By the sea

Our caravan site in Northumberland had beautiful sea views and direct access to a tiny little beach. The Podlings love being by the sea. It seems to have such a calming affect on all of us. Alex, in particular, would happily spend hours throwing stones in the water, climbing on the rocks and watching the waves. A visit to the beach was high on his wish list all weekend and we were happy to oblige before leaving. It was such a tiny beach, but we must have spent over an hour there. The Podlings came away happy with pockets full of beach treasure.

The Podlings with their Nanna and Grandad

Exploring the rocks by the shore. 

Lily collecting beach treasure

Playing with grandad

It was remarkable how quickly the fog rolled in.

A boy in his element

Barter Books

No trip to Northumberland would be complete without a visit to Barter Books. One of Europe's largest second-hand book shops, it is housed in the old Victorian railway station in Alnwick. It is the most charming place with an open fire, a model railway running across the top of the bookshelves and a delightful children's room. I love it! I always come away with a lovely selection of books and this visit was no exception. The Podlings have cottoned on to the fact that I rarely say no to books, so they always come away with a few themselves. On this occasion, Lily actually came away with more books than me! Happy to be raising bibliophiles!

Alnwick Castle

The Podlings are all Harry Potter obsessed (even Alex!), so during a recent weekend away in Northumberland we decided to take them to Alnwick Castle. Alnwick Castle was used to film parts of Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films, so we thought they would be excited to visit it. Unfortunately, they were expecting something rather closer to the CGI version of Hogwarts that you see in the movies, so to be honest they were rather underwhelmed with the real thing! We still had a lovely day out though. Tom, who has a very good memory for such things, was able to point out various parts that had been in the films. "This is where the flying car lands in The Chamber of Secrets and that's the arch it drove off through" were amongst his helpful observations as I didn't really have a clue! I would like to do the tour next time which tells you where different scenes were filmed. I am rather a fan of Harry Potter myself!

We all enjoyed the falconry display and were astonished at the size of the golden eagle. The state rooms were naturally very impressive and the girls enjoyed looking wistfully around the gift shop. We were able to upgrade our ticket (at no extra cost) to give us a yearly pass to the Castle, so we will definitely visit again. Emma was particularly keen to have a go at the broomstick lessons, which take place at the exact spot that Harry has his first flying lesson in the first film, so hopefully she will get an opportunity next time.