A Victorian Mansion and A Medieval Castle

CRAGSIDE HOUSE


ALNWICK CASTLE

Today we drove north to visit two notable dwellings: Cragside House, an impressive Victorian mansion and Alnwick Castle, the largest inhabited castle in England. The weather was rather chilly to start and we met a bit of rain while roaming around the grounds of Alnwick castle but the day cleared up, as it often does, and we ended up with blue skies over Cragside.

Alnwick has a long history that goes back to the 11th century and is the home of the Duke of Northumberland. The castle fills in as Hogwarts School of Magic in the Harry Potter films and has been the setting for numerous other films and tv shows. We were able to wander throughout the castle grounds and gardens and through a few of the rooms, though most of the castle was off limits to visitors.

I was more impressed by Cragside House which was the home of William Armstrong -- scientist, inventor and arms merchant. Armstrong, his wife Margaret and architect Richard Norman Shaw collaborated on the design of the house and gardens. Cragside featured many innovations and was the first house in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity. The house is now a National Trust property and visitors are allowed to explore nearly every one of its fully furnished rooms.