Lindisfarne, Alnwick and Bamburgh

This time the Scottish Adventures took me to Lindisfarne, Alnwick Castle and Bamburgh in a daytrip arranged by the international society.

After two and a half hour we reached our first destination, the Holy Island. We did as the Vikings in 793: invaded the island of Lindisfarne. We did it with 7 busloads of international students.

 The weather wasn't all that good, as you can see.

Lindisfarne, or Holy Island as it's commonly called, is a tidal island located off the northeast coast of England. The caueway out to the island is submerged when the tide comes in, so you better not be stranded on the island when that time comes. It apparently costs £4000 to be rescued by helicopter if your car is stuck.

We only had 50 minutes on the island, so we walked to Lindisfarne Castle, built in 1550.

Alnwick Castle.

Alnwick Castle is famous for being the location where the outdoors scenes from the first two Harry Potter movies are filmed. The castle offers Harry Potter themed activities as broomstick practice, since the broomstick lesson with Madam Hooch was filmed here.

Here it is, the very lawn the broomstick lesson was held at.

Now for the broomstick practice offered nowadays... let's just say it's aimed at kids and even though I am a child at heart was more comfortable watching than participating.

After the lesson came the fun part, picture time! Always fun to attempt to take flying pictures and "up" pictures.

Photo by Taylor Fox

Photo by Taylor Fox

More pictures of the castle

Photo by Taylor Fox

In one part of the castle there was a place were you could dress up as knights and princesses. Great fun!
The five photos beneath are by Taylor Fox.

What I enjoyed most of the castle though was the inside. Because people actually live in this castle. The Duke of Northumberland lives here with his family. The Castle is closed in the winter, this was actually one of the last weekends the castle was open for the year. They don't live there only in the winter, they live there all year, and come down in the evenings to chill in the library.

So the castle rooms are beautiful. The paintings, the roofs, the furniture and the marble fireplaces. And what makes it all even more beautiful is that the castle feels very lived in. There is all the old glamour along with modern family pictures and a flat screen tv in the library.

I always joke around saying when I grow up I'll live in a castle to fit all my books and so on. Well, this is the kind of castle I wouldn't mind living in.

I weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I snooped around the internet looking for some. These are from James McDonald Photography.

The library.

The dining room.

The saloon.

The drawing room.

Bamburgh.

On the way home we stopped in Bamburgh to have a look at Bamburgh Castle and Bamburgh Beach. The castle was imposing and the beach was beautiful. If I didn't have a two hour bus trip ahead of me and 15 minutes to spend on the beach, I may have taken a bath.

I crouched down to take a photo of the waves, and this cutle, little puppy came running and wanted to play.
Photo by Taylor Fox

Some crazy people (and dog) did take a bath.

The sky was beautiful when we were heading back to the buses.
Photo by Taylor Fox

And that was it for this adventure.