UK Trip Report April/May 26- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Northumberland- 5 nights
Hotel: For a change of pace, we chose a self-catering flat instead of a hotel. We rented Tweedside Retreat -right in the town center of Berwick on Tweed. After more than three weeks in hotel rooms, the extra space was very welcome. While the flat served its purpose, we probably would not stay there again. There were a number of small inconveniences and some features that were not well explained. The washer-dryer took some effort to figure out, even with the instruction manual, but we eventually succeeded in getting our laundry done and dry (the drying cycle took 4 hours?!). As a relatively new rental, it also had a few design choices that seemed impractical—white sofas in a vacation rental, for example. One major advantage of the flat was very easy parking. With a parking disc, we parked right in front of our building to unload. Then, two blocks away, there was a 24hr free lot that always had space.
Food: We loved the Black Swan in Seahouses which combined good food, great service and a welcoming atmosphere. We also enjoyed Crown and Anchor on Lindisfarne. Again it was the interactions with the people there that added to our enjoyment . I have a favorite drink that I sometimes order and very often it excites restaurant people and bartenders because they haven’t heard of it before. This happened at the Crown and Anchor. Both Audela and Atelier in Berwick on Tweed, though quite different, were tasty and enjoyable. A curious trend we noticed was the number of pubs that had menus and pictures of food posted online but no longer served food when we arrived. Whether this reflects staffing challenges or broader economic pressures, it caught us by surprise several times.
Highlights: The boat trip to Lindisfarne was a definite highlight. My interest in puffins began many years ago, when my grandchildren, then toddlers, were watching the delightful animated Irish series called Puffin Rock. We were in Ireland a few years ago but too late in the season to see puffins. So this trip I was determined to see some. Earlier in the trip, there were no puffin sightings on our boat ride to “Puffin Island” in North Wales. Fortunately, our boat trip with Billy Shiel from Seahouses came through. After circling the Inner Farne Islands and seeing countless seabirds, we finally spotted the puffins and their burrows! There are roughly 20,000 breeding pairs of puffins nesting on the Inner Farne Islands each year. Afterward, we landed on Lindisfarne or Holy Island. Because of the tides, our visit fell in the evening, too late to tour the castle or visitor center, but we enjoyed wandering the village and exploring the atmospheric priory ruins. Other Northumberland highlights for us included the Alnwick Castle Gardens, Bamburgh Castle, The Parish Church of St. Aidan (our middle child is named Aidan), simply spending time in Berwick on Tweed and getting to know the town.
Challenges: Northumberland was the only part of the trip where we rented a car. I didn’t have any problem adjusting to driving on the correct side and we weren’t on many narrow roads. The main challenge was I had a passenger who was “through-the-roof” anxious about being on “the wrong side” which made for some very stressful drives - so much so that we left the car in Berwick one day and took the train to Durham. We weren’t able to do all we wanted to do in that area, like visit Crook Hall Gardens.
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