The venue for our 2009 garden holiday was Northumberland staying at Longhirst Hall, Morpeth for 5 nights from June 29^th to July 4^th.   Departing East Bergholt on a warm, sunny morning we spent our lunch break at Clumber Park( National Trust),arriving at Longhirst Hall in time for our evening meal.

The following day our first visit was to Wallington Garden (NT).  The main feature, The Walled Garden, is home to a collection of many varieties of plants and flowers, and also houses the conservatory. The estate is quite vast with the River Wansbeck encircling the outer border.  There are walks through park and woodland with many water features. A well known collection of Griffin Heads can be seen on the East Lawn. We took our lunch break at Hexham, an old market town overlooking the Tyne valley.  With the Abbey at its centre, the town is home to many medieval buildings which include the Old Gaol and Court House with the original stocks still on display. Our afternoon was spent at Chesters Walled Garden.  Built in the 18^th century, vegetable, herb, formal and knot gardens were on display.  We travelled back to our hotel via Bardon Mill in order to view Hadrian’s Wall.

July 1^st, a lovely sunny day, we visited Bamburgh for a guided tour of the Castle. Standing high on a hill overlooking the sea the castle has been extensively restored. The King’s Hall is truly magnificent and is now often used as a wedding venue. Later we travelled to Seahouses for lunch and spent the afternoon enjoying the harbour and cliff walks. The whole of the following day was spent at Alnwich Castle and Gardens, home to the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. The gardens are dominated by the water display of the Grand Cascade, the rose garden was lovely, as was the ornamental garden, bamboo labyrinth, and the serpent garden.  My favourite was the woodland walk past the tree house up to the Duchess’s Viewpoint looking out over the river towards the castle.  We were able to view the castle at our leisure.

Our visit to Longframlington Gardens the next day, to me, was disappointing, but Cragside (NT) more than made up for this.  Despite the inclement weather this proved to be both interesting and a challenge.  I enjoyed the climb in the Rock Garden, the Pinetum and later the Formal Garden with Italian terrace. Fortunately there was a “Hopper Bus Service” on hand as the estate is far too vast to view in one day with quite steep climbs for the not so nimble.  The house was one of the most interesting I have ever visited and took at least one hour to view. While climbing in the Rock Garden I was lucky enough to capture this photo opportunity featuring David and Jane Green with friends Trevor and Heather Stockton taking a respite during their climb. David and Jane were out tour organizers and we thank them both for their hard work and commitment in providing what proved to be a most happy and educational holiday, even the weather was on our side.

On our last day we drove home stopping at Retford, Notts for our lunch break with time to stretch our legs, look at the local market stalls, and purchase some last minute gifts for our friends back home.