Northern England - Alnwick & Bamburgh 2017

Dear all,
  We didn't have power today for 15+ hours due to wind storm. My family and I had loads of fun without screen time .. no TV, no internet, no LTE either, so that gave us a chance to enjoy some fun games together! We usually spend 30 mins to 90 mins a day watching Family friendly programs or travel programs, but today, we utilized that time to play games! We made up a "word travel game"! We took turns naming different continents, countries, cities and towns. Its such a fun Geography family game! We were so glad we were prepared for emergency as much as we could. We had an emergency bag with food, warm clothes, batteries, lanterns, blankets, water bottles, match & candles. Regarding emergency preparedness, I will write another blog later.

While we played the game, I couldn't help think of Alnwick Castle in Northern England. When we were visiting Scotland, we had set aside a day to visit Alnwick and Bamburgh. If you are a Harry Potter or Downton Abbey fan, Alnwick Castle  is a MUST visit place. Remember the scene where Harry learns to use his broom to fly for the first time and gets recognized to be a SEEKER? Well, that scene was shot at Alnwick.

Alnwick Castle ground where Harry Potter movie was filmed

Entrance

Of all the castles we have visited in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, Alnwick is one of the best family friendly castles! They had organized many Harry Potter themed games and fun activities for kids. We noticed a huge difference between the Scottish and English castles when it comes to the decor and antique collections. I was dumbstruck looking at Alnwick's interiors. The staterooms were massive and richly decorated. Everything sparkled in gold & the wall colors were very bold. While the Scottish castles that we saw were a bit of Gothic in style to my eyes, Alnwick was very much a Renaissance style architecture. The Scottish castles that we saw during this trip, had either very old tapestries or bare walls, while Alnwick walls were of bold colors. Its a very well maintained castle like the Edinburgh Castle. My favorite room in Alnwick castle was their Library! Oh! It was the best library ever! My son loved Alnwick castle as he got to play lot of games with us and enjoyed eating their famous ice-cream.

Watch out for the rat attack :)

After some lessons on how to fly a broom & dragon quest, we walked to downtown Alnwick and had some lunch. 

Highlights & Tips: ALNWICK CASTLE

Drive from Scotland to Alnwick Castle is fantastic. Enjoy the view.

Check out the castle hours and activities. 

Book tickets ahead of time. 

Take the castle tour - its a must! 

Eat their famous ice-cream and check out their Downton Abbey chariot/car collection.

I met a photographer from Northumberland on Facebook & he mentioned that Bamburgh Castle is a must visit place if we were going to Alnwick. He was absolutely right. Bamburgh is magical! Bamburgh is right the beach and massive! Its just 25-30 kms from Alnwick. 

Bamburgh castle from the beach

As I mentioned earlier, the castles are open for limited hours. By the time we finished Alnwick and drove to Bamburgh, the castle was closed. My little one was over joyed when he saw the beach. I had planned ahead of time and purchased some cheap beach toys at Scotland for him. We enjoyed making a sand castle at the beach. The water was pretty cold so we stayed ashore making sand castle. Luckily, it was a beautiful, sunny day.  

Highlights & tips: BAMBURGH CASTLE

Bamburgh castle has few kids friendly events but we missed it. 

Its also a popular wedding location. 

Its right on the beach!!!! Perfect location for kids to have fun! 

We couldn't find any stores near by for water or coffee & the nearest restaurant was 5 mins away. So be prepared. 

Carry sunscreen, blankets and beach toys if you have little kids.

Go in summer so that you can enjoy the beach and the beautiful birds at the castle grounds.  

After soaking in the sunshine as much as we could, we headed back to Edinburgh & planned to take the coastal drive. Its a 2:30 hours of scenic drive to Edinburgh from Bamburgh. We took a short deviation hoping to see St. Abb's head lighthouse for sunset but the GPS misled us and we ended up at a marina. I took couple of photos and by then we were exhausted so we headed back to our hotel in Edinburgh. It was a very memorable trip! 

                                                                          Coastal drive - Scottish border

I hope you all enjoyed reading my travel tips and my photos. Feel free to leave comments if you have any questions. I will give you as much info as I can! I hope you all get to visit these beautiful places! See you next time..!!! :)