Lord Armstrong's Cragside

Normally we go to Cragside somewhere between May half term and June 10th and sometimes we get it spot on right and other times we are too early or too late.

Now is the time to go! H1 and I went last Friday; if you leave it much later the glorious azaleas and rhododendrons will have gone over and died back.

We were lucky; being a weekday there weren't too many visitors so we could stroll around at our leisure. Even the top playarea was empty.

It is a National Trust property and though it 'belongs to the nation' it is very expensive to get in- about £12+ for an adult to access the  gardens and about £15+ to get into the house and gardens.

Lord Armstrong was a lawyer/ engineer and entrepreneur; William was married to Margaret and together they created Cragside from a wilderness near Rothbury in North Northumberland. He was part of a group including Joseph Swan - and the incandescent light bulb was first used here to light up this house. Lord Armstrong built a lake (Nelly's Moss) to power his hydroelectricity plans- so this was also the first domestic house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. He tried to make the house easy to run- with lifts etc for 'domestic freight' like serving dishes, coal for fires etc. He made his money through hydraulic cranes etc down on the Tyne then world wide- then through armaments.

If you have crossed the swing bridge across the Tyne in Newcastle, you have used one of Armstrong's projects.

Currently, celebrating 150 years at Cragside, there are 4 pieces of 'Building Dreams' art works around the hillside and lake.

We researched the house to find two of the art pieces wherein 'lightning struck.... and roses were electroplated'.
I like the statue which has always been on the hall stairs; it demonstrated  Lord Armstrong's stand against slavery.

I confess to always buying plants there- and having a mooch round the National Trust shop.

We drove through banks and banks of sweet smelling azaleas and colourful rhododendrons- it is a very narrow, one way road up to the top Lakes.

What could be lovelier than an English summer's day walking round Nellie's Moss amid broom and gorse buzzing with bees?

The perfume from the azaleas is heady, almost cloying in the summer warmth.

Time passes- counting the rings H1 decided 45 years had passed for this tree before it was felled.

Seasons are changing.... it is almost our longest day- June 21st..... the Summer Solstice.... then days start getting shorter again

Blossom falls
Dandelion clocks blow away time in the hands of children

Our footsteps crunched across last year's autumn debris

Go now but avoid the turn off to Brinkburn Priory as the bridge beyond is under repair so you won't make it to Cragside!

Go now- that sounds like a Moody Blues song from the 60s.
Go on- go now