Northern highlights!

September holidays and off to pastures new for a few days - a bit of a 'northern' tour this time.

First stop, a couple of nights in Malham - walking round Malham Cove, up to the Tarn, and back round to Gordale Scar and Janet's Foss (all the 'sights' of the area, including the limestone pavement up above the Cove):














Great day - glad of a pint by the end of it though!

On to Durham, walks round the river path, visit to the Cathedral and a tour of the Castle (now part of the University) with the oldest still working kitchen in the UK, dating back to the C15th!

From Durham we were on our way up to Berwick-upon-Tweed, via Cragside (a Victorian property, and the first in the world to be lit with hydro-electricity).

Great gardens as well - and some very interesting sculpture out in the woods . . .




We weren't particularly taken with Berwick itself, but it was a reasonable base for travelling around.

The ramparts were pretty cool mind you, and there was some great wildlife out in the waters - including seals, and this heron stalking its next meal . . . .


From Berwick found our way to Bamburgh Castle - not the nicest of days to start with, but the weather eventually cleared up, and there were some great views out along the coast.


Special activities on offer included our new snail-stacking game out in the grounds, and watching a film crew making a new kids tv drama.

Our final 'day out' was a visit to Lindisfarne - the sun did (eventually) shine, we visited the Castle, listened to the seals on the sand banks out to sea, and sat with a pint watching a barn owl swooping around the field next door in broad daylight!