT
01669 620 334

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Newcastle House Hotel

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Restaurant | "A step back in time to very dated rooms"

Quote:

Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury, NorthumberlandI know that we have only just come back from a fabulous holiday but when I saw this bargain on KGB deals £59 for two nights for two people including breakfast up in Northumberland I couldn’t resist getting it and booking it for over my husband’s birthday. As we hadn’t paid a lot and I had read that it was a pub Ii wasn’t expecting five star accommodation but I was hoping it would be okay.I confess I knew nothing about Rothbury before booking this but we had wanted to explore Northumberland and this seemed pretty close to Alnwick Castle where we wanted to go and also not so far from Lindisfarne either so a pretty near perfect location. Ro...Read More

Member Rating 2 out of 5 on April 20, 2012

Newcastle House Hotel
Front Street
Rothbury, Northumberland
01669 620 334

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Seaton Delaval Hall

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Attraction | "Destroyed by fire but still magnificent"

Quote:

The Hall is between the villages of Seaton Delaval and Seaton Sluice near Whitley Bay. The postcode for sat navs is NE26 4P. As you approach the Hall you actually enter the property through the main front gates and drive up with a great view of the hall in front of you. You do then turn off to the left to the car park which is a short walk away along a gravelled road. We parked the car then went into the little shop and payment pace to show our NT cards and get the required tickets. It is unusual to start with the gift shop but I will as that is what we started with. This is a small shop with pot cards and books as well as novelty item with the usual NT prices. Outside however there were ...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on April 19, 2012

Seaton Delaval Hall
The Avenue
Between Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval NE26 4QR
0191 237 9100

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