Sunday 18 May 2014

Holidays

We have been to Northumberland for a week, staying in the Lord Crewe Hotel in Bamburgh.   The castle, which is majestic, was visible from our bedroom window, as was the sea.

I am not very mobile and cannot walk too far, so we tended to go to places where I could have gentle walks and enjoy the scenery while the farmer set off on a five mile walk.   We would meet up for a sandwich lunch - there are plenty of sandwich shops in Bamburgh, where you can choose your sandwich filling from a wide variety.

My modest walks would be followed by reading the Times, doing all the Mind Games and then chatting to anyone who came by.   Quite often a National Park Warden would come by and be only too happy to chat, so I learned a lot about this wondereful place.

The Cheviots are so beautiful and the whole area is so green.   We spent several days in the Harthope Valley which is just out into the National Park from the little town of Wooler.

I heard the cuckoo for the first time in many years, I heard and watched Song Thrushes - we never hear one round where we live - and the air was full of sandmartins, who had built their nests in the river bank.

The principal breed of sheep was Scottish Blackface - a lovely breed with the most beautiful lambs with black legs and faces.

We have been to the area before, so there was no need to visit the National Trust Properties and the like - this time we spent the whole time out of doors enjoying the scenery.




15 comments:

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

It's a lovely area, isn't it? I used to lead walking holidays up there for a time and the usual reaction of guests was - "Why didn't anyone tell us about this beautiful place before?"

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

You are telling me the sort of things I want to hear about a district. never been there.. maybe one day...
Gill

Tom Stephenson said...

A mate of mine is currently walking the entire 73 miles of Hadrian's Wall right now, with his dog, Dolly, who I think you know from my blog. Dolly looks as tired as he feels, he tells me.

Tom Stephenson said...

A VERY strange piece of music has just come from your blog, Weave - 'This is what you want, this is what you get' was what I heard being sung before I hit the off button in fear! Have you been hi-jacked?!

Willow said...

What a gorgeous area. That last photo ~ such a beautiful spot to view .

Tom Stephenson said...

It's advertising - I got someone telling me to buy a Flymo with the last comment. Do you know about this?!

jinxxxygirl said...

Do you miss not being able to walk far with the farmer? I think i would. Or did you never walk that far with him?

Lovely photos! Thank you so much for sharing! Hugs!deb

Dominic Rivron said...

Your experience almost moved me to go up there today - but I went for a walk with Alex instead!

Yes - I'll drop off Hugh MacD's collected for you.

Tom Stephenson said...

Ah, a drugs-run from your son - just as I thought.

Elizabeth said...

What a splendid , enviable holiday.
This part of the world sounds quite lovely.
I remember blackface sheep from a long ago visit to Invernessshire.

Robin Mac said...

What beautiful scenery you have seen, even if you could not go walking with the farmer! I remember the black faced sheep too, so different from sheep in Australia. Cheers

angryparsnip said...

What a lovely place. I am rather envious of all the green and water.
You can just feel the lush.

cheers, parsnip

Tom Stephenson said...

This is a test, just to see if any advertising jingles happen again when I leave a comment. If they don't, I won't say any more.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Reading Tom's comments, i do hope that nothing spooky is happening on my blog site.

Thanks for visiting.

thelma said...

Looks like you had a wonderful holiday, I quite envy the 'Miss Marple' image of sitting in a grand hotel watching the world go by..