Car rally, a castle and a lighthouse

OK, so we STILL haven’t moved off the drive BUT Monday 11th Sept we are going to get the electrics hooked up to the van so we can try out the fridge and heater, its been a tad cold on the night with no heating but it’s worth it… honestly.
We need to get one or two more bits and pieces for the van then we are REALLY ready for the off.

We spent today at one of our favourite English Heritage properties in Northumberland; Belsay hall, castle and gardens. It’s an amazing place, still owned by the Middleton family but under the custodianship of EH. We found out that EH aren't allowed to refurnish the building due to a contract clause. The once spectacular drawing room and library now stand empty apart from fireplaces and oak bookshelves. Some more rooms have been opened up which is great, but the servants wing and rooms are still to be renovated after many years of what looks like wet rot. Very few ceilings or floors are left in this part of the spectacular Greek style house but you can see from floor to roof and the layers inbetween. Seeing a fireplace projecting from the wall with no floor looks amazing. We always have to pay a visit to the Quarry Garden and castle. Both are very atmospheric and add to the charm of the estate. One family lived in the castle, then extended it to a manor house, and then built the spectacular Belsay Hall, the quarry garden providing much of the stone work for the extension and the new building
We also went to Belsay today for the vintage car rally….. hmmm, it was OK but not too many exhibits and too many of one make of car.. But very nice all the same.

We expected to be at Belsay for the whole day…. But we stayed til midday and then made our way to a National Trust house, Wallington also in Northumberland. The exterior is much or a muchness, but the interior is beautiful. The staircase is something else, one central staircase breaking off into two onto a balcony, which had another pyramid like set of steps up to a curiosities cupboard, probably bigger than most living rooms in modern houses. Inside were many unusual artefacts including a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
A central hall has wooden owls in flight on each of the pillars and depictions of major events in the history of Northumbria in arched alcoves, including Grace Darling, the death of Bede and the Danes invasion of the county.
Some of the principal rooms have a design similar to that of Wedgewood. A lovely place which also has the unusual feature of 4 Griffin’s heads in front of the house.

After a brief break we decided to make our way to the coast and to Souter Lighthouse near South Shields. The car park is on the site of the old colliery. We went into the lighthouse and were made to feel very welcome, luckily were in time for a guided tour of the actual tower. The lighthouse was the first to be powered by electric in the UK. One prominent feature of the engine room was the fog horn cylinders used to produce enough pressure to allow the horn to be heard for almost 15 miles away.
The coastline of cliffs around the area is spectacular, Marsden Rock and the Marsden Grotto Restaurant dominate this bay. The restaurant is reached by a lift.

A lovely day in the bright sun.