Arrival Date: 2026-10-04
Departure Date: 2026-10-09
Accommodation: AirBnB
We set off from home around 10:30 on the Sunday morning, leaving Mum and Dad to look after the cats, on our trip up to Northumberland. Ripon was a good half-way point on the way up, and on the way back down we’ve planned to go via Carlisle to stop off at Kendal for lunch at Bangkok 7 (the best Thai restaurant we’ve found in the UK yet). But onto Alnwick…
Ripon
Arriving at Ripon for lunch, we had a little walk around, but pretty much everything was closed with it being a Sunday. We went to a restaurant called SHK Smokehouse, which sold EXACTLY the type of food we love. Unfortunately though, while the meat was beautifully cooked, the BBQ sauce on everything tasted very bland and watered-down. It was nice enough though, and kept us fueled for the rest of the drive.
Alnwick
After Ripon, we headed up to Alnwick, arriving around 16:30. I dropped Helen off at Barter Books, one of the largest second hand book shops in the UK, while I went to the flat to unload the car. She managed to spend the best part of an hour in there before I picked her up, and we explored the AirBNB together.
Our AirBNB, Baekere (pronounced like bakery), is above a bakery right in the centre of Alnwick. We booked an unnecessarily large one mainly because of the location, but also it wasn’t much more expensive than a smaller one outside of town. We settled in for the evening with a few snacks and a book each.
In the morning, we woke up, got ready, and went for some brunch. There’s a little café thirty seconds from the flat called Oat and Olive, where I had an English breakfast and Helen had a breakfast burrito. Both were very tasty.
Alnwick Castle
From here we had a walk around town, then went over to Alnwick Castle. It had quite a steep entry fee at £25, so Helen decided to go back into town and check out the book shop (The Accidental Bookshop) and do some reading while I ventured forth. The entrance to the castle from this angle was pretty unassuming, so we didn’t think it’d be worth that price, but I’d find out soon that it was indeed well worth it.
It was a vast castle grounds, with various courtyards offering different activities. The first courtyard had a statue of Sir Henry Percy, who earned the title “Hotspur” from his Scottish enemies after repeatedly defeating them in lightning-fast battles. The second courtyard had an armoury, soap making, costumes, and broomstick training. The third courtyard had a cafe, a pizza parlour, and a large gift shop, plus the Duke of Northumberland’s 200 year old state coach.
From the courtyards, the castle then opens up into the Outer Bailey, revealing a keep that I’d soon learn is packed full of stately rooms and exhibits. Alnwick Castle is a lived-in castle, still maintained by the Percy family after 700 years.
But before I checked out the castle even more, I left it again to get to the archery range before it broke for lunch. To my surprise, there was no one there, I thought there’d be a queue! So I spoke to the man running it who was lovely, and I sweet-talked my way into getting extra goes. Normally it’s just eight shots per person, I ended up doing about twenty before I felt my fingers getting sore and decided to leave him to read his book in peace. I hit the target every time, but I’d be letting Sagittarius’s down everywhere if I didn’t! Then back into the castle-proper it was.
The Inner Bailey and wall gave another great view of the keep, and a great view of the countryside on the other side of the wall.
There were several mini museums spread around the castle grounds as well, in various towers. Each one with a different purpose, but well-worth checking out. I took sparing photos inside these, but they didn’t turn out too well due to lights reflecting off glass casings unfortunately, so they don’t do the exhibits justice. There was also a model of the castle grounds, and I love a good model!
A gun terrace also offered another great photo.
I then went around the state rooms, which were absolutely stunning, but unfortunately all photography is banned inside. The most impressive room for me was the dining room, which had an extremely high ceiling of entirely hand-carved wooden panels. The picture on the Alnwick Castle website doesn’t do it justice at all, but it’s the best I can provide!
Walking Through the Pastures
From the castle walls, I’d seen people walking around down by the river, and decided to go for a walk there myself. Helen, by this point, had decided to take herself back to the flat and have a nice long bath. I walked down the hill next to the castle, over the Lion Bridge…
Across the Pastures…
Back over Denwick Bridge…
Up past Alnwick Gardens, and back into town.
I needed a little break after all that, so I grabbed a sausage roll and a slice of cake from the bakery below our flat and took it back up to share with Helen for some lunch.
Alnwick Gardens
We walked from the flat down to Alnwick Gardens, arriving about 14:30 and started to explore. The entrance opened out onto a huge cascading waterfall with fountains that was gorgeous!
From here, we walked through the cherry orchard (which was full of double-seated swings) and up to the ornamental gardens. Parts of the garden smelt really nice, but it was all mostly out of season unfortunately; this place would look very different–and undoubtedly far busier–in the Spring.
There were also lots of bumble bees caring for the flowers which was nice to see. We love bees! Plus streams running through the garden.
We went back down the hill following the windy path down to the bamboo maze, which was surprisingly bigger than we expected. I had a lot of fun hiding from Helen! It was very dark inside too, as the bamboo formed a tunnel-like set of structures.
After this, we stopped for a drink by the bottom of the waterfall, and had a call with Mum and Dad about cats and lawnmowers before moving on.
We played a round of mini-golf, which was a lot of fun. In 13 holes, we scored 34-39 (I just managed to beat Helen as she got stuck on one more hole than me), and I managed to get a hole in one! The 12th hole though had a trick-shot which I thought would be a hole-in-one if you got it, but it wasn’t. I was very perturbed!
Dinner Time
Our last stop for the day was nearby at a country pub called the Horseshoes Inn in Rennington. The food and service here was phenominal. One of the best pies Helen’s ever had, and one of the best burgers I’ve ever had.
We’d definitely recommend this pub to anyone in the area. It doesn’t look like anything special, but it was all delicious! The village of Renningtom was also really cute.
By the time we finished our meals and left, it was dark and raining outside, so we went back to the flat and rested for the remainder of the evening.