Holidays 2024

Tour Itinerary

Day 1: Depart for Durham

Departing our local area, we travel north to the City of York, one of the most attractive old cities in England. The city walls, themselves among York's main attractions, enclose streets which follow their narrow and irregular medieval course, with overhanging rows of old buildings. The beautiful York Minster is the largest English medieval cathedral. We will stay here for lunch and sightseeing, and then we will continue on to our hotel, for the next 4 nights with dinner bed & breakfast.

Day 2: Bamburgh Castle

Today we visit the North East coast of Northumbria and Bamburgh Castle. Follow in the footsteps of Uhtred into the real Last Kingdom of Bebbanburg, an Anglo-Saxon citadel where saint kings ruled the Kingdom of Northumbria. Discover a Norman stronghold, Royal seat and the first castle in the world to fall to gunpowder.

Experience the magic of magnificent Bamburgh Castle for yourself that captured the heart and mind of one of the Victorian's greatest inventors, William George Armstrong. Its treasure filled staterooms, including the castle's centrepiece - The King's Hall, discover a fortress like no other at Bamburgh Castle. Bamburgh Castle remains the private, family seat of the Armstrong family to this day and has starred in countless films and small screen productions, from Transformers The Last Knight, to Netflix hit Frontier and of course, The Last Kingdom.

From here you travel along the coast to Holy Island (if tide permits) then Seahouses for the best fish & chips. Then onto Newbiggin by the Sea with its Couple Statue in the harbour, time to explore or grab a drink, then back to the hotel.

Day 3: Alnwick Castle & Gardens

Today we travel into Northumbria to Alnwick gardens, set within a secretive walled garden, its centrepiece the Grand Cascade, the largest water feature of its kind in the country. More than 120 separate water jets create spellbinding water displays. It is a garden for all seasons; the Tree House (one of the largest structures of its kind in the world) will provide an amazing selection of buildings linked together by suspended walkways in the sky. A place to eat, walk, rest and much more.

The Castle, with 950 years of history to explore, has also been made famous as the setting for the Black Adder series and Harry Potter Films. Home to the Duke and Duchess of Northumbria. The castle has magnificent views over the river Aln and surrounding countryside. Within the massive stone walls, the beautifully kept grounds contain fascinating exhibitions. Enter the wonderful family home; see the staterooms, refurbished in the mid 19th century by the fourth Duke, the library also used in the Harry Potter movie.

Just a short walk away is the lovely old town of Alnwick. We return to our hotel after a great day out.

Day 4: Cragside House & Gardens

Today we head for Cragside House & Gardens. In its day, Cragside was a house of wonders, with features that we take for granted today, but were the very cutting edge of technology and innovation in the late Victorian period. Lord Armstrong introduced extraordinary gadgets and features like a passenger lift, fire alarm buttons throughout the house, a Turkish bath suite, and a peculiar new invention called a telephone.

Lord Armstrong was more than an inventor; he was also a landscape gardener. He laid out 5 lakes on the Cragside estate, and planted over 7,000,000 trees and shrubs. That's no misprint; there really are 6 zeros in that number; that's 7 million new trees and shrubs throughout the estate. One of the unexpected side benefits of all those trees is that the endangered British red squirrel has settled in the Cragside woodland.

Day 5: Depart for Home

After breakfast and the cases have been loaded onto the coach, we say farewell to our hotel and head for home. Later stopping at the spa town of Harrogate where you can have lunch, and then on departing Harrogate, we continue our journey home, arriving in your local area by early evening.