How to have a magical time in England’s lush countryside
With a little help from Harry Potter, John Nichol and his family have learned...
The northeast of England may not seem like the most bewitching of holiday destinations – but in fact there’s plenty of magic there, particularly if you’re a Harry Potter fan. As a boy, I spent my formative years in and around Northumberland. The 1960s and 1970s were a time before cheap and easy flights to sunny destinations, and most of my holidays were spent either on the beach at Tynemouth (normally in a raincoat) or exploring the local countryside.
In an effort to emulate those halcyon days, I dragged the family to Alnmouth, a coastal village in Northumberland, for a week-long stay in a rented cottage.
Alnmouth’s most impressive feature is the stunning natural beauty of its beaches. Clean, golden and safe, they provide the perfect playground for walks, sandcastle-building competitions and beach soccer. But if the weather isn’t kind, there is plenty around the local area to occupy the mind and body.
Cragside House and Gardens, near Rothbury, were a revelation. The astonishing home of Victorian inventor, industrialist and landscaping guru William Armstrong, it was a wonder of its age, and described in 1880 as ‘a palace of the modern magician’. It was the first building in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity and there is much other gadgetry in evidence, including a groundbreaking domestic fire alarm system, an estate telephone exchange, and one of the world’s first hydraulic lifts.
Within the 100-acre grounds there are play areas, a waterfall, a rhododendron maze and a fitness trail.
But it was Alnwick Castle that proved the most popular, especially for my 12-year-old daughter Sophie, who is a huge Harry Potter fan.
The castle has appeared in numerous productions, including Downton Abbey and the first two Harry Potter films, where it serves as Hog warts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Scenes filmed at the castle include Harry’s first Quidditch lesson. In homage to this event, the castle now hosts ‘Broomstick Training Lessons’, which Sophie and I signed up for. Despite the slight embarrassment of standing in line hooting and cheering, then pretending to fly over the historic castle walls, it transpired that I was rather adept on the broomstick!
Our last night was spent on a deserted beach building a campfire and enjoying some wonderfully stress-free family time, eating and drinking in the open air. It may have been cool and drizzly, but it really did hark back to a bygone era of not having to spend huge amounts of money on a holiday and being able to really enjoy the simple things in life.