Alnwick is a market town about 12 miles North East of Rothbury.
We decided to spend the best part of a day here and visit both Alnwick Garden & Castle and make a day of it. Admission was just over £20 each for the ticket to include access to both, so it is best to spend most of the day and get good value!
We arrived mid-morning, parked in the main car park nearby, and crossed the road to the Garden entrance and pay booths.
Once though this you walk through the gift shop/cafe area and then out onto the main throughfare to the gardens. This is quite impressive as it is a very open area with paths/flagstones leading up to the main fountains surrounded by ornamental hedges.
To the right of this we entered an area with many water features and small fountains on display, each bearing a description of the effect they were portraying. An interesting one shown below, allows you to go down into a small pit in the centre of the feature and look through a "curtain" of water cascading down, giving a distorted, rippled effect to those looking from the outside.
After this we watched the main fountain "show", but despite the fountain looking good overall the actual display on the hour was a bit of a let down - perhaps we were expecting too much and trying to compare with fountains we had seen elsewhere (Its not the Las Vegas Bellagio is it?)
Still we pressed on and walked up to the main fountains and the top, at which point it started to hail (weather HAD started off reasonable). It faired up a bit and we had a look around the main walled garden.
This then led us through a planted area of trees and flowers below.
We had heard lots about the "Poison Garden", and waited in a queue to visit this as it is kept locked and you are escorted around in a tour like fashion.
Don`t touch anything, Don`t wander off, though to be honest a lot of the plants there are common everyday plants that you may well have in your own gardens - be aware!!
It was quite interesting and informative though, did not realise that Ricin could be made so easily!
We decided after this we had seen most if not all the garden and visited the cafe for eats. After burgers and chips we left and headed towards the castle - just a few minutes walk away.
The castle was OK, we had a look around the living areas, including a rather large library full of very old books, a rather grand dining room and a small dungeon (quite a contrast there!)
You can walk around parts of the castle wall, and there are small museums and exibitions dotted around to hold your interest. For kids there was an area where they can dress up in medieval type costumes, fight with toy swords and that sort of thing, as well as a hall of mirrors type maze and revolving effect that makes you very dizzy.
We had a final look around, waited a while to possibly have a go at the archery, but this was taking too long
to wait (and there was only one person doing it!), so we left.
to wait (and there was only one person doing it!), so we left. From there, we walked into town, just a few minutes walk. Had a general browse of the shops, and then headed back and home to Marmic cottage and Rothbury.
Our Marks out of 10 for this attraction : 6.5/10
Our Marks out of 10 for this attraction : 6.5/10
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