Wednesday 1 April 2015

Hi From Spring Hill Farm Campsite

Hi From Spring Hill Farm Campsite

31st March 2015

Last night was a restless one due to the continuing feature of high winds and rain that rocked and rattled us with a definite ferociousness! However, when we surfaced this morning everything was in it's place and no harm had been done.  Following breakfast we decided to move closer to the coast and we've found ourselves nestled in a lovely little spot with distant sea views on Spring Hill Farm.  We're about a mile form Seahouses, so once we'd set up camp we decided to go in search of those elusive fish and chips. We quickly found them and thought they would be much nicer if we ate them overlooking the harbour, but it was a good job the portions were generous!  Instead of seagulls a flock of starlings swooped down and wanted to share. They screeched and shouted at us to say 'hurry up, we want your left overs' so I obliged and tipped out the remainder of my dinner, and within seconds it had all been hoovered up and not a crumb was left as litter - there were no signs to say 'don't feed the starlings'

'Give us a chip'


'come on, hurry up, we're starving starlins'
'Hey Clarice, thought we weren't getting any'


Guess what  film we were thinking off!  Following lunch we set off for a short walk on the beach and while we were there we decided to part-take of our Thermos of coffee - it turned out to be coffee mixed with a generous measure of sand! Maybe we could call it cafe Au silicone - not a good flavour.
Seahouse Beach
At this point the wind remained relentless (but the sun was shining) so we turned around and strolled for a little while longer before heading back to the van for tea, biscuits and a catch up nap to make up the sleep we lost the night before.

1st April 2015

We're a bit sad today because we have to go home, but before we do, and as the weather is half decent, we're going to have a look at Bamburgh Castle.  We've been in it's shadow many times but never ventured beyond it's formidable walls, but once inside we found a wealth of history going back as far as AD547.  It has changed hands frequently over the years following being fought over on numerous occasions, and it also has the dubious accolade of being the first castle in England to be defeated by artillery at the end of a nine month siege by Richard Neville - The 16th Earl of Warwick.  It was finally brought by the Victorian Industrialist William Armstrong, who completed the restoration and who's descendants still own it today.  


We wondered around outside taking in the amazing views of Lindisfarne in the distance and the Farne Islands closer by. Again the wind was a challenging feature so it was very pleasurable to escape it while we viewed the beautiful state rooms within the castle. We  also visited Armstrong's museum which contained many examples of early industrial invention along with some interesting war time engineering exhibits

We also found this example of an early bike - and although John was keen, the curator wouldn't let him have a go.  All of a sudden we noticed that time was creeping by, however we couldn't miss the dungeons, so we had a quick look at their gory secrets and then nipped back to the van for a lunch before starting our journey home.  

We're now sat back at home waiting for our supper to cook.  I have to go back to work tomorrow so for the near future there will be no time for further adventures.  Therefore, the Tardis is de-materialising, probably until early May when we plan to re-materialise in Cornwall.  So, unless anything interesting happens in the meantime -Hasta-la-vista till then.