Alnwick Castle, visiting in the summer, questions!

[SecondhandRose]

Hi, Alnwick Castle looks a wonderful place to visit in the summer. We'll fly up from Stansted, does anyone know how far it is from Newcastle airport, also somewhere nice (£50-70 per night)to stay for a long weekend beginning of August.

Also does anyone have any tips or suggestions of other places to visit. My DD is 6 and DS 10.

TIA

Just realised it's too expensive to fly so we'll drive instead. Still looking for nice accommodation not more than 20 minutes from Alnwick Castle. Bumpity bump.

oooh, it's a gorgeous part of the world. years since I've been....so no specific advice, just envy! Other fab castles in the area, Bamburgh (one of my favourite beaches in the UK)...Dunstanburgh, you could see some of Hadrian's wall...

Hi SHR, my best friend lives in Alnwick and we go and stay with her most years, usually when the International Music Festival is on. It takes place in the main square and my dds love it - there is loads going on. If you can go when it is on I would - however it may be difficult to find accommodation then! It takes place in August but not sure when in August.

In terms of places to stay - Seahouses is lovely, on the coast, and about 20 mins from Alnwick. I'm afraid I don't know of any b&b's specifically as we usually kip on my friend's floor!

The castle is really good too - last year when we went there was a children's entertainer on and a display of birds of prey - dd1 got to wear a gauntlet and fly a little owl - she was really chuffed. Those activities were free once you have paid to go in the castle grounds.

I can also recommend the swimming pool in Alnwick - they have family changing rooms, and a generous sized children's pool which is the same depth all over. It does get busy but not impossibly so.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know!

SHR - you'll have a LOVELY time - it's beautiful. I grew up in the NE and we ALWAYS went to Northumberland for hols....

Have a look at the North Northumberland on-line site:

www.nnouk.com/

We stayed in some fab farmhouses near Beadnell rented through Sykes Cottages - they may be able to find you somewhere, although in Aug everything might be weekly bookings - worth a try though.

IMHO Seahouses is a bit tacky now although a trip from there to the Farne Islands, and to see where Grace Darling saved some sailors is always worth a visit.
Lindisfarne is also good.

It's all relatively unspolit, which I think is lovely, but just be prepared for the fact that Alnwick Castle won't be all 'Harry Potter-ed" IYSWIM!

Have fun!

We went to Bamburgh last year, found good family accomodation hard to find..
The coast is wonderful, as already said the beaches are the near perfect, I say near because sometimes they can not be seen for fog!
Suggest a boat trip to Farne Island (seals and at least 3 billion birds - and their poo!)
Holy Island,.
Loads of castle ruins as you drive along the coast.
Amble has a working harbour where you can see the fishing boats unload and then eat the produce from the fish and chip shop just round the corner.
Workworth, excellent castle, lovely church and a little cafe that does great fresh crab sandwiches!
Alnick is the place with the huge tree house, right?
We will probably go again this year so if you find anywhere nice for the family let us know!

oh my neck of the woods

bump thixs up this evening and i will reply when i have two hands !!!

the coast at alnmouth is postcard perfect. worth a walk along.

we go every other weekend as dhs grandparents live there...will get back to you tonight

have you thought about caravan parks as there are so many around that area,i think it is about 45-1hr drive from newcastle airport,but it is well worth the drive.

we are staying in a caravan at newbiggin unfortunately this is a 40 mins drive from alnwick, but we are only paying £175 aweek for a caravan by the beach in august.This has room for 8 people to sleep,sorry my dh says it is a good hour from airport to alnwick castle.

BD, DH won't do caravans. Thanks for all the advice, keep it coming.

Does the castle have a list of local accomodation?

bugger got distratced last night
will post tonight

We went there the last Bank Holiday weekend, and it was great! Had slight problems due to dd1 (whose birthday treat it was meant to be) getting some sort of puking bug (great timing!), but nonetheless we had a great time, and will definitely be going back. We didn't go into the castle (dds are 3 and 5) but the gardens are fab, especially the treehouse and all the wierd and wonderful fountains, water sculptures, etc. Also wonderful beaches in the vicinity.

We stayed here as we prefer to go self-catering. This cottage was one of the best we've stayed in (for the price!). Very clean and comfortable inside (even though there are no internal pictures on the website), on a farm with lots of horses right outside the window, plenty of walking on the farmer's land, very friendly people.

We drove there from the Leeds area. It's very easy, as no distance at all off the A1. (We had a puncture, which did slow us down a bit, but can't blame Alnwick for that...! It was one of 'those' weekends...!)

Hope you have a lovely time (with no punctures or puking!)

Yay! Did a link for first time ever... and it works!

popsycal??

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Echo anteater lots nice to do Amble great fro a brief visit but we stayed there a week and would stay somewhere else next time.

Newton Beach is lovely

Oh what happened to my link? nice beachandplacestostaylink