{"id":3426,"date":"2022-06-05T17:41:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-05T17:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3426"},"modified":"2022-06-05T17:41:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-05T17:41:23","slug":"4-northumberland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3426","title":{"rendered":"4. NORTHUMBERLAND"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day we left Yorkshire was another windy day for towing – and when we got here, putting up the awning was a real adventure!<\/p>\n

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Still, we are now in Glenda’s home county.\u00a0 So far, on the wildlife front, we have seen deer, hares, pheasants, partridges, stoats, rabbits and a peacock!\u00a0 It’s a wild county!\u00a0 Wild, wonderful and occasionally windy!<\/p>\n

One of our first outings was to Thrunton Woods next to the field in which Glenda and her father used to keep their horses during the summer months.\u00a0 Thrunton Wood is a large stand of 40 year old pines.\u00a0 Well, it was until the last week of November last year when Storm Arwen passed through the county.\u00a0 The storm brought winds of over 100 mph.\u00a0 Huge tracts of the forest have been flattened.\u00a0 Hundreds and hundreds of trees are lying in a tangled mess.\u00a0 Thousands – millions even!<\/p>\n

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Some snapped off like matchsticks.\u00a0 Others with their roots just hauled out of the ground …<\/p>\n

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Apparently, Arwen blew in from the north.\u00a0 The prevailing winds in this area are easterlies.\u00a0 The forests’ northern edges were not prepared for the windy onslaught and collapsed.\u00a0 The vulnerable central areas followed suit!\u00a0 According to Forestry Commission estimates, there are eight million trees needing making safe and extracting in Scotland and another four million in northern England.\u00a0 This was said to be going to keep all available foresters busy for 12 months.\u00a0 We are now six months into the clear up and I’d say they have a great deal of work still to do – and it will probably take at least five years to complete.\u00a0 But there are a lot of lorries shifting tons of logs about!<\/p>\n

We have a little mission – to visit Rothbury.\u00a0 The River Coquet flows past the town …<\/p>\n

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… and we have to walk one upstream section of the riverside path.\u00a0 We do it every time we are in the area.\u00a0 Family memories are powerful and important things.<\/p>\n

While there we also have to check out Flair (and one or two other stores in town).\u00a0 And I have to say the checking process was very productive.\u00a0 No magic trousers or fancy tops – or at least I hope not – because Glenda emerged from one emporium with a large box which I’m reliably informed is my birthday present!\u00a0 I’ve had to hide it in the caravan and forget where I put it!<\/p>\n

Cragside has fabulous rhododendrons.\u00a0 We need to check whether they are in full flower now, in case we miss them.\u00a0 The entrance to the estate is just about one mile from the centre of Rothbury.\u00a0 However, we discover that the last half mile of the road is closed for repairs!\u00a0 (And it will remain closed until after we leave the area!)\u00a0 We get diverted to Wheldon Bridge,\u00a0 then up the A697 to New Moor House via Longframlington and finally back down the road from Alnwick to the entrance to Cragside.\u00a0 A convenient 15 miles instead of 800 yards!<\/p>\n

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The daft thing is that we passed an exit from the estate less than a mile into our diversion.\u00a0 Why couldn’t the National Trust open that as a temporary entrance?\u00a0 I expect there’s a health and safety thing involved.\u00a0 No risk assessment!\u00a0 No approval from the council.\u00a0 Or possibly just a concern that some non-members will nip in without paying while no-one notices!<\/p>\n

Moan, moan!\u00a0 And while the rhodos and far from fully out, there are some magnificent displays!<\/p>\n

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… and we were able to take a two mile walk around the lake in the middle of the estate.<\/p>\n

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Now, on a different matter, you may know that we quite like visiting golf courses.\u00a0 The coffee is usually served with superb views.\u00a0 Well, this is Rothbury Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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We now have another good reason to visit each morning.\u00a0 The sign says visitors welcome.\u00a0 They have lovely changing rooms with executive loos and well equipped (but almost exclusively unused) showers.\u00a0 Now they are being more used!\u00a0 I keep the receptionist talking while Glenda slips in with our golf kit bag (AKA Sainsbury’s shopping bag) with soap and towels.\u00a0 Two showers, two coffees, a cheese scone and a border tart later, we emerge hoping that there are no CCTV cameras recording our adventures.\u00a0 Well, they do clearly say visitors welcome!\u00a0 And the coffees were indeed good and reasonably priced – although still twice what they were in Spain!\u00a0 We’ll be back tomorrow!<\/p>\n

Sunday lunch had to be eaten at the Three Wheat Heads in Thropton.\u00a0 They do a very good “three-slice carvery” with all the trimmings.\u00a0 But you have to book.\u00a0 Luckily we remembered to do this while we were still in Yorkshire.\u00a0 In fact, you can upgrade to a five-slice version if you are seriously hungry – but by “seriously”,\u00a0 I do mean “SERIOUSLY”!\u00a0 We went with Kathleen and David – University friends – actually Kath was responsible for us getting married.\u00a0 Perhaps “responsible” is taking things a bit far but she did introduce us by getting us to go on a blind date at 5 o’clock one November morning in 1967!<\/p>\n

But that’s another story!<\/p>\n

Alnwick is the county town.\u00a0 Home of the castle, the twelfth Duke of Northumberland, Barter Books (one of the UK’s largest second hand book shops and home of the now famous “Keep Calm” posters) and, on the day of our visit, the local market.<\/p>\n

Bondgate Tower, through which traffic for the centre of town passes in both directions was clearly built before the Advent of HGVs!\u00a0 It was indeed completed in 1480.<\/p>\n

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However, if you want to buy a house in town, you may already be too late!\u00a0 The local estate agent’s window is advertising houses which have already been sold (subject to contract etc. etc.).\u00a0 As you can see…<\/p>\n

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Out of 15 houses listed, 13 were marked as sold, one was part of a museum and the one in the middle is looking for offers over \u00a31.7 million!\u00a0 Bargain!\u00a0 I think estate agents in many parts of the UK are having this problem.\u00a0 Nothing to sell and what they do have goes within minutes of listing!\u00a0 A difficult time to get on the housing ladder!<\/p>\n

Next up was our tangle with the FBI.\u00a0 Our appointed time was 5.30 pm in Boulmer, a coastal village of about 30 dwellings.\u00a0 It’s sort of level with Alnwick, itself famous for it’s role in Harry Potter films where the castle was used as a setting for part of Hogwarts School.<\/p>\n

We got there early for our appointment, so we walked for a couple miles on the beach.<\/p>\n

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One thing is certain, Northumberland has a lot of fabulous beaches … fabulous, but sometimes bracing!<\/p>\n

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On time, we present ourselves at the FBI … and get a corner table with a superb view of the beach!<\/p>\n

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Did I mention that the FBI in Boulmer is the Fishing Boat Inn?\u00a0 Thought not!<\/p>\n

Morpeth is a lovely market town half way from camp to Newcastle.\u00a0 It has five main advantages over Newcastle.\u00a0 It’s closer, has fewer shops, less traffic, a golf course and easy parking!<\/p>\n

Having spent a “happy” day in the shops of Morpeth (and at Morpeth Golf Club), we spent another one in Newcastle.\u00a0 The first stop was at the Biscuit Factory.\u00a0 Although there was not so much as a digestive or a jammy dodger in sight (well, it is an art gallery after all!), we did have very nice coffee and cakes in their executive dining room upstairs.\u00a0 I then dropped Glenda in the centre of town and retreated to the Factory!<\/p>\n

There are rooms in the gallery equipped with sofas where the mobile reception is excellent.\u00a0 Surprise, surprise, they do also have a large number of artworks for sale …<\/p>\n

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… this being one of my favourites,\u00a0 but I’m not authorised to spend almost \u00a32,000 on a painting – or indeed on anything – without consulting!\u00a0 So, it remains for sale.<\/p>\n

By closing time, allegedly having tried on every dress in her size in the whole of Eldon Square, Glenda bought exactly none of them. So, we relocated to the MetroCentre a huge shopping precinct just South of the Tyne, where another hundred dresses were “bothered” but not bought.<\/p>\n

On the way home we were nearly run off the road by a speeding fire engine which immediately proceeded to close the road we needed.\u00a0 So, we got detoured almost to Hexham before meandering cross country to Ponteland and on to Nunnykirk where we spent a little time ordering dresses to be delivered to Morpeth at the weekend.\u00a0 In summary then, Morpeth,\u00a0 Newcastle, Gateshead, Nunnykirk and Morpeth again.\u00a0 Any bets on whether we end up with a dress or two?<\/p>\n

I’m not sure that last section will pass the proof-reader…\u00a0 It didn’t!<\/p>\n

Now, where on earth did I hide my birthday present?<\/p>\n

Editorial note:\u00a0 Glenda insists I tell you that having showers at Rothbury golf course was a figment of her active imagination, enlarged by me!\u00a0 But it’s a very tempting idea!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day we left Yorkshire was another windy day for towing – and when we got here, putting up the awning was a real adventure! Still, we are now in Glenda’s home county.\u00a0 So far, on the wildlife front, we… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-england","category-travels-in-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3426"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3456,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426\/revisions\/3456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}