Day trip from Edinburgh to Borders

I thing you will need to decide between visiting the inside of the Castle or the Gardens. Indeed with only 3 hours it will be a hard choice between Barter Books and the Parish Church or the Castle or the Castle Gardens.

The Castle has appeared in a lot of movies besides Harry Potter, including Downton Abbey.

These trips are always a taster for future visits. Even using public transit you could probably spend a week just exploring the Borders and another week for coastal and inland Northumberland. Just as a for instance after Kelso I would guess you will pass through Coldstream (another really well worthwhile stop), Ford and Etal (two villages which make a good day out including a light railway), Flodden Field (the important battle) and the site of the earlier Battle of Hedgeley Moor in 1464. Chillingham Castle and the well known cattle.

Rothbury and Cragside House. Wooler- an attractive market town.

So two weeks in one day- don't get me wrong it is a good day trip, not knocking it in any way, shape or form. But what I hope you will find to be a really tantalising taster.

Alnwick also has a preserved railway- the Aln Valley Railway.

Stuart, when I planned my 3 months in the UK, I definitely was considering Scotland for one base as it’s a breathtaking country, & I had a fabulous time when I was there. But, I wanted to spend time in the South of England, and I wanted to split North Yorkshire into to bases.

I DO hope to get back to the UK one day, but I’m not sure it will happen - this 3 month stay is my dream, and I’m dipping into my savings to fund it. So, even a taster of this area will suffice for me

Coldstream was one of the towns I was going to visit…

I really wanted to visit Cragside - missing out on that when I canceled my 2020 trip killed me, lol

I wonder which town/village we’ll stop in on the way back to Edinburgh ?

I love old trains - I see on the site they even have a mini-railroad

Thank you!

Betsy, Cragside was a beautiful place to visit and I enjoyed my time there so much. Not only was the manor house incredible but the grounds were gorgeous and so nice to walk through. You could easily spend hours and hours there just walking around and enjoying the beauty. I really hope you get there at some point. I loved Northumberland in general, and would love to go back to that area some day.

I found Alnwick Castle a little underwhelming, but I'm in the minority, I believe. I'm sure you will enjoy it and the gardens were nice I liked Bamburgh Castle much better. But hopefully you will have plenty of time at Barter Books. I didn't eat there, but the menu looked appetizing, and the book store is just wonderful!

The free tour of Alnwick castle lasts an hour if you went on it. You could see it on your own in the same amount of time. We had a rental car both times we visited it and stayed in town for a couple nights, so didn’t have any time constraints.

We did visit Bamburgh and the castle as well as Holy Island. Because we had a rental car we stopped at the Borders Abbeys (Dryburgh, Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose) en route to Peebles from Alnwick. Peebles was our last lodging location prior to returning to Edinburgh

Mardee, it’s kind of killing me not to be able to visit this time, lol…Next time!

I’ll probably take a quick-ish look around, check out the gardens, and head for lunch/bookstore! They now have an ice cream parlor as well - woo hoo!!!!

Can I ask where you ate lunch in Alnick, if you did?

I’d also planned to visit Bamburgh, lol.

I can’t complain, though - in my 3 months, I’ll be seeing so many wonderful places!

Thanks!

Betsy, Cragside was a beautiful place to visit and I enjoyed my time
there so much. Not only was the manor house incredible but the grounds
were gorgeous and so nice to walk through. You could easily spend
hours and hours there just walking around and enjoying the beauty. I
really hope you get there at some point. I loved Northumberland in
general, and would love to go back to that area some day.

I found Alnwick Castle a little underwhelming, but I'm in the
minority, I believe. I'm sure you will enjoy it and the gardens were
nice I liked Bamburgh Castle much better. But hopefully you will have
plenty of time at Barter Books. I didn't eat there, but the menu
looked appetizing, and the book store is just wonderful!

Three hours isn't going to give very long in Alnwick. There's lots to see in the castle and the general recommendation seems to be to allow at least a couple of hours for this. That doesn't include the gardens which are charged separately and would be another couple of hours. This could be a quick scamper and watching the time to make sure you get back to teh coach in time. Also not knowing where you are parking, you need to allow time to walk to the castle too.

Alnwick is a compact town to walk round and lunch, Barter books and possibly the church could easily fill up thioose three hours...

Kelso is a nice wee town although the ruined abbey isn't in the same category as the main Border Abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose or Dryburgh. Also you can only see it form the outside at the moment as "Due to access restrictions in place as a precautionary measure while we undertake high level masonry inspections, there is currently no visitor access to this site."

I'd be a bit concerned that for £60 you could end up feeling short changed by the trip... (and that's coming from someone who loves Northumberland and Alnwick...)

Jamie, the castle isn’t part of the tour, so oo booked it separately.

When I had originally booked my trip a few years ago, I knew I’d be relying on public transport …I know for sure I would have gone to Kelso and Melrose; I can just picture my written itinerary now, lol

Your trip sounds wonderful!

The free tour of Alnwick castle lasts an hour if you went on it. You
could see it on your own in the same amount of time. We had a rental
car both times we visited it and stayed in town for a couple nights,
so didn’t have any time constraints. We did visit Bamburgh and the
castle as well as Holy Island. Because we had a rental car we stopped
at the Borders Abbeys (Dryburgh, Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose) en route to
Peebles from Alnwick. Peebles was our last lodging location prior to
returning to Edinburgh

Wasley, I don’t feel the need to spend nearly that much time - I’ll do what I can. It’s just a taste, and I’ll be seeing other castles & the like during my 3 months

My priority is frankly the bookstore …after some time at the castle, I really just want to check out the town and hang out at the bookstore

I’m honestly very happy to see the Abbey from the outside and explore the town. I’ll never feel shortchanged - I feel lucky to be able to do this. I’ve already added 4 nights to what was supposed to be 1 night in Edinburgh, lol. It’s better to have a taste, than nothing at all!

Thank you!

Three hours isn't going to give very long in Alnwick. There's lots to
see in the castle and the general recommendation seems to be to allow
at least a couple of hours for this. That doesn't include the gardens
which are charged separately and would be another couple of hours.
This could be a quick scamper and watching the time to make sure you
get back to teh coach in time. Also not knowing where you are parking,
you need to allow time to walk to the castle too. Alnwick is a compact
town to walk round and lunch, Barter books and possibly the church
could easily fill up thioose three hours... Kelso is a nice wee town
although the ruined abbey isn't in the same category as the main
Border Abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose or Dryburgh. Also you can only see
it form the outside at the moment as "Due to access restrictions in
place as a precautionary measure while we undertake high level masonry
inspections, there is currently no visitor access to this site." I'd
be a bit concerned that for £60 you could end up feeling short changed
by the trip... (and that's coming from someone who loves
Northumberland and Alnwick...)