Northern England Castles

We really enjoyed Edlingham, a small ruin near Alnwick.....I didn't particularly care for the interior of Alnwick Castle - it was quite restored, portions of it are the family home. However, the garden, especially the Poison Garden, was very interesting. We liked Dunstanburgh more than Bamburgh, but you can easily see both. The Borders, Northumbria, and York region are full of castles. Many of them have associations with Mary Queen of Scots or Richard III. Have you checked out the website britainirelandcastles.com yet? It has an interactive map....The ruined abbeys in that region are also very interesting, especially Lindisfarne.

I enjoyed Bolton Castle. http://www.boltoncastle.co.uk Mary Queen of Scots was first imprisoned here after fleeing Scotland.

Thank you for the great advise! The website is great Cynthia, it will be very handy in the next few weeks. Thank you Keith & Cynthia on Dunstanburgh castle, we will visit for sure.
Any advise on where we should stay for the night after leaving Edinburgh and before we end up in York? Kind of plan on Durham or its area. Hadrian's wall is a must for us.

Durham would be a good overnight stop between Edinburgh and York. The cathedral is not to be missed. Hexham could be an overnight native, close to Hadrian's Wall and with an interesting old church as well. The best part of Bamburgh Castle is the setting, right on the North Sea, in the teeth of the wind. We were almost blown away! We didn't find the inside as interesting as the site itself. Nearby is Lindisfarne, an ancient religious site also in a spectacular setting, on an island reachable by causeway unless the tide is too high. We never got there because the tide was too high most of that day, but I believe it's usually accessible. Google "Lindisfarne tides" for a table. We went to Alnwick Castle on a friend's recommendation and it was very interesting, ancestral seat of the Percys who dominated Northumberland for many years and figure in Shakespeare as well as actual history. When we visited there was a falconry demonstration in the main courtyard. We regretted not taking our friend's advice to visit the garden, I think it would have been a better use of our time. But we visited in May; you might find the garden of less interest this time of year. For Hadrian's Wall I'd recommend the Housesteads and Vindolanda sites, both near Hexham. Housesteads is the ruins of a Roman fort with a very scenic section of the wall itself, and many photogenic sheep. Vindolanda is the ruins of a Roman town with an excellent museum that shows you a lot about how people lived there and then (also a nice cafe). Vindolanda isn't on the wall itself. If you have time between Durham and York, you might drive up one of the Yorkshire dales (valleys) running east-west to the east of the main motorway. We liked Swaledale, accessed through Richmond (which also has a castle ruin, not in a league with Bamburgh or Alnwick).

I stayed in Hexham to visit Hadiran's Wall. It's also nice little town with a small museum. I liked it.