Jo’s Monday walk : Cragside

I’m interrupting my Polish stories to take you briefly to Northumberland.  The reason being that it is rhododendron time of year at Cragside, and if we don’t go soon you’ll have missed them.  I managed to capture them in the last week of May, when they were looking truly fabulous.

Cragside is rightly famous for being the first home in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity, and makes a fascinating tour.  My interest, however, lies in the acres of woodland walks and the formal gardens which surround the house.  Former owner, Lord Armstrong, is described as a landscape genius, and I saw nothing to make me dispute that claim.

To get the lie of the land you can take the 6 mile circular carriage drive around the estate.  On a sparkling blue sky day it is a sight to behold.  Within that there are a selection of waymarked trails and over 40 miles of signposted footpaths.  Enough, even for me?

As always I am magnetised by the water and my first stop is Nelly’s Moss, where there are two lakes to walk around.  Craggy boulders split the woods and some of the trail is made up of solid stone slabs.  No-one to disturb, but a curious duck or two.

No doubt you can tell I’m besotted by the rhododendrons, but the pleasures don’t end there.  In fact, they’re just beginning.  There’s even a Trim Trail, should you wish to test your fitness levels.  Perhaps I shouldn’t define that as a pleasure.  I’m content to drive back to the Visitor Centre, fronted by lovely Tumbleton Lake.  Parking and restaurant are close by, or you can simply picnic beside the lake.  Some folk like to travel in style.

The Armstrong Trail follows Debdon Burn, past the Archimedes Screw and the Pump House, through woodland leading to the Iron Bridge.  From here you can climb through the sea of azaleas and rhododendrons up to the house, or you can take a detour to the formal gardens.

I don’t remember these from my long ago visit, but the setting is superb.  On a truly radiant day, with the valley below rolling down to Rothbury in the distance, you just want to sit on a bench and breath deeply.  No such luxury for the gardening team, but they seem happy in their work, rooting out disobedient weeds.  I linger over tubs of tulips, beside a bedraggled rose and among the cool greys of the fernery.

Irridescent colours gleam at me, and it doesn’t really matter that many of the flowers are past their peak.  I can still luxuriate in their finery.

I hope you enjoyed sharing Cragside with me.  Full details are to be found on the website.  Meanwhile I’d like to share another great selection of walks.  It’s been a busy but wonderful couple of weeks and I won’t be posting a walk next week.  Instead I’ll be taking life a little more easily in the Algarve.  Among other things I have a wine tasting session that I need to attend.  Time to put the kettle on now, and settle in for a good read.

I always know it’s going to be a great week if it starts with a walk from Debbie :

Wandering around the park at Hellbrunn

Cheese anybody?  And don’t miss Jackie’s recipe for Slow Mongolian Beef :

Cheese platter

Let’s accompany Janet to the mall next, for some high end?

Monday walk…The Americana at Brand

Jesh is someone who doesn’t take beauty for granted, but often paints it, beautifully :

DON’T TAKE BEAUTY FOR GRANTED

And speaking of beauty, the happiest of memories brought back for me, from Lady Lee :

#SoCS June 9/18- “start with a noun”

Drake brought back more fond memories, of a long ago week at the Austrian lakes :

Idyllic Austrian colors

While Jaspa unintentionally brought back some not so happy memories of a Greek crisis for me :

Early Morning at The Parthenon, Athens

And Irene brought just a little more heavenly light :

Beams of Light

This post from Denzil gives you a choice of 4 walks and a lovely castle.  Not bad, hey?

Four walks starting from Horst Castle

Cathy hopes to be fit for the Camino in September, but meantime shares some fabulous views of her native America :

A hike above Wedding Canyon

As always, thanks to you all for walking with me and for sharing such wonderful companionship.  I need a little time out but I’ll be back as soon as I can.  Take good care till then.

 

130 comments

  2. Pingback: upper ute canyon & the coke ovens trail at colorado national monument – ~ wander.essence ~

  3. Simply gorgeous Jo – the rhododendrons are stunning always a favourite of mine too! Hope you’ve been having a lovely time enjoying the sun in the Algarve (though am reliably informed that the weather is really warm in the UK at present)! 🙂 🙂

    Like

    Reply

      1. Sounds like you are having a good time Jo which is the main thing! I’d rather not have heat all the time in any case – we love the winters here especially the crisp clear and sunny days we’ve had recently though more rain on the way. Enjoy the rest of your Algarve stay and have a great week! xx 🙂

        Like

  4. Pingback: Little pearl in the sun | Le Drake Noir

    1. Yesterday was wonderful darlin. We went up to Alte in the hills and then on to the wine tasting near Silves. A wander and an ice cream in Silves and home to a lazy supper. I could get used to this life and England seems far away. Hugs sweetheart xx

      Like

      Reply

  9. That is the perfect setting for rhododendrons. Where they can spread their wings and the strong colours are in proportion to the landscape. In a small space, not so much. Maybe I inherited rather too many of them and they overwhelm. Cragside is a place I’ve had on my radar for a while, it looks a great place to visit.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Just managing to catch up with this after six days away and a week spent editing photos and updating my camping blog. I don’t know if this is suitable for a Monday Walk as it’s the second part of a two-part day so the first sentence may not make much sense, but it was a long, sometimes tough walk with great scenery and a special place at the end, so if you can include it next time then please do – http://tigermousetales.blogspot.com/2018/06/monday-june-11th-2018-part-2.html

    Fabulous photos as always by the way, and the rhodies were just gorgeous – makes me quite envious as I only have one small one 😦

    Like

    Reply

  13. Thank you for sharing all that gorgeousness Jo! We had gigantic hedges of bright pink and orange azaleas in some of our plantation bungalows. Have never seen the variegated ones though.

    Like

    Reply

  15. I love the flamboyance of rhododendrons and their colours are wonderful. I boast of a lovely red one in a pot but when I see a garden full of them I realize how puny it is. Down South here, we have Exbury Gardens which is where I go to see these gorgeous blooms but I didn’t manage it this year. Many people open their gardens at this time of year for the National Gardens event, so most Sundays sees me heading off to admire someone’s blooms, sometimes returning with a cutting or a plant I’ve bought from them. You probably have the same scheme in your area, all the money goes to charity, and the coffee and cakes are usually top class.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.