 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Of course our tours, which offer excellent value for money, can be customised to your own choice of route, number of passengers, etc. Call our Administration Office on 0191 2517738 to discuss your tour itinerary.
Some of the more popular routes, as detailed below (scroll down), have included Hadrian's Wall, Alnwick Castle (now famous as the setting for the 'Hogwarts'
Prices for tours start from as little as £20 per person (based on 6 passengers sharing, and is exclusive of meals or accommodation which are to be agreed/arranged separately). Please contact us for details.
Suggested itineraries for 2 Day Tours:
1 Northumberland Castles and Coast
2 Durham and Northumberland
Click on image
above to view our current press
advertisement (opens in a new window).
9:30 Day 1 — 16:00 Day 2
Day 1: 9:30 Depart International Ferry Terminal, DFDS North Shields (Newcastle), or from your local pick up point of choice.
We travel northwards up the Coast to Warkworth and Alnmouth, the beginning of the spectacular area of coastline designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty.
We will see numerous castles which tell of the long struggle by the Scots, English, Vikings and Danes to conquer and subdue this area.
11:30 A visit to the picturesque village of Bamburgh, the site of the massive, imposing castle which sits in spectacular position on the easternmost edge of the Great Whin Sill, a geological formation running from SW to NE Northumberland.
12:30 Depart Bamburgh for Alnwick.
13:00 Arrive in Alnwick. Famous market town with Alnwick Castle at its heart, the oldest continuously occupied castle in England and home to the Dukes of Northumberland since the 14th century.
You may well spot the current Duchess
of Northumberland who has been constantly active in developing the Castle and its grounds; establishing the award-winning Alnwick Gardens with water features and a recently completed and very impressive Tree House. We will have our lunch break in the Gardens and Tree House area.
14:30 Depart Alnwick and travel via the stunning Alnwick Moors towards Rothbury and Otterburn. We visit the Tweed Mill and shop — an opportunity to peruse and buy the famous knitwear and tweed cloth goods at bargain prices.
17:45 We arrive at Battlesteads Hotel, for dinner and overnight accommodation in superior en-suite rooms, each with multi-channel TV.
Day 2: 8:30 Time to enjoy a hearty full-Northumbrian Breakfast! Of course, for the perhaps less adventurous, many lighter options are available.
9:30 Depart Battlesteads Hotel for Housesteads Fort on the Roman Wall. Enjoy a walk on the ancient wall, built 2,000 years ago. A World Heritage Site.
View the open countryside to the North, looking much as it did to the Roman Legionaries as they patrolled this northern fringe of their Empire. This part of the wall has been well preserved and includes a Roman fort still showing the workings of central heating and flush toilets as installed by those resourceful Roman military engineers!
From Housesteads we travel to Vindolanda Museum, returning after lunch down through the Tyne valley, to the Ferry Terminal at North Shields arriving at 16:00, or your return destination.
9:30 Day 1 — 16:00 Day 2
Day 1: 9:30 Depart International Ferry Terminal, DFDS North Shields (Newcastle), or from your local pick up point of choice.
10:15 Arrive in Durham City, World Heritage Site, Cathedral and Castle. The burial place of St. Cuthbert, this splendid 11th century Norman Cathedral, sited on a spectacular peninsular overlooking the river Wear, is also the site of England's third oldest University. The City is the county town of County Durham, reflecting a rich heritage founded in the spread of Christianity in England from the 6th century onwards, to the 18th century Industrial Revolution when the coalmines of Durham produced a large part of the nation's fuel.
You will have time to visit the Cathedral and some of the surrounding University buildings.
11:30 Depart for upper Weardale with a short journey on the preserved Weardale Steam Railway from Wolsingham to Stanhope (timetable permitting). The upper Wear valley was once the centre of the lead mining industry.
12:45 Time for lunch at the Black Bull Inn, Frosterley. A beautifully restored local country inn, where you can sample local food and enjoy a meal in comfort, warmed by open fires or eat in the garden — weather permitting as always!
14:00 Departing Frosterley, we head west up the Wear valley to the Lead Mining Heritage centre at Kilhope. Here you can see the reminders of hardships in earlier times and can try your hand at panning for the iron pyrites, known locally as 'Fool's Gold'.
17:45 We arrive at Battlesteads Hotel, for dinner and overnight accommodation in superior en-suite rooms, each with multi-channel TV.
Day 2: 8:30 Time to enjoy a hearty full-Northumbrian Breakfast! Of course, for the perhaps less adventurous, many lighter options are available.
9:30 Depart hotel for Bellingham and Otterburn (including a visit to Otterburn Mill where you'll find an opportunity to buy knitwear and tweed cloth goods at factory prices).
Then we make our way through the pretty market town of Rothbury and on to Alnwick.
11:30 Arrive in Alnwick. Famous market town with Alnwick Castle at its heart, the oldest continuously occupied castle in England and home to the Dukes of Northumberland since the 14th century.
You may well spot the current Duchess who is constantly active in developing the Castle and its grounds; establishing the award-winning Alnwick Gardens with water features and a recently completed and very impressive Tree House. We will have our lunch break in the Gardens and Tree House area.
Departing Alnwick we return to the International ferry terminal, arriving at North Shields at 16:00, or your return destination.