Waking up refreshed from yesterday’s adventure around Northumberland, we headed down for a relaxing and chilled breakfast in the Joiner’s Arms.
As they say, ‘all happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast’ and this was just that.
After filling up on mountains of fresh fruit, pots of tea and English breakfast (minus black pudding and mushrooms which I still don’t like), we jumped straight out to continue our microgap around some more of Northumberland.
Our first stop had to be Bamburgh Castle, after all, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England.
We had been thinking of visiting Alnwick Castle, too but alas it wasn’t open until the day we were leaving Northumberland. Thankfully, Bamburgh Castle was just as special and certainly not a compromise in any way. In fact, it was incredible to see.
As we drove closer, the imposing castle came into view… it looked huge!
With over 1,500 years of history here, the castle is steeped in history. In fact, it’s thought that the site itself might have been the capital for the historic kingdom of Bernicia itself. Plus, there’s also rumours that the castle is the site of Sir Lancelot’s fictitious castle, Joyous Garde, which I can totally see.
Totally blessed with another gorgeous sunny day, we headed straight inside the castle grounds. Once in, we immediately darted straight for the State Rooms.
Some were massive, others were smaller but they were all totally gorgeous.
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but there’s something about the smell of historic buildings. It’s almost like a stoney-woody smell.
That smell, for some reason, takes me straight back to being a young-nipper when my parents would take us visiting castles and old stately homes.
To this day, that smell still gives me warm, nostalgic, feelings inside and something I got instantly when we arrived in the Kings Hall.
The staterooms were just so beautiful.
Even the passages were like something out of a storybook.
After wandering through the Kings and Keep Halls, we headed straight for the bakery and scullery to see a little more of the working rooms which are quite different from the more stately Kings Hall.
Before we knew it, we’d wandered the whole interior of the castle and decided to take in the rugged coastline views from the castle walls themselves.
The whole coastline is pristine and totally unspoilt… come to think of it, that’s the thing that really struck me about this area when I first laid eyes on it, the sheer natural beauty of the coastline.
After trotting around the limits of the castle, we noticed the powdery Bamburgh Beach. It looked so lovely.
With that, we headed for a little stroll down to the beach itself, which was kinda unplanned and left me with shoes filled with mountains of sand. In fact, I’m pretty sure I brought most of the beach back to London with me!
