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- The Royal Connection
- Northumberland Eats
- Northumberland VIPs
- Richard Remembers
- Owlbut's Birdwatch
I suppose it's only natural that
many of our royal connections involve castles. After all, that is where royalty used to live and still do. Alnwick castle (pronounced Annick) is the second
largest inhabited castle in England. Windsor castle is the biggest. It is the home of the 12th Duke of Northumberland who, together with his family, live in a
part of the castle, which was first built in Norman times but has been renovated many times since then. It is a Grade 1 listed building. You, young people, may
know more about it than you think, but more later.
The castle was held by Lancastrian forces for a time during the Wars of the Roses. The Earl of Warwick, the well-known kingmaker, received the
surrender of the castle in 1464 on behalf of Edward IV.
The castle is open to the public in summer and, in 2006, was the tenth most-visited stately home in England. However since then numbers have
increased because, and this is where you young people may recognise the castle, it was used as the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.
The Outer Bailey was where Harry and friends learned to fly broomsticks and also the rules of Quidditch. It was in the Inner Bailey that Harry and Ron crashed the
Weasley family's flying car and the Lion Arch was the way in and out of Hogwarts.
Many other film and TV programmes have been filmed in and around the castle including Downton Abbey, Alnwick Castle was Brancaster Castle, Transformers
The Last Knight, Flog It and the Antiques Road Show. The gardens within the castle are also well worth a visit.
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Craster is a small village on the coast
of Northumberland. I've been there three times in my life. The first thing you notice when you reach the village is the smell of smoke and you can see plumes of white
smoke coming out of one of the buildings. No, they haven't elected a new pope, Craster is the home of the world famous Craster kipper.
A kipper is a herring that has been split open, cleaned, salted and then hung over smouldering wood chips to cure in a smokehouse. To be a Craster
kipper, rather obviously, the smokehouse must be in Craster and, as far as I can find out, there is only one such place remaining. That is the 100-year-old
smokehouses of L Robson and Sons.
The smoking takes place for sixteen hours and the wood chips are usually oak or white wood. A kipper still looks like a fish and its tan colour
comes from the oak smoke. People say that comparing a Craster kipper with any other kipper is like comparing a fillet steak with a burger. Craster kippers are
often described as the best although, taste being like beauty but in the mouth of the beholder, some disagree.
Craster kippers are usually grilled and often served for breakfast, sometimes with a poached egg on top. They can also be eaten for tea. It is
said they are a particular favourite of our Royal family. I enjoyed mine each time I visited the village.
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Seven random people who were born in Northumberland in the last 100 years:-
Sir Bobby Charlton (Footballer - hero of mine), Tom Graveney (Cricketer - hero of mine), Hermione Hammond (Artist), Robson Green, (Actor/Presenter),
Alexander Armstrong (Actor/Singer/Comedian/TV Presenter), Vanessa Raw (Triathlete) and the late Jack Charlton (Footballer).
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This stretch of coast is littered with castles, a causeway and even islands. Initially there's not much to excite but once past the coal-dust covered beach of
Lynemouth, you come to the magnificent sandy beach at Druridge Bay, all 5 miles of it. You turn the northern headland and find Warkworth Castle on the land side
and Coquet Island, uninhabited, out to sea. Next up is Alnmouth and from there to Dunstanburgh Castle it is mainly a rocky shore, with little harbours like the one
at Craster, famous for those kippers.
Embleton Bay and Beadnell Bay, where I'm assuming I accompanied my parents a few weeks before I was born, are sandy and then you arrive at Seahouses.
It was from here, on all my trips, that we took a boat out across to the Farne Islands, mentioned in the story of Grace Darling. The boat trip, only undertaken in
calm weather I'm pleased to say, takes about an hour. You can visit the Longstone Lighthouse and, if you are lucky like we were, meet, from a distance some of the
Farne Islands grey seals, either lumbering about on some rocks or elegantly gliding through the water. Sadly, on one trip, we saw a seal entangled in a fisherman's
net but our guide, driving the boat, said it would be impossible for anyone but a trained expert to approach the seal as they can be very vicious. I hope they managed
to contact someone who could go out and help but it is an example of mankind, without thought, causing pain to one of nature's creatures.
Next you reach Bamburgh with the amazing imposing castle built
on a high rock and the superb beach below. We visited the castle and the view down to that beach is still with me today, some 36 years later. We also walked all
around the castle, up on the battlements on the roof and through some of the rooms.
I understand it is now possible to stay in accommodation within the castle. Expect to see me this summer. I love it there so much
and the beach at Bamburgh, rather fittingly, is the final of my five favourite beaches in England.
The sand continues north past the virtually enclosed Budle Bay, along Ross Back Sands and then you spy the
little island of Lindisfarne with its castle high up on a hill. To get to the island, the monastery of which was the scene of the first Viking raid on our shores
back in 793AD, you need to drive across a causeway. First though you check the tide times because for 12 hours of each day the causeway is flooded and your vehicle
will be too if you don't check.
The island, also known as Holy Island, has always had religious connections from that monastery built in 634AD by Aidan through the priory built in
1093 to St Aidan's Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin which is said to stand on the site of the original monastery founded
by Aidan.
Driving carefully back across the causeway you head north to the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, a confused town if ever there was. Berwick is just about
6 kms or 4 miles from the Scottish border and, over the years, has changed hands between the Scots and the English many times. There was a story, still around on
my second trip, that Berwick was still at war with Russia because when England signed a peace treaty Berwick was part of Scotland and when Scotland signed a peace
treaty Berwick was part of England. I believe that story has since been disproved.....maybe. The other confusing thing for the English town of Berwick is that they
play their football in the Scottish League. The thing I most remember about Berwick is a selection of cute, tiny bookshops and the three bridges , all next to each
other, over the Tweed.
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The cormorant is a large waterbird. It has a long neck which almost makes it look like a primitive reptile. Just like the one
in my picture, the cormorant can often be seen standing with its wings held out to dry. They eat fish and are, in fact, wonderful at catching their prey. There are
about 10,000 breeding pairs in the UK and over 40,000 cormorants winter here. The cormorant has black, brown and white feathers, brown legs and a long, hooked, black
and yellow, powerful beak of medium thickness. Young birds have brown, grey and white feathers.
The cormorant can be between 80 and 100 cms in length, has a wingspan of between 130 and 160 cms and weighs between 2 and 2.5 kg. The cormorant can be
found around the coast on rocky shores and estuaries but it is also now being seen inland at reservoirs, lakes and gravel pits.
It is sometimes difficult to tell the cormorant from its near relative, the shag, but not for you because I am going to tell you the differences. The
cormorant has a thicker beak and it has more yellow around its face. Shags sometimes come inland but usually only on their own while cormorants are often seen in
groups inland. The cormorant also has a less steep angle of its forehead where it joins the beak. Now you know.
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Two extra sections, "It Happened Here" and "Now That's Weird", will appear on 7 July 2025
