Picture of National Trust - Cragside
Caption: C R A G S I D E | p a r t o n e |
Caption: At the beginning of September, we had a week long break in Northumberland. Years ago, before Harris arrived in our lives, we had a Northumberland holiday in the depths of a wintry November, and we'd long spoken about going back. A few of the places we'd visited before didn't allow dogs in their grounds, and I wondered whether we might be limited in the places we could visit.
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Caption: I needn't have worried. Northumberland is possibly the most dog-friendly place we've been to. We packed a lot into a week, from beach walks to visits to National Trust and English Heritage properties. And Harris - and his Uncle Bracken - were warmly welcomed. So this is the first of a short series of stories on dog-friendly Northumberland.
And if you aren't a dog parent? Keep reading anyway as these places would be amazing to explore without or without a canine companion.
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Caption: C R A G S I D E This is one of the places we visited last time and we remembered the incredible rock garden - which is one of the largest in Europe. Now in the care of the National Trust, Cragside was originally the home of Lord Armstrong, who is described as a "Victorian inventor, innovator and landscape genius".
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Caption: We started our visit here, in the courtyard with its shop and café.
Caption: A random thing to know about visiting Cragside: the café makes tasty vegan sandwiches. You might imagine that this is normal everywhere. Trust me when I say it isn't. So thank you National Trust for doing this well.
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Caption: A few other things to know about Cragside: This was the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity, and it's filled with ingenious gadgets, most of which are still working. The house itself was designed by architect Richard Norman Shaw.
In creating the landscape for Cragside, Lord and Lady Armstrong directed the planting of seven million trees. Seven million. I can't even begin to wrap my head around this.
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Caption: As you can imagine, I'd have loved to look round the house, but we visited Cragside on a hot and muggy day. The humidity made it a tough walk for Bracken and we knew we had lots of landscape to explore. I didn't want the boys to become overheated and tired sitting outside waiting for me, so we spent our time exploring the gardens and grounds instead.
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Caption: The rock garden is like no other garden I've visited. Steep, rocky (obviously!) and windy, with rock steps winding through the planting. Lord and Lady Armstrong clearly didn't design this garden with dachshunds in mind!
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Caption: The Iron Bridge
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Caption: From here, you can follow the riverside walkway through the woodland.
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Caption: We ended the first half of our walk here. Back in 1878 Lord Armstrong used water from the lakes on the estate to generate electricity through a turbine to light the house. Today this Archimedes screw continues Armstrong's work. The 17m long galvanised turbine will produce 12kw of electricity a year, providing Cragside with around 10 per cent of its electricity, and producing enough energy to light all 350 light bulbs in the house.
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Caption: Stay tuned for part two... #stelleruk
#dogfriendly
