Before I say anything else, I have to explain this nifty new feature I just discovered on Picasa Web Albums. Not only can I now post cool little slideshows (like the one above), but if you click on it, it will take you to my online album, where you can view much larger versions of the photos. (Just click on "View Album" in the top left corner of the Picasa Web Album page.) I hope you like it. It's a mini-sized preview of the entire album!

So, "What am I looking at?" you ask?

On Monday, May 21, Susan and her daughter Hannah, and Ryan and I drove to North Umberland to visit Castle Alnwick (pronounced "an-nick," believe it or not), and Alnwick Garden. We got lucky with the weather. It was a gorgeous sunny day, nice and warm, but not too hot. The drive up was pretty easy. It was a straight shot north on the A1M, and only a couple of hours away. It was lunchtime when we arrived, so our first stop was the cafe at Alnwick Garden.

We were met with a stunning view of The Grand Cascade, the largest water feature of its kind in the UK. (See first photo of my slideshow and web album.) It was a gorgeous backdrop to a pleasant lunch.

Our priority was the castle, so that was the first site we visited after we ate. The short walk from the Garden to the castle was pastoral and serene. The castle loomed ahead impressively.

Because it has been featured in the Harry Potter movies (among others), Alnwick Castle is sometimes known as, "The Harry Potter Castle." I suspect this is somewhat to the chagrin of those involved with the castle. However, in the spirit of supporting the castle and local tourism, the Harry Potter connection has been embraced by those at Alnwick.

Shortly after we arrived, we joined a guided tour of spots around the castle where various movies and tv shows had been filmed. I was impressed because Susan immediately spotted a location from "Sorcerer's Stone," which was confirmed by our tour guide.

After the tour, which was both short and fun, we wandered around on our own. One of the things I found most interesting about the castle, is that during part of the year, it is actually inhabited by the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. It was really strange to walk through the castle, which is decorated just like you would expect - with museum-type, ornate, antique objects - but then interspersed would be modern family photos of regular-looking people, doing normal things, like going on vacation, or graduating from college, etc.!

There is so much to see and do around Castle Alnwick (though mostly for older kiddos). http://www.alnwickcastle.com/thingstosee.php I think it would take a return visit at the very least to do everything.

We let Ryan and Hannah run around for quite a while in a fairly contained area on the castle lawn. Ryan seemed to especially enjoy climbing around on the old cannons near the battlements. Of course he tended to gravitate toward the one staircase that led to an area where he could hurt himself (by falling from an unguarded height)!

We made the mandatory gift shop stop. They had a fun mix of the usual items, plus a corner devoted to Harry Potter paraphernalia.

Next, we went back to Alnwick Garden. I'd never seen so much done with water before. In addition to the breathtaking Grand Cascade, there is the Serpent Garden, which is filled with amazing silver water sculptures. There are several other specialty gardens, among them a Poison Garden, a Rose Garden, and a Bamboo Labyrinth (which we managed to get ourselves lost in).

Click on this link for info. about Alnwick Garden: http://www.alnwickgarden.com/about_the_garden/features_grand-cascade.asp

Alnwick Garden is home to one of the world's largest treehouses. It was great, because Susan and I could take the kiddos in the treehouse in their strollers. We had fun walking around crossing the treehouse's rope bridges and walkways.

From Alnwick, we drove up north a bit to The Holy Island of Lindisfarne. What was most interesting to me about Holy Island, is that it is only accessible by a causeway at low tide. We got lucky and happened to arrive during low tide, so we were able to drive right out to the island.

Driving across an area that only hours before was completely underwater is beyond weird. For most of the way, there was damp sand on either side of a two lane road, with puddles of water here and there. The ocean seemed to be creeping in from a distance. It felt utterly bizarre to know there was no barrier whatsoever between us and that water, and that if we were to sit there long enough, we'd be swept out to sea.

Of course Susan and I speculated about how often people had gotten caught, thinking they could cross as the water was coming in. We also wondered what type of rescue team there was (if any), and what people on the island did if there was a medical emergency during high tide. (The island is tiny - population 180! - and there isn't much on it besides a castle and a small village.)

We got out to the island, parked, and checked the tide tables. There was only an hour left before the tide came in. We would have loved to have seen the castle, but unfortunately it's only accessible by foot, and it was a half mile away from the closest place you could park. There wasn't time to put Ryan and Hannah in their strollers, get out to the castle and make it back, let alone actually explore the castle. The kids were getting tired and hungry, as well. We decided to go ahead and leave the island.

By the time we got across to the mainland side, we realized it wouldn't be that long before the tide came in. We were curious to see how things would look at high tide, so we decided to give the kids snacks and drive around a little until the tide came in. Not far away is Bamburgh Castle. We didn't get out and visit, but we did drive by and take pictures. It looked impressive, and definitely somewhere interesting to visit on another day. There was a village a little farther down the way that was bustling and picturesque.

We made our way back to the parking lot by the causeway to Holy Island right around when high tide was supposed to be happening. There were other people there, some with binoculars, apparently waiting to see high tide as well. Unfortunately, everything looked pretty much the same as it had an hour before. Susan and I were a bit disappointed. We didn't really want to wait, since we were in need of some dinner, and were facing a long drive back to Harrogate.

All in all though, we had a very nice day, and Alnwick, Holy Island, and Bamburgh are all places worth a return visit.