Dunstanburgh Castle

Bit of a false start this morning. Thought we would look round Alnwick castle but when we arrived, most of it was shut to film Downton Abbey and the extortionate entry fee wasn't even being reduced despite the closures so we had a wander round Alnwick and visited the amazing Barter book shop. Could have spent a morning in there browsing.

So we headed to Dunstanburgh castle instead, which was a great 1 1/2 mile walk across the fields, fantastic for wearing out Toby and Eva. They had a great time charging about the ruins and Toby, me and Mike climbed the tower and waved to Mum, Dad and Eva at the bottom.

Back at the cottage, BG and the Gov had arrived so we sat round and ate cake and drank tea and fed T&E, then headed back to the beach for an evening stroll and to try out the new buckets and spades. Eva's pink fairytale castle bucket makes a very impressive castle indeed.