Wild Cattle, Wild Northumberland Landscapes

Today dawned –guess what?!! –cloudy and lightly raining! It did not bode well for our field trip to Chillingham Park to see the wild white cattle that have lived in the Park for the last 800 years. But by the time the coach had reached the car park, the rain had stopped. We proceeded to walk the mile to meet Warden Richard, who was our knowledgeable tour guide.

The cattle were very active today, possibly due to the cool, overcast weather. We were able to get some excellent photographs at quite close range, always with the warden between us and the herd. There are a total of 93 cattle in the park, the highest number since records were started in the 1700s. We saw a couple of herds and were especially pleased to see the calves, which can be born at any time of the year. The youngest calf we saw was a couple of months old. It was amazing to see animals that are classified as a “unique species" and to consider the wonders of nature that have preserved this species for hundreds of years. 

 I have posted a link to the Chillingham White Cattle website. It is a charity to which donations can be made to aid in the preservationof the cattle.

Back in the parking lot, we ate our packed lunches, then we explored the Chillingham parish church and graveyard. The church is still used for weekly services.

The next spot on our itinerary was Chillingham Castle, site of much of the action in one of our children’s literature selections, The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson. (And as you can tell by the title, the Wild White Cattle are also important characters in the book.) The castle has quite an eclectic collection of many, many items. A true curator would go mad trying to organize everything. It is sort of like a garage sale in a grand but slightly shabby setting. Eva Ibbotson did a great job of capturing the feeling of Chillingham and its ghosts in her book.

The Castle garden is very lovely and kept up, as the photos indicate. Better to show garden pictures than to try to describe with words!

Our last stop of the day was Hart Hope Valley in Northumberland National Park. The roads leading to it are very narrow “one track” roads, meaning that it is only one car wide. We had a 16 passenger coach, which is the largest coach that is allowed to enter the park and travel these tiny roads. We got lost and had to ford a stream, then we got to see a sheep jump over a stone wall. Who knew that sheep had a vertical leap??

We finally got sorted out and found the stopping place. We spent about 45 minutes walking, relaxing and photographing. The landscape in Northumberland National Park is incredible, with rolling hills covered with heather which is just starting to bloom.

Before we got on the bus, we took yet another group photo.  We are getting really good at arranging ourselves.

Hopefully we are off to the North Sea coast in the morning, but the fog is just rolling in over the Duke's pastures tonight.  We have back up plans in case we can't go out to Longstone Island.  Stay tuned!

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!!