A day that promised to be a bit damp and chilly beckoned - a total contrast to back home where apparently it is very warm and sunny! We decided to head to the big city - Newcastle - and have a mooch around.
It's pretty easy to get to - about an hour's drive from Craster down the A1 and then park up at Kingston Park for £1 a day! Yep - £1 a day... Back home we'd be talking a £1 for a half hour, so it's a pretty good deal. The Metro station is a few yards walk from the car park (and it's all well signposted from the A1 by the way) where we bought tickets and waited for our train.
About 5 minutes later we were heading into the city. We stopped at Jesmond to have a wander round my old stomping ground from when I was a student 20 years ago (is it really 20 years!). My old flat was still there, but a few things had changed around it. There are now a lot more coffee shops on Clayton Road - and in fact - a lot more coffee shops everywhere.
We walked through the University (where I had trouble finding my old department building!) before heading into Eldon Square, out past Greys Monument and then down to the Quayside. It was nice to walk through the streets I had known as a student and show them to my family. We took the bus from the quayside back up the steep hill to the rail station and the Metro back to the car from there.
The weather wasn't great in the afternoon, so we chilled out in the cottage before a spot of dinner and over the road to the pub for a pint. The sun came out and it became quite a warm evening so we decided to head out for a walk around the village and up into the hill that overlooks Craster and the bay below. It was a lovely walk and really rather warm out of the wind.
We got back to the cottage and sat on the balcony watching the waves and the life around the harbour.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Northumberland - Tuesday 15th July - Day 5
I think it's fair to say we were all feeling quite tired today. Some real downtime was needed to we decided not to push it too much. The sun had got his hat on again, so we decided after breakfast to head to Holy Island for a little walk around. Master B was particularly keen to see the causeway.
We parked up on the island and were surprised by the number of people there and the coaches too! Got to say that Northumberland public toilets are some of the worst we have used. The ones on the island were not much better. C'mon Northumberland! Perhaps you should learn some lessons from Florida in the USA, which have some of the best public toilets...
Anyway, we walked up to the castle and around the village and stopped for some ice cream. We then headed back for a bit of a lazy afternoon of movies, reading and watching the fisherman land their catch in the harbour.
After a nice dinner cooked in the cottage, we headed to the Jolly Fisherman again for a snifter before heading in for the night. Well, we did have a foray out to play a bit of football over in the park, but it was nothing too strenuous...
We parked up on the island and were surprised by the number of people there and the coaches too! Got to say that Northumberland public toilets are some of the worst we have used. The ones on the island were not much better. C'mon Northumberland! Perhaps you should learn some lessons from Florida in the USA, which have some of the best public toilets...
Anyway, we walked up to the castle and around the village and stopped for some ice cream. We then headed back for a bit of a lazy afternoon of movies, reading and watching the fisherman land their catch in the harbour.
After a nice dinner cooked in the cottage, we headed to the Jolly Fisherman again for a snifter before heading in for the night. Well, we did have a foray out to play a bit of football over in the park, but it was nothing too strenuous...
Northumberland - Monday 14th July - Day 4
Totally different to yesterday, we woke to bright sunshine streaming through the cracks in the gaps in the shutters. There was a strong feeling amongst the Brewer clan that this could be the day to attempt the hike to Embleton beach again (we had to abandon the previous attempt due to a sea mist). So after breakfast, we packed our things and headed along the coast from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle and then round the base of the castle to the almost deserted Embelton beach. It was a glorious site at low tide - miles of sand with rock pools and sand dunes.
We set up camp and Master B and I headed to the shoreline to build our first sand castle. It was a little wet down there, so the citadel we built was a little crumbling, but we had fun nonetheless. By the dunes, it was very sheltered and very warm, but there was a pleasant cooling breeze near the sea.
We then moved to the dunes, where we built another citadel in the drier sand in the middle of two streams that were coming from the dunes. By now a few more people were enjoying the beach and it was getting very warm in the shelter of the dunes. The sun was still blazing down, and it was more Ibiza then Embleton!
However, as I was taking the photo above the cloud cover had rolled in and there was a decided nip in the air. We'd had a good 2-3 hours of lovely weather at the beach so we decided to pack up and head home. As we were all a little tired, it seemed to take twice as long to get home as it had to get to the beach! Still we made it OK, and decided a treat was in order...
We headed the 20-30 paces to the pub next door, bagged a window table and ordered lunch. Mrs B and I had fishcakes and chips and Master B had a burger and chips. It was delicious. What more can I say? Possibly the nicest fish cakes I've had. Mrs B and I shared a Tiramisu for pudding, which was also lovely.
We spent lazy couple of hours in the cottage. Mrs B and I sat out on the balcony looking over the beautiful vista whilst Master B pottered around the cottage playing with his toys and his iPod games. We put some bread out for the birds and were amazed at how tame they were - coming right up to the table where I was sitting to take the bread!
We set up camp and Master B and I headed to the shoreline to build our first sand castle. It was a little wet down there, so the citadel we built was a little crumbling, but we had fun nonetheless. By the dunes, it was very sheltered and very warm, but there was a pleasant cooling breeze near the sea.
We then moved to the dunes, where we built another citadel in the drier sand in the middle of two streams that were coming from the dunes. By now a few more people were enjoying the beach and it was getting very warm in the shelter of the dunes. The sun was still blazing down, and it was more Ibiza then Embleton!
However, as I was taking the photo above the cloud cover had rolled in and there was a decided nip in the air. We'd had a good 2-3 hours of lovely weather at the beach so we decided to pack up and head home. As we were all a little tired, it seemed to take twice as long to get home as it had to get to the beach! Still we made it OK, and decided a treat was in order...
We headed the 20-30 paces to the pub next door, bagged a window table and ordered lunch. Mrs B and I had fishcakes and chips and Master B had a burger and chips. It was delicious. What more can I say? Possibly the nicest fish cakes I've had. Mrs B and I shared a Tiramisu for pudding, which was also lovely.
We spent lazy couple of hours in the cottage. Mrs B and I sat out on the balcony looking over the beautiful vista whilst Master B pottered around the cottage playing with his toys and his iPod games. We put some bread out for the birds and were amazed at how tame they were - coming right up to the table where I was sitting to take the bread!
A trip to the shops for supplies in Alnwick and a trip to the pub for a snifter and we were pretty much done for the day... Save a glorious sunset:
Northumberland - Sunday 13th May - Day 3
We woke to the sound of heavy rain and looked bleakly through the window wondering what we would do today. We had bought lots of good wet weather clothes with us, so we weren't too worried, but we has rather hoped the weather forecast would be wrong. A sturdy breakfast saw the spirits lift, and there is something rather nice about looking out over the harbour watching the rain coming down when you are safely tucked up indoors!
Master B had wanted to go to Scotland. He wanted to go to 'another country'. Not too sure what there was to do up there, I hit the Internet and came up with a few suggestions. So we packed up the car and headed north, hoping we might also find some drier weather!
First stop was Chain Bridge Honey Farm, which isn't too far from Berwick. I thought it looked fun, with it's exhibition on bee keeping and it's cafe on an old double decker bus. Thankfully it wasn't raining up in this part of the world! We checked out the latter first and ordered pots of tea, honey flapjack and honey cake. It was all home made and delicious, and the bus was rather fun for Master B. We sat at the front of the top deck of course! The exhibition was quite good, the highlight being the glass sided hive where you can see the bees at work. Mrs B bought some heather honeycomb which she declared to be very tasty. When we mentioned to the staff we were on our way to Scotland, they directed us to the Chain Bridge just down the road - which was a 5 minute walk. If we crossed the bridge, the told us, we'd be in Scotland. Master B was very excited by this. The Union Bridge is a lovely thing of engineering - built in the 1820s. When a car goes across, it's a bit swingy, but safe and good fun. We were soon in Scotland! Hurrah! We then strolled back to the car to head off up the A1 and into another part of Scotland...
Going up the A1 into Scotland was no less thrilling for Master B, and there are some spectacular views across the sea in the Borders. We were heading further north though, because I had spotted a rather unusual tourist attraction on the map - a nuclear power station. We were off to the Visitor's Centre at Torness Power Station, operated by EDF Energy. Not your average tourist attraction, perhaps, but it sounded interesting - and Master B is quite into his science and engineering at the moment. We knew we couldn't do a tour, because you need to apply at least 3 weeks beforehand for security checks, but were hoping the Visitor's Centre would be interesting.
We were met there by Julian, an enthusiastic and knowledgable guide who showed us a model of the plant and explained how electricity was generated. There was some interactive exhibits for Master B to try and it was well worth the visit. We'd love to go back and do a proper tour, where you actually get to see the plant, but maybe that's for another time.
Julian had told us about a couple of fishing villages worth visiting, so we headed to the first: St Abbs. We parked up near the beach after a lovely drive down the coastal road and had our packed lunch on a bench overlooking the harbour. There was lots of good diving in the area, so we watched the boats unpack parties of people and head out with more. Seemed to be a very popular activity. St Abbs is quite small, so it didn't take long to have a walk round the pretty village and we then headed to the rather excellent and modern Visitor's Centre.
Well it had been a busy day - so we headed back across the border and home to Craster. I cooked up some dinner and we headed to the pub for a snifter before settling in front of the World Cup Final then bed!
Master B had wanted to go to Scotland. He wanted to go to 'another country'. Not too sure what there was to do up there, I hit the Internet and came up with a few suggestions. So we packed up the car and headed north, hoping we might also find some drier weather!
First stop was Chain Bridge Honey Farm, which isn't too far from Berwick. I thought it looked fun, with it's exhibition on bee keeping and it's cafe on an old double decker bus. Thankfully it wasn't raining up in this part of the world! We checked out the latter first and ordered pots of tea, honey flapjack and honey cake. It was all home made and delicious, and the bus was rather fun for Master B. We sat at the front of the top deck of course! The exhibition was quite good, the highlight being the glass sided hive where you can see the bees at work. Mrs B bought some heather honeycomb which she declared to be very tasty. When we mentioned to the staff we were on our way to Scotland, they directed us to the Chain Bridge just down the road - which was a 5 minute walk. If we crossed the bridge, the told us, we'd be in Scotland. Master B was very excited by this. The Union Bridge is a lovely thing of engineering - built in the 1820s. When a car goes across, it's a bit swingy, but safe and good fun. We were soon in Scotland! Hurrah! We then strolled back to the car to head off up the A1 and into another part of Scotland...
Going up the A1 into Scotland was no less thrilling for Master B, and there are some spectacular views across the sea in the Borders. We were heading further north though, because I had spotted a rather unusual tourist attraction on the map - a nuclear power station. We were off to the Visitor's Centre at Torness Power Station, operated by EDF Energy. Not your average tourist attraction, perhaps, but it sounded interesting - and Master B is quite into his science and engineering at the moment. We knew we couldn't do a tour, because you need to apply at least 3 weeks beforehand for security checks, but were hoping the Visitor's Centre would be interesting.
We were met there by Julian, an enthusiastic and knowledgable guide who showed us a model of the plant and explained how electricity was generated. There was some interactive exhibits for Master B to try and it was well worth the visit. We'd love to go back and do a proper tour, where you actually get to see the plant, but maybe that's for another time.
Julian had told us about a couple of fishing villages worth visiting, so we headed to the first: St Abbs. We parked up near the beach after a lovely drive down the coastal road and had our packed lunch on a bench overlooking the harbour. There was lots of good diving in the area, so we watched the boats unpack parties of people and head out with more. Seemed to be a very popular activity. St Abbs is quite small, so it didn't take long to have a walk round the pretty village and we then headed to the rather excellent and modern Visitor's Centre.
As you can see from the pictures, the sun had decided to make the odd appearance and it was getting rather warm. We had dressed for wet and windy - but we had high summer now! I love the North-East! Three seasons in a day and all that...
We were heading a little way down the coast to Eyemouth where Julian had told us of a smugglers house. We soon found Gunsgreen House and had fun for an hour exploring it. There were a few children's activities and plenty of interactive exhibits and was well worth doing.
Northumberland - Saturday 12th July - Day 2
We were up bright and early as the sun was streaming through the crack in our shutters. It was a lovely morning, with the bright dawn light reflecting off the sea. We had been hoping it might be warm and sunny today and it was a good start to the day.
First order of business was food as we hadn't brought much with us and we'd been a little late to do any shopping on the way up to the cottage. So we headed off to Sainsbury's at Alnwick which was a good sized supermarket to stock up on the essentials. It's not far in the car - maybe 15 minutes or so. Once unpacked, a walk up to Dunstanburgh Castle seemed like a good idea. We thought we might head on over the headland to Embleton beach too. So we packed some gear and were about to set off when we noticed it had got a bit misty. A sea mist had rolled in and blocked out the view - we couldn't even sea the end of the row of houses opposite - let alone the castle ruins! We decided to trek over anyway as we thought it might clear, but as we walked it seemed to be getting worse. We decided to change plan and go rock pooling for a bit. Master B scrambled over the rocks looking for fish and other creatures, before the inevitable jump across a large pool that he didn't quite make! Squelchy socks and trainers! Nice!
We figured we'd better head back at this point and re-think what to do with the day. The sea mist was thinning and thickening at seemingly random intervals, but it certainly looked like it might be here to stay for a bit.
A spot of lunch was in order, so we dug through the shopping and rustled up something. The kitchen in the property is functional. It's a galley kitchen, so can be a little tight at times when there is more than one of you, but there's everything you might need to make and present a good meal if you don't want to keep spending on eating out.
The mist seemed to thin in the afternoon, so we decided to head out once more with the beach stuff. This time we took the car and drove up north a little way to Low Newton. We parked up and headed down to the lovely golden sands. It was quite windy, but we sheltered behind a boat and we were fine. Master B and I made a huge sandcastle citadel just on the high tide line. The tide was coming in rapidly, so we did our best to defend the citadel from the oncoming sea, but it was too late and we lost it! It was all good fun, though. After a bit of paddling, we found we had been here nearly two hours! Time flies when you are having fun!
We took the gear back to the car and headed back - quite tired after our long journey from yesterday. Another brief visit to the pub next door for a drink and some TV in the evening and we were done! The evening was pleasant to we watched the sun go down from our balcony. The view over the harbour is amazing and something we love to keep looking at!
First order of business was food as we hadn't brought much with us and we'd been a little late to do any shopping on the way up to the cottage. So we headed off to Sainsbury's at Alnwick which was a good sized supermarket to stock up on the essentials. It's not far in the car - maybe 15 minutes or so. Once unpacked, a walk up to Dunstanburgh Castle seemed like a good idea. We thought we might head on over the headland to Embleton beach too. So we packed some gear and were about to set off when we noticed it had got a bit misty. A sea mist had rolled in and blocked out the view - we couldn't even sea the end of the row of houses opposite - let alone the castle ruins! We decided to trek over anyway as we thought it might clear, but as we walked it seemed to be getting worse. We decided to change plan and go rock pooling for a bit. Master B scrambled over the rocks looking for fish and other creatures, before the inevitable jump across a large pool that he didn't quite make! Squelchy socks and trainers! Nice!
We figured we'd better head back at this point and re-think what to do with the day. The sea mist was thinning and thickening at seemingly random intervals, but it certainly looked like it might be here to stay for a bit.
A spot of lunch was in order, so we dug through the shopping and rustled up something. The kitchen in the property is functional. It's a galley kitchen, so can be a little tight at times when there is more than one of you, but there's everything you might need to make and present a good meal if you don't want to keep spending on eating out.
The mist seemed to thin in the afternoon, so we decided to head out once more with the beach stuff. This time we took the car and drove up north a little way to Low Newton. We parked up and headed down to the lovely golden sands. It was quite windy, but we sheltered behind a boat and we were fine. Master B and I made a huge sandcastle citadel just on the high tide line. The tide was coming in rapidly, so we did our best to defend the citadel from the oncoming sea, but it was too late and we lost it! It was all good fun, though. After a bit of paddling, we found we had been here nearly two hours! Time flies when you are having fun!
We took the gear back to the car and headed back - quite tired after our long journey from yesterday. Another brief visit to the pub next door for a drink and some TV in the evening and we were done! The evening was pleasant to we watched the sun go down from our balcony. The view over the harbour is amazing and something we love to keep looking at!
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Northumberland - Friday 11th July - Day 1
We arrived just a little after 9pm after a six hour journey from home (with a stop for tea and sandwiches). We have chosen to spend our summer holiday week in the Harbour Master's Cottage in Craster - which is a lovely fishing village on the Northumberland coast.
Harbour Master's House - Craster & Embleton from Spacedust Property Films on Vimeo.
Our first impressions were very good. We liked the quirky layout and my 10 year old son liked the choice of having a double bed or the kids bedroom (he opted for the double bed to start with!). He thought the dressing up box was cute - but for 'younger kids' you understand! The master bedroom upstairs is cosy and we like the exposed beams and shuttered windows with views out to sea.
Instead of unpacking, we went next door to the pub. And it is literally next door as well! The Jolly Fisherman has been refurbished since we last visited Craster in 2007 and is now what we might call a gastro pub from where we are from. It has a decent selection of beers, and a pretty up-market menu in the evening. The famous crab sandwich is still served, to the relief of Mrs B! We ordered a couple of local beers and a lemonade for Master B and watched the waves crash against the shore from the balcony window. Most pleasant!
We wandered the 20 seconds back to our cottage where we went on to the balcony to watch the sun disappear....
Harbour Master's House - Craster & Embleton from Spacedust Property Films on Vimeo.
Our first impressions were very good. We liked the quirky layout and my 10 year old son liked the choice of having a double bed or the kids bedroom (he opted for the double bed to start with!). He thought the dressing up box was cute - but for 'younger kids' you understand! The master bedroom upstairs is cosy and we like the exposed beams and shuttered windows with views out to sea.
Instead of unpacking, we went next door to the pub. And it is literally next door as well! The Jolly Fisherman has been refurbished since we last visited Craster in 2007 and is now what we might call a gastro pub from where we are from. It has a decent selection of beers, and a pretty up-market menu in the evening. The famous crab sandwich is still served, to the relief of Mrs B! We ordered a couple of local beers and a lemonade for Master B and watched the waves crash against the shore from the balcony window. Most pleasant!
We wandered the 20 seconds back to our cottage where we went on to the balcony to watch the sun disappear....
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