Belsay consists of a medieval castle that was enlarged in the. 17th century, a Greek Revival mansion that superseded it as the family residence on Christmas Day 1817 and a carefully designed garden linking the two in the microclimate of the quarry which supplied the building stone.
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| Belsay Castle 14th century keep with later additions |
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| Belsay Hall 18th century inspired by a honeymoon in Greece |
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| Sandstone blocks cut so accurately that no mortar was required in construction |
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| Central hall of house imitating open central courtyard of classical villa but with glass roof for Northumberland |
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| Quarry garden |
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| Quarry garden |
Warkworth is all about the Percy family, Hotspur, Shakespeare Henry IV etc.
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| Warkworth Castle from Amble |
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| Warkworth Castle |
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| An ambitious Victorian attempt to modernise some rooms in the keep with reproduction Elizabethan furniture |
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| A scrap of the leather used in the Victorian renovation to line the entire room |
A walk and rowing boat ride across the river is the hermitage: a chapel carved out of the sandstone cliff, complete with vaulting ribs which are purely decorative serving no constructional function, with a small cell leading off from it as living quarters. It dates from the 14th century. At a later date a house was constructed and the hermit branched out into small time farming as well as his religious duties.
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| Hermitage entrance |
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| Hermitage chapel |
Dunstanburgh doesn’t have a road to it so you get an appreciation of the grandeur of its location on a rocky headland as you walk along the shore path to it. The weather was very changeable which added to the drama. The position was carefully chosen to look imposing and impregnable from land and sea. Inland there were meres which reflected the castle walls.
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| Dunstanburgh approach |
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| Inside the castle |
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| View from inland gatehouse |
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| Hilltop position |
