4th – 9th June 2017
On our way to our hotel in Gosforth Park we stopped off at Brodsworth Hall in South Yorkshire. Very bravely, English Heritage were admitting visitors into the house even though almost all the ground floor was in the hands of the builders whose principal task seems to be replacing the unique shutters which were specially designed when the house was built. Brodsworth had been the home of a highly respectable Yorkshire family, unlike some members of the Delaval family as we discovered when we visited Seaton Delaval Hall.
This is a very flamboyant house, designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, for Admiral George Delaval but it was his great nephew, Sir Francis Delaval who used the house as a backdrop to wild theatricals and parties where you could never be too sure what you would wake to find in the morning, even down to a room which appeared to turn upside down. Wallington Hall, home of the Trevelyan family, proved a much calmer place, very civilised and as it is still in the family home, has a very comfortable atmosphere.
Souter Lighthouse, on the South side of Newcastle, was the first in the world designed and built to be powered by electricity. Souter and its twin lighthouse on the North shore were opened in 1871 to warn the ships from the busy coal and engineering port of Newcastle of the treacherous rocks. Much of its original equipment remains as, like a stately home, everything no longer required has been put in a “might come in useful” place. The day ended with a two-hour river cruise from Newcastle to the mouth of the Tyne.
At Alnwick Castle, we had a guided tour of the Poison Garden – scary to realise how many of our everyday plants could cause serious or even fatal harm. The gardens are still amazing and the Castle itself always proves interesting.
A morning visit to Holy Island to find Lindisfarne Castle interior closed for refurbishment but the English Heritage exhibition on the Priory provided an excellent alternative. At the lovely Borders town of Berwick on Tweed our visit included a walking tour of the Walls. These are not walls in the conventional sense but huge earth embankments built initially to repel the marauding peoples of the North. Then in Elizabethan times more substantial Walls were constructed by an Italian architect to ward off the feared Jacobite rebellion. While we were on our walk a combination of the rain beating down upon us and the wind blowing a gale enabled us all to discover that waterproofs are not always as waterproof as it says on the label.
On our way home we visited Harewood House in north Yorkshire. Built between 1759 and 1771 for a wealthy plantation owner, Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood, and still lived in by the Lascelle family it is a magnificent building with extensive range of collections.
This year’s holiday was the last organised in house. I know I speak for all who have been able to travel on these holidays when I say thank you to those who have taken on their organization over the years. We do really appreciate the dedication, effort and sheer hard work you have put into these. We also value the unfailing kindness and courtesy you have shown on the rare occasions when, through no-one’s fault the world conspires against us. A huge gold star to each and every one of you!
Katey Fletcher