A walk around Cragside

A sunny day at last, so after sending IC off on his 100 mile round trip to pay his weekly visit to his mum (the Kelso Quilter), armed with my homemade soup and other goodies for her, I headed out of our garden and into the Cragside woods for a walk round the lakes.

Cragside, now a NT property, was built by the architect Norman Shaw for Lord Armstrong, a Victorian inventor, Tyneside industrialist and benefactor, who made his fortune selling armaments around the world. The house is surrounded by seven million trees and shrubs which were planted on what had been open moorland. (The rhododendrons have spread into our garden, a mixed blessing.) Two lakes were created on the moorland above the property, a flume constructed and a power house built enabling the house to be the first in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity, in 1863. The lamps were provided by the inventor Joseph Swan. Armstrong invented many ingenious gadgets powered by electricity which still work, like a rotisserie in the kitchen and a lift. The house also has a plunge pool, a Turkish bath, and an enormous marble fireplace. One of the largest rock gardens in Europe leads from the house to the Debdon burn. It is well worth a visit - when we have friends to stay from other parts of the country I take them to the house and grounds, and every time I see something new.

The blip today is at the lake - I'll no doubt have some house pictures another day.


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