UK Roadtrip: Durham and Northumberland Coast

The story continues... The day after the wedding (Sunday), we were all invited to a buffet at Jill's parents' house (didn't take any photos). After that, around 3pm, Peter and I, accompanied by Karl (Céline and Diego arrived later to meet up with Karl by which time we were already on the road for our next stop), headed to Durham. Durham is probably most known for its cathedral, the castle and university. The city has played an important part in the defence of the north and Durham Castle is the only Norman castle never to have suffered a breach. There are two rivers in the city, Wear and Browney; I think we parked just next to Wear.

The Cathedral, named Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, but commonly called Durham Cathedral, was founded in 1093 and is nowadays a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with Durham Castle. The Cathedral is regarded as one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe and the church nave is early Gothic architecture.

Kalle and Peter in front of the cathedral


Quite impressive

Durham Castle was originally built in the eleventh century as a symbol of Norman power in the north of England, as the population of England in the north remained rebellious following the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was the Bishop of Durham's palace for a long time until it was given to Durham University as accommodation for the institution' first college, University College, and still to this day belong to the college (and as a result the college is informally known as "Castle"). The castle was made famous for its Great Hall from the 14th century, which was the largest great hall in Britain until it was shortened a hundred years later; however it is still 14 metres high and over 30 metres long.

Unfortunately the Castle was closed on the day of our visit


This is what we could see through the little door

From Durham we continued our journey towards Warkworth in Northumbria. Warkworth is a small town, or village really, situated along River Coquet, about 1.6 km from the coast.

We stayed in another lovely B&B - the room wasn't as romantic as the one in Chester but it was still cosy and the innkeepers Margaret and Chris were genuinely nice and friendly and the breakfast was delicious, especially the homemade (still warm) bread and fresh fruit plate. Tower House B&B is situated just next to (or below) Warkworth's main attraction, the castle.

Our room

In the evening we passed by this lovely bridge over the river Coquet

The next day we had a look at the Castle, just the outdoors though and not the interior (there's a limit to how many castles one can visit; we had already visited the ruins of Rivaulx and wanted to visit a proper, still lived-in, decorated castle instead....see further down).

So instead of visiting the castle we took a walk in the village.

Looks like hard work rowing ten boats (some of which are outside the picture)

Swan with little ones

Warkworth Church, which is really called St Lawrence

The pub where we had dinner the previous night

Can you see the cat guarding the shop window?

We left Warkworth mid-morning for our next stop, Alnmouth, another small village located at the mouth of a river, River Aln. Today, Alnmouth is a popular tourist destination as a port to the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Beauty and the nearby Alnwick Castle (pronounced Anick), still the residence of the Duke of Northumberland and used as a stand-in for both the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. We opted not to visit Alnwick Castle though as they (not surprisingly) charge quite a lot in entrance fee (and the roads and car parks are far from the castle so you can't even steal a photo). Alnmouth Village also has the fourth oldest golf course in the country, located beautifully by the sea and next to the beach.

Alnmouth beach

Same beach, different person

After Alnmouth we steered the car towards a castle we did intend to visit, Bamburgh, seat of the former Kings of Northhumbria and presently owned and inhabited by the (industrialist) Armstrong family.

Quite impressive, seated on a hill with the beach on the other side

It's supposedly quite difficult to besiege to say the least

Posing at the castle with the beach below (it looks like I have stolen a small cannon and tried to hide it in my purse, doesn't it?!)

Castle interiors

We finished our visit to Bamburgh with a stop at the famous The Copper Kettle Tea Rooms. The row of cottages where the tea room is located, Grove Cottages, were originally built as accommodation for people working at the Castle. The domed ceilings are still the original ones. In 1956 two sisters bought the buildings that are now the Tearoom and the adjacent Giftshop and spent almost a fortune on renovating them. In the 1970s the sisters sold the business to separate buyers but the tearoom and the giftshop still both exist.



What's next?! Edinburgh!