Hope you saw our beautiful county on Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys on 23rd January.
Michael visited the historic walled town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the magnificent Royal Berwick Border bridge. He continued to Alnwick via Alnmouth railway station to visit Barter Books, which was previously Alnwick’s railway station; and stay at The White Swan hotel to visit the first class dining room from the Olympic, the Titanic’s sister ship. He concluded his Northumberland visit be travelling further south to Morpeth station to visit Woodhorn Museum near Ashington and marvel at the artwork produced by the Pitmen Painters.
We’d love to hear what you thought of the episode. Please leave your comments below.
You can plan your railway trip to Northumberland with cheap railway travel on the official visitor website for Northumberland.
You can watch the episode of Great British Railway Journeys featuring Northumberland on the BBC iplayer.
Tags: bbc, east coast line, michael portillo, railway journey
Driving in Kielder Water & Forest Park
Residents of England’s most remote village are celebrating plans to re-open the area’s only local petrol station, which was shut down in 2008.
The news is a welcome relief to those living in Kielder Village who have spent the last four years having to complete a 35-mile round trip to get fuel after the petrol station was forced to close because of high running costs.
Sloe Berries at Wallington
The sound of heavy rain as I wake up is not going to dampen my spirits on the day I head out for November’s foraging expedition.
I’m off to meet Rob Caton at Wallington to look among the hedgerows for some sloe berries to make one of my favourite winter drinks … sloe gin.
As it happens, by the time I’m up and ready and have packed the car with waterproofs and my gin-making kit, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining, and for a November morning, it’s quite mild.
We meet at the car park at Wallington before heading out along the nearby country lanes in search of a blackthorn hedge laden with berries. By all accounts it’s a good year for sloes, so I am hopeful for a bumper crop. I’m already wondering whether I could make enough sloe gin to give little bottles for gifts at Christmas. Mind you, I may not want to share it!
By Sadie Parker (National Trust)
Tags: wallington hall
Our industrial past
School children are being given the chance to become young history detectives and delve into Northumberland’s industrial and social past in a new scheme being run at a leading visitor attraction.
Dusty documents, old photographs and historical records have been turned into learning tools for youngsters visiting the £16m Woodhorn Museum and Archives Centre near Ashington.
They are being used to help inquisitive school pupils find out more about the region’s past, including key aspects of its once-mighty coal mining and fishing industries.
Each year thousands of young people are introduced to Woodhorn through its extensive education programme, with schools from all over the North East visiting the museum and archives. Now, thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery and the work of the museum’s Working Lives project team, a number of new workshops have been developed for young visitors. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: woodhorn. history
Woodhorn Museum
A FILM made by teenagers who took part in a Big Brother-style time travel experiment at a North East castle has gone on show to visitors at a heritage museum.
Three months ago, 35 young volunteers spent five days locked away at remote Featherstone Castle in Northumberland, experiencing what life was like for their counterparts back in the 1840s.
Dressed in period costume for the duration of their stay, they had to survive without modern-day “essentials” such as their mobile phones, computers, TVs and fast food, as they were propelled back to early Victorian times. Read the rest of this entry »
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