Photos from Macbeth

A Brand New Week!!

Yesterday was day two of the unscheduled weekend, with several students traveling to York and Edinburgh, while others chose to spend time in and around Alnwick. One auditory treat yesterday was a duo performing medieval music in the inner bailey of the Castle.

The Alnwick Garden provided many visual treats to those who chose to relax and wander there.

Last evening, the Castle Theatre troupe set up in the outer bailey and performed Macbeth. What a thrill to hear those lines by Shakespeare delivered in British accents with the stones of the Castle as a backdrop.

And now a new week begins. Classroom time this morning, in preparation for the week’s field trips. This afternoon, British author David Almond spoke with us about his writing process and his books. He answered many questions, as well as signed books for us. We feel like insiders now since he told us about two upcoming books that will be released in Britain in the next few months. David graciously signed books for us at the end of his presentation.

Tonight we had wanted to walk in Hulne Park, but the skies look like the photo below, plus there was rain falling at a fairly good clip.  Off to the North Sea tomorrow so hope that it clears.
 

For those who missed the Puffins--

Here is a brief video of the sights [mostly Puffins] and sounds [mostly wind] of the Farne Puffins. No tripod or wind screen and lots of zoom so it's rough--

You will catch a glimpse of some Shags and Arctic Terns that share the island's nesting areas. In the distance you can just see the Longstone Island lighthouse made famous in the Grace Darling story.

It's a BIG file and is posted on YouTube coz I couldn't get the blog to do a direct post [sigh-- technology!] The 'embedded' version should appear below -- but I've added the direct link to YouTube just in case--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbKWR-cEpTM

Last night Jools Holland gave an outdoor concert on the castle grounds. The sunset was beautiful, and we were able to watch the fireworks after the concert from the castle - they was amazing!

Saturday Adventures

Weekends are unscheduled so today was a day that each person could do whatever he or she felt called to do. One student traveled to Scotland, several others traveled to York, some stayed in town and soaked up the Alnwick atmosphere, and others joined us on a bus ride to Seahouses, where after shopping, we took a boat trip to the Farne Islands, several miles out in the North Sea.The weather this week has been so unsettled that today at noon time was the first trip out to the Islands in three days. Our boat was appropriately called the Glad Tidings IV.

The Farne Islands are home to many types of water birds and to seals. One of the features of the boat trip is a landing on one of the Islands to allow close observation of the birds. The nesting season is nearly over, but a few downy baby terns remain, fiercely protected by vigilant parents.

 The greatest fun is seeing the puffins in action, either standing by their burrows or bringing back food for the single chick they raise each season. They also congregate in small groups, where it looks to us humans like they are gossiping about the latest North Sea events. Very cool to see.

The weather was overcast and breezy. We did get a light spritzing when a squall passed over the Island just after we landed, but on the boat ride back to shore the sun came out and it was quite pleasant. The clouds have been indescribable with all of the fronts passing through. Photographs just do not do it justice, but we keep trying!



Tonight we will go outside around 10:30 pm to watch fireworks!

First Week Ends on a Sunny Note...

Another day of changing weather, but finally sunshine predominated! We boarded a coach this morning for our first day of field trips. First stop was Bellshill Farm

(see link under British Connections) to the right), owned and operated by John and Helen Renner, farmers extraordinare.

 It was squalling rain and blowing very hard, so we started in the farm classroom, with little hope of being able to actually walk about the farm lands. John and Helen spoke us about all aspects of their farm from crops to pigs to sheep. When we opened the classroom door, we discovered that the sun had broken through the clouds, and although the wind was still blowing hard, we were able to walk up into the pastures and see the breathtaking views of the rolling Northumberland countryside and the North Sea. We also got to see Spot, the resident sheepdog, who is 16 years old and still going strong.

Then it was back on the coach and on to Lindisfarne Island, aka Holy Island. The wind was still blowing hard and there were squalls coming in over the Cheviot Hills from time to time, but there were spots of sunshine with just a few sprinkles. We had our packed lunches from the dining hall, but some people also tried the crab sandwiches that can be purchased from cottages on Lindisfarne. We took a self guided tour of Lindisfarne Castle, which sits on a high point of volcano rock (Beblowe Crag) on one end of the island.

We also visited the Castle garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll. Not as luxuriant as two years ago when we visited, but it is amazing that anything can grown in such a wind assaulted spot. There was time for a bit of shopping in the village before we finished the day at the Priory Museum.




I've been trying to make sure that I get a picture of everyone up on the blog, but it's difficult to do that with pictures of only one or two people, so I am ending today with a group taken on Lindisfarne. This is the whole gang except for me, who was the photographer!  Now it’s off for fish and chips at the local chip shop. Life is good!!

Three Seasons in One Day

Today we woke to clear skies and almost warm sunshine.  By the time of our OUTDOOR tour of the Castle grounds, it was raining, complete with thunder and lightning.  The tour guide seemed unconcerned with the possibility of a lightning strike and continued on!!  Many of us also toured the inside of the Castle, where we especially enjoyed the library with all of the personal mementoes of the Percy family, and the newly restored state dining room which was being set up for a gala dinner tonight.  (No, we are not the invited guests.)

The afternoon brought a tour of  the Alnwick Garden, which I think the students found amazing. Even beaten by the recent wind and rain, the rose garden was still fabulous, with the Alnwick Rose developed by rose specialists David Austin a real standout.

The water features seemed to bring out the child in everyone (see the water graffiti above), and the Poison Garden provided a real exclamation point to the tour.

The Garden tour was  the first organized tour not accompanied by rain.  The sun actually shone for an hour or so, but it was paired with a brisk wind. Between the thundershower, the wind, and the sunshine, it felt like we experienced spring, summer, and autumn all in one day today..

Off to Bellshill Farm and Holy Island tomorrow, fish and chips tomorrow night!!