Hellvellyn's Views

Dunstanburgh Castle, Craster, Northumberland

Raby Castle, Staindrop, County Durham

Dunstanburgh Castle sits amongst some of the most impressive of the Northumberland coastline. Built in the fourtheenth century, it is now a ruin and owned by the National Trust and managed by English Heritage. Admission is free to members of either and information is available by clicking the links to their websites.

The castle is accessed via Craster a mile and a half to the South. There is a car park in the village, although it's Pay & Display (£2 for a full day) and no concessions for National Trust or English Heritage members. Toilets are situated at the Tourist Information centre at the entrance to the car park. I'd recommend using these as there are only two Portaloos at the castle itself! I'm fairly sure some visitors use the privvies built into the castle walls, but wouldn't recommend that. The crossing times to nearby Lindisfarne (Holy Island) are also available at the Tourist Information centre if you're planning a full day in the area.

The village is famous for the Craster Kipper, although not being a great lover of smoked fish, I decided to give that a miss . Seals and an array of seabirds are common around the area, although more prevalent around the Farne Islands.

The view North towards the Farne Islands.

The Farne Islands. The larger island to the left is Inner Farne, the largest of the Farnes and closest to the mainland. The island with the lighthouse on the right is Longstone. This was once home to Northumbrian heroine, Grace Darling.

The view South towards Craster.

Raby Castle, Staindrop, Nr Barnard Castle, Co. Durham.

Website: http://www.rabycastle.com/

On my first visit to Raby, I was somewhat shocked a the entrance fees. Being privately owned by Lord Barnard, the fees are rather extravagant comapred to National Trust or English Heritage sites. However, I was soon to learn that the £9 for a single adult was money well spent! The castle itself is exquisitely furnished, with works of art on every wall, nook and cranny. It takes half a day just to explore the numerous rooms open to the public; not just one or two with annoying barriers preventing exploring the parts you really want to. It seems every room is open at Raby.

The gardens often host various shows throughout the year which are ususlly advertised on the website. http://www.rabycastle.com/news_events.htm

(for some reason the picture from the walled garden won't display!)

This is Nevilles Gateway with the unusually aligned towers.

Bulmer's Tower; the oldest part of the castle.

Taken from the lakeside.

This beats a burglar alarm. I just hope they don't use it in modern warfare!

The castle from the lake.

Not many castles boast deer in their grounds.

As you can see, it's very easy to spend a full day here; if they extend their openig times that is!

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