ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 44TH OF 2020

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

So as you will know from last week's post we were away last week, so this week you get the enjoyment of seeing what we got up to (as this week has been wall to wall work and trying to get back into the grove) 

So first up a trip to Brinkburn Priory, it surprised us as the church was intact despite Henry VIII dissolution of the monasteries, reading up afterwards it appears it was repaired in the Victorian era as it wasn't completely ruinous unlike some of the abbeys and monasteries around the country

The inside was beautiful and the stained glass absolutely gorgeous

The rear of the church and you can see the church on the left and the manor house built with some of the outbuildings on the left, although they used the original monastery footprint for the cellars.  The house is in ruins inside as they had a significant dry rot problem and I'll be honest, the church building and the half remaining cloisters were far prettier. 

then we toddled off to Newbiggin by the sea, to see their sea sculpture

The maquette to the statue is on the sea front, so we found that too

And managed to get a photo of the maquette and the statue in the shot, the artist is Sean Henry who did the man on the hill at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The following day we went to Belsay Hall Castle and gardens, it was a lovely day, very peaceful walking through the quarry garden and we loved the smell of the candyfloss tree that is grown quite prolifically here and smells at this time of year of burnt sugar

The hall and castle are always a beautiful sight I love the warmth of the stone.  We couldn't climb the tower due to the times we live in, but we did enjoy the solace, the fresh air and time with each other. 

Tuesday saw us visiting Alnwick Castle, always a favourite as it was used for filming Harry Potter in the first two films.  This particular wall is the one the Ford Anglia flies over in the second film for anyone interested. 

We also went in search of Professor McGonagall's room as we wandered, not sure which one it is.  

Alnwick has also been used in the last transformers film as well as a key filming location for Downton Abbey and it is still lived in by the family that own it. 

Wednesday and we headed to Bamburgh Castle, despite the fact that it is one of the most iconic castles in the country we didn't actually get a photo of the exterior.  Again still lived in by its current owner, I must admit to admiring this amazing ceiling inside. 

We also were due to visit Dunstanburgh castle but as you can see the rain was pouring, we got half way along the path to it (as that's the only way to get there) and had to admit defeat and turn back, so this is as close as we got! 

Thursday was our penultimate trip out and we'd opted for the beautiful National Trust house of Cragside with its surrounding gardens, built during the Victorian era by an Industrialist, it is always such a delight, originally this was moorland which he planted out its hard to believe that it hasn't always been woods. 

Final day back to Alnwick but this time the gardens, designed and built in the year 2000 they really are amazing, we spotted this lego sculpture of the gardens on our way in

And here is the grand cascade in all its glory

Absolutely beautiful day just missing some blue skies but we managed to dodge the raindrops

So as you can see we had a lovely holiday away, thankfully it was last week and not this week, because had it been this week we'd have had to cancel as our local area is now in a local tier 3 lockdown, which means no moving in and out of the area amongst other things. 

We arrived home bright and early on Saturday, said 20 year old had been home alone all week working on his university stuff, so he was grateful for some company and it was fabulous to catch up. 

The rest of the week has been washing, drying, work etc but I'm definitely grateful for the break last week, it was very much needed! 

I hope you've had a good week too, if you fancy joining in, pop a post together, come back and link up and we can come and visit. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY 44TH OF 2015

Well despite best efforts to get this to post whilst I was away it wasn't having any of it. So I'm priming a post for the Friday after as it were. Let's see what has been 

for the last couple of weeks.  Well last week we escaped for a week in a cottage near Durham.  We had a very very busy week but it was lovely.  

First day when we were away we went to Gibside, a National Trust property well known for it's gardens. 

I loved this on the way in

There were some fabulous colours to enjoy

We even managed a selfie

Some beautiful flowers

And the ruined house itself.  

The view the following morning was breathtaking with the mist sitting in the base of the valley. 

We ventured to Woodhorn Museum which was one of my 'must sees' for the week, to see Cascade, part of the touring Poppies, we've already been lucky enough to see Wave at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, but I also wanted to see Cascade.  We weren't disappointed the Poppies looked amazing and we were able to get quite close to the display.  The display is actually taller than the original cascading window on which it is based.  It's only there until early November when it transfers to Liverpool. 

 We got chatting to a security guard at Woodhorn, who mentioned the sea sculpture at Newbiggin by the Sea, which was only a couple of miles from Woodhorn, so we went for a look.  The sculpture is part of the sea defence.

And they are quite a way out - you can just about make out the white stilts below and whilst the couple look 'normal' in size, they were three or four times larger than normal humans.

They produced a 'normal' sized version called Land Couple which can be seen on the main parade in the little town.

Then we ventured to Northumberlandia (another must see), can you see the lady laid down, isn't she amazing.  We had a fabulous time walking along the paths, the site is next to the biggest open cast mine in the country, which produces enough coal to provide 35% of our electricity, which is a worrying prospect when you think about how few mines there are left in the country now and how reliant we obviously still are on fossil fuels.

Then to finish the day off, we dashed over to Belsay Castle and Gardens, it really is an amazing site and the main reason to visit is the fabulous quarry garden.

The castle is lovely too but I didn't venture up to the top of the tower (although hubby did).

We also photographed some crazy plants - apparently this is American poke weed or something like that, it looks like purple corn on the cob, but is very poisonous to humans, we also got to smell the Candyfloss tree - which smells - well amazing!

Autumn colours - October is my favourite colour!

A day trip to Beamish as well.

Hubby got to tick off the Temple of Mithras from his bucket list, although he was a tad disappointed with it.

We got to see Vindolanda - which is a fabulous site to look around with some amazing finds in display in their museum.

The selection of found Roman leather footwear for a starter

We ventured to see George Stephenson's birthplace, which although looks like a house is actually just a room as that is where his family lived.

We also popped to Prudhoe Castle (although we discovered we'd been there before).

We ventured to Cherryburn another National Trust place and got to see the Salmon jumping up the river at Hexham.

So we had a fabulous week overall.  

We have been missing said 15 year old, we came home and have been busy on the house but are planning on Friday being a work free day - all day long.  

Said 15 year old will be back on Sunday - I cannot wait - it will be almost 3 weeks since we've seen him.

I hope you've had a brilliant week took, if you fancy joining in then pop a post together, come back and link up and we shall come and visit.