Impressions of our trip from Holland to the SRGC Discussion Weekend 2009

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Go on Luit !
You're doing just fine !! 

Wonderful pix ... and another nursery to visit on the occasion 

[Katherine J]

I also do enjoy Your pics very much Luit! Waiting for next episodes. 

[Lvandelft]

Wonderful pix ... and another nursery to visit on the occasion 

I’m afraid we did not visit so many nurseries as would have liked Luc
You know, this year  it’s more Castles etc…. but who knows, next year

I also do enjoy Your pics very much Luit! Waiting for next episodes. 

Thanks Kata, it’s my pleasure that so many people like our trip


From the Peak District we drove further northwards to Northumberland, passing many places where we would like to stay longer, but alas. As it was already Thursday and on Friday we should arrive in the hotel for the D.W. in Scotland.
So we headed for Alnwick, but short before arriving there we made a little detour to Warkworth Castle which was almost on our way. 
Warkworth is not far from the North Sea and the Castle was very interesting.
If you want to learn more about, here is a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warkworth_Castle

Some pictures of the Castle and views:

[Lvandelft]

Then we drove to Alnwick, where we first went to the Tourist Information and reserved our next B&B near the Scottish Border up north and then visited Alnwick Castle.
The man on the gate told us that visiting the Castle would take some two hours time and for visiting the Garden about the same. As it was already 15.00 hrs. we decided to split and meet again at the gate appr. 2½ hours later.
So I had to drive around the whole place to visit the garden. I had two cameras with me in the car and me wife had almost all the (English) money. Mmm typical 
When I came to the parking I just found £ 10 in the car for entering the garden (£9.95 !!!) and luckily, because it was rather late, there was nobody at the parking entrance otherwise

I show first some pictures of the Castle, which I could make when coming out of the garden when the light still was just sufficient enough.
And I found two memory stones under a lime tree of the planting date, but I still don’t know who planted the young tree  ???Well, maybe Harry Potter helped a hand, when he was filmed here

[Lvandelft]

And now a few batches of the gardens at Alnwick.
For October there was still a lot to see.
The gardens are famous for their Water Plays, but when I came in I did not like it at all, a picture I made though.
After I walked around the whole garden I took a short rest (no coffee because no money!!  ) and was lucky to see at least the fountains in front of where I sat, but a bit disappointing too

Rosa Souvenire Rose
Clematis Marie Boisselot   
Anemone

[Katherine J]

What I like mostly in U. K. gardens are those old brick walls with the colorful borders.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Fortunately taking photographs was for free Luit...    if not, we would have missed these !! 

Thanks again for sharing !

[Lvandelft]

batch 2

Alnwick Gardens                 
Clematis tangutica Lambton Park   
Nerine

[Lvandelft]

batch 3
Rosa Blush Noisette 
Alnwick dovecote
Passiflora                             
Kniphofia - Lobelia                 
Kniphofia Vanilla                         
Kniphofia Wrexham Buttercup                 
             

Later more

[Lvandelft]

Fortunately taking photographs was for free Luit...    if not, we would have missed these !!  

Thanks again for sharing !

Luc, you greedy Belgian  
 
There is nothing better than taking pictures by day and in the evening a good meal with “Old Speckled Hen “  

[David Nicholson]

 
.......There is nothing better than taking pictures by day and in the evening a good meal with “Old Speckled Hen “     ..........

I'm inclined to agree Luit

[shelagh]

Thank you Luit you have brought back happy memories of a lovely day at Alnwick Garden.  We have a Rosa Blush Noisette in the garden its probably about 8/10 years old and I wish i had a £ or a Euro for every flower it has had in that time. It really is a good doer.

[Lvandelft]

Thank you Luit you have brought back happy memories of a lovely day at Alnwick Garden.  We have a Rosa Blush Noisette in the garden its probably about 8/10 years old and I wish i had a £ or a Euro for every flower it has had in that time. It really is a good doer.

Shelagh, glad that my taste for good plants is still o.k. 
When I saw those many buds I had the feeling of being a very good rose for our garden, because plants which such long flowering time are so important, instead of all the offered mass produced rubbish nowadays in garden centers 

[Lvandelft]

From Alnwick we headed north along the coast, where we made short visits to a few very lovely villages. As it was already after 5 o’clock we just made some pictures and hope to come back once.
The first ones are made in Craster, which is really a scenic little place.
There is no direct road along the coast, so these villages are only reachable in one way leaving the main road. Driving on the main road we arrived in Embleton where a picturesque little church forced us to stop for a picture.
The next village on the coast was Low Newton-by-the-Sea, from where the view over the North Sea coastline is breathtaking too.

Craster                                     
Embleton The Church           
Low Newton-by-the-Sea

[Lvandelft]

Back on the main road, the last village of the day was Bamburgh, with a castle we already saw from the villages we visited before.
This is really an enormous castle near the coast.
Driving out of the village, St. Aidan’s Church was of course worth seeing and on St. Aidan’s Churchyard there was a monument for a heroic woman, called Grace Darling., who during a heavy gale, together with her father saved several people from a steamship wreck in 1838.
You may read the whole story here:
http://www.bamburgh.org.uk/index.htm
Leaving Bamburgh we had to find our B&B, near the Scottish Borders, just before it was really dark.
And we missed many places again, due by lack of time

Bamburgh
Bamburgh St. Aidan's Church                   
Bamburgh St. Aidan's Churchyard
B&B