The Historic Houses, Heritage & Art of Northumbria
Cragside House
By coach from Dorking staying on a half-board basis at the three-star Best Western Plus Gibside hotel at Whickham, four miles south-west of Newcastle, and visiting these places of interest:
• The Spanish Gallery
• Alnwick Castle
• Cragside House & Gardens
• Durham (guided tour)
• The Bowes Museum (guided tour)
• Bamburgh
• Lindisfarne Priory
• Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Itinerary
Day 1 We board our private executive coach and depart from our designated pick-up points. En route to our hotel we visit the Spanish Gallery at Bishop Auckland. The gallery depicts a story of Golden Age Spanish art during the 16th and 17th centuries, exploring how its artists expressed the tension between man’s yearning for eternity and the transience of life. We continue to the thre-star Best Western Plus Gibside hotel at Whickham where we stay four nights on a half-board basis.
Day 2 Our Blue Badge guide meets us at our hotel this morning and accompanies us throughout the day. This morning we visit Alnwick Castle, the second largest inhabited castle in England – the first being Windsor – and home of the Percys, Earls and Dukes of Northumberland since 1309. This afternoon we visit the National Trust’s Cragside House and Gardens, a wonderful Victorian mansion dating from the 19th century and described as ‘the palace of a modern magician’. Its interior features state-of-the-art hydraulics powering a revolutionary lift system, and internal telephones which mesmerised visitors in earlier times.
Day 3 With our Blue Badge guide we enjoy a walking tour of Durham this morning, taking in sights such as the exterior of the cathedral, once described as ‘one of the great architectural experiences of Europe’ and a renowned masterpiece of Norman architecture. We then spend some time at leisure in Durham, when you may choose to go inside the cathedral. This afternoon we visit the Bowes Museum for a guided tour. This purpose-built public art gallery was created by John and Josephine Bowes between 1862 and 1875 and is home to a large collection of fine and decorative paintings from around Europe.
Day 4 The morning is at leisure in Bamburgh, when you may wish to visit the castle on an individual basis. Located on a basalt crag, this is one of the most imposing castles in England. We visit the remains of English Heritage’s Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island with our Blue Badge guide this afternoon. The ancient monks built the priory nearly 1,400 years ago, and this is the site where St Aidan and St Cuthbert founded the great powerhouse of Christianity in Anglo Saxon Northumbria and where the famous Lindisfarne Gospels were created in the early 700s. The Priory’s museum focuses on a grisly Viking raid, the cult of St Cuthbert, and the beautiful medieval manuscript, the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Day 5 After checking out of our hotel we visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield, home to a changing display of large bronze sculptures by Henry Moore. Taking carefully selected comfort stops en route, we return to our original pick-up points.
Cost
£589 plus £31 insurance (including Covid cover). Single room supplement £99.
To book
Contact organiser Ianthe Cox: email ianthecox72@gmail.com or telephone 01737 843105.