Our 2nd family trip of a rather packed Summer! Having travelled as far South as possible (see our annual pilgrimage to the West Country) we then dragged the children North to experience a ‘proper’ British coastal holiday. Welcome to the North Sea kids! A grand adventure it was too; with plenty of lighthouses, rock pools and National Trust properties. We had an initial place to stay close to the seafront in Amble and ventured out to see as much as possible/as much as the little ones would allow.
We had a Sunny day trip to Alnwick Garden followed by a VERY foggy attempt at Bamburgh Castle. I’ve been lucky enough to visit both in the past and we were very keen to show C & B. It was very atmospheric if perhaps a little baffling for them. We also took a turn around Coquet Island and spied plenty of curious seals (sadly too late for the puffins this year).
There were too many stops for fish and chips to mention here… although a portion whilst watching the boats in the harbour at Seahouses was a highlight. Our final expedition (before retreating further South) was to Holy Island; one of the places I had failed to see during my University years. We drove up the coastal road and made the crossing on the most perfect of days. It was a glorious walk around the island beach to the castle, which is now maintained by the National Trust. I think the views from the top were something special indeed. We finally got a decent view of Bamburgh too. Much clearer from 5 miles away than standing in Bamburgh itself a few days before! Such is the joy of the weather in the North East… and we wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂
We finally said goodbye to Northumberland and made our way down to North Yorkshire; camping in a converted horse box of all things. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet up with our University friends and much of the time was spent catching up on life. But we were introduced to two more fantastic National Trust locations… starting with Brimham Rocks.
Some wonderful landscape views but this was really worth it for the climbing alone. The kids absolutely loved every minute scaling the fascinating millstone grit formations. This was followed by another sun baked afternoon at Fountains Abbey. An astonishing ruined monastery South of Ripon; the scale of which kinda blew me away.
So lots of snaps taken with the camera whenever parenting duties allowed. I picked a selection of my favourites for this page. I’ve also snuck in a couple of the sketches and an illustrated map. But of course i’m itching to create some larger work from this family expedition. Having already worked on Bamburgh a couple of times for commissions I think i’ll end up tackling a Lindisfarne canvas first… lets see…