Day Five: 30th Alnwick Castle

After breakfast at the B&B it was only a short walk to our destination for today, Alnwick Castle.

Alnwick Castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England, and has been home to the Duke of Northumberland's family, the Percys, through 700 years of drama, intrigue, tragedy and romance. Nicknamed 'The Windsor of the North', it has a turbulent past featuring kingmakers, rebels, a gunpowder-plotter and passionate collectors.

Alnwick Castle guards a road crossing the River Aln with its first sections erected in about 1096. It was built to protect England's northern border against the Scottish invasions and border reivers. The castle was first mentioned in 1136 when King David I of Scotland captured it; at this point it was described as "very strong". It was besieged in 1172 and again in 1174 by William the Lion, King of Scotland and William was captured outside the walls during the Battle of Alnwick.

As for the role of the Percys, William de Percy (d.1096) was the first member of the family to come to England on the invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066. He came from the Caen region of the medieval duchy of Normandy, where villages still bear the name Perci. His descendant Henry Lord Percy bought Alnwick Castle in 1309 and moved his family to Northumberland from their estates in Yorkshire, starting an extraordinary relationship between family and town, which has lasted for over 700 years. One of the most famous and exciting members of the Percy family was Harry ‘Hotspur’ Percy (1364-1403). He was born in Alnwick Castle and whilst only a teenager was brave enough to go into battle against the fearsome Scots! He quickly earned the nickname ‘Hotspur’ for his great courage and impetuousness. He became such a famous knight that he was immortalised by Shakespeare in his play Henry IV and has a Premier League Football side named after him.

With the statue of Hotspur

Since then, generations of Percys have continued to make their mark. By the 17th century, the political atmosphere of the border areas had stabilized, and the defensive function of Alnwick Castle was no longer a priority. The castle fell into decay, until it was inherited by Elizabeth Seymour and her husband Hugh Smithson, later the first Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. Intent on transforming a cold and draughty medieval castle into a palatial family home worthy of the wealthy Dukes of Northumberland, they embarked on an extensive restoration. This was done in the fashionable “gothick” style of the period, with the help of architect Robert Adam and the famed landscape designer Capability Brown. Even this restoration was replaced a century later by the 4th Duke Algernon. It is thanks to these Percys that Alnwick Castle has something for everyone; a defensive exterior worthy of knights and dragons, and an extravagant interior filled with beautiful objects.

Modern comforts have since been added and the castle was one of the first homes in the North East to have electricity. Installed in 1889, it was run by a recently restored hydroelectric system, which produced enough power to run only 100 electric lamps.

Ever since the Second World War, parts of Alnwick Castle have been used by a variety of schools and colleges. Newcastle Church High School for Girls was safely evacuated to the Castle during the war, to be replaced in 1945 by a teaching training college. Since 1981, however, these sections of the Castle have been used as a branch campus for St. Cloud State University from Minnesota, USA, as an integral part of their International Study Program.

But enough of the boring stuff! Who cares about the Percy’s, did you know that they filmed some of the scenes from Harry Potter here and it was within these very grounds that Harry first learnt to ride a broomstick and play Quidditch!

The kids set their sights on the Knight’s Quest, which was full of hands on medieval fun. They designed their own coat of arms, fashioned their own wands (Ok, not historically accurate but you can blame Harry Potter for that!), and dressed up (always a favourite past time in our house).

Designing the Robb coat of arms

It’s true that every wand is different (and every child, or at least our children!)

Test driving his new wand

Transformed into a little lady and her knight

Zac takes on the castle dragon

Making his way through the dragon’s quest which included a maze of mirrors and some spooky back drops

It was now time for the highlight of the day (for the kids at least), Broomstick Training. Zac and Abbey lined up with the other would be witches and wizards in the outer bailey, the exact spot where Harry first took off. Under the watchful eye and ‘expert’ instruction of some resident wizards they were put through their paces on their brooms. Alas, they turned out to be nothing but a bunch of muggles with not one of them achieving lift off!

Broomstick presentations

Practice mounting, holding and turning

and they’re off!

A quick game of stop/start to hone in broomstick control

and an introductory Quidditch lesson – running with and passing the snitch

Now the kids had had their fun, it was time to bring them back to earth with a tour of the State Rooms (every child’s destination of choice within a castle). Unfortunately, photography was not permitted which I can almost understand given some rooms are still used by the family (unless they had wide screen televisions in the ye olde days). Our tour took in the Guard Chambers, the Ante-Library, the Library, the Saloon, the Drawing Room, the Dining Room, the Breakfast Room, the China Gallery and the Chapel (which held the original death warrant for one the of the Earls, signed by Elizabeth I. He was later beatified having been part of the great uprising and his refusal to repent Catholicism even at this death.) They were just beautiful really, probably the best we have seen outside of Windsor Palace. The kids were entertained by having to find a small owl in each room, which meant that they also had a very good look around.

Perhaps my favourite room was the libray with floor to ceiling bookshelves on two levels housing an impressive collection of around 14000 books. Amongst them is one of the finest personal libraries in England, compiled by the 9th Earl in the early 17th century. This unfortunate Percy was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and resorted to his books to fend off the boredom.

We ate lunch at the Castle Café and bumped into Dumbledore in the process. He asked the kids where they were from and looked at me for confirmation when they told him (in their best English Prep school voices) that they were from Australia. He informed them that their accents must have been lost somewhere in the castle.

Hagrid was also doing a tour of the grounds today

We just had time left to wander along the gun terrace and climb the castle ramparts to enjoy the ‘natural’ view beyond.

Abbey checks her wand is in working order

Zac follows suit and is pleased with the results

Capability Brown Landscape

Over 500 years ago, the parks around Alnwick were once covered in a vast forest, and were mainly used by the Percys for the popular noble pastime of hunting. All of this changed in the 18th century, when Alnwick Castle and its estates were inherited by Sir Hugh Smithson (left) and his wife Elizabeth, who later became the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. The 1st Duke was a keen gardener, and was desperate to transform the parks into extensive pleasure grounds worthy of his new status. The best man for the job was a local lad; the famous landscape gardener Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, who had already gained a formidable reputation for designing the parklands of some of the richest estates in the country, including Blenheim Palace and Chatsworth House. He pioneered a new fashion for landscape gardening, designed to imitate unspoilt nature.

Capability Brown cleared and replanted the old medieval parks, creating a new stretch of parkland to the north side of the castle and even changing the course of the river Aln in the quest for landscape perfection. The horizons were filled with lines of strategically placed trees, to give the impression of a huge and boundless park

Thankfully the outcome of this dual was a draw