Be spellbound at Alnwick Castle & Gardens

On an absolutely gorgeous sunny spring day, 15 Blue Badge Tourist Guides were invited on an exclusive adventure by the awesome team at Alnwick Castle and Gardens! We’re talking behind-the-scenes access with juicy updates!

Alnwick pulled out all the stops. While some of us thought we knew the castle like the back of our hand, the brand-spanking-new Great Kitchen and the children’s theme park, Lilidorei, were a total revelation – seriously, we were buzzing with the excitement of kids on Christmas morning!

First things first, the nitty-gritty: getting visitor groups in and around this magnificent Castle. Our brilliant hosts, Julia and Caroline, gave us the lowdown on navigating the castle grounds, especially with the upcoming Baliffgate Hotel making drop-offs a tad trickier. However, Julia and Caroline rest assured us that the best way is for us guides to ring the operations desk once the coach is on the way to tell them of any potential visitor needs and confirm numbers.

Alnwick Castle’s Great Kitchen ceiling. Photo: Ken Bradshaw

We were then introduced to David who gave us an unbelievable tour of the Castle and then onto the Great Kitchens which are on the other side of the State rooms. He amazed us with his in-depth knowledge and intricate details of the castle; the sheer scale of the operations to create a kitchen that could feed a feast of a thousand was truly stupendous. Of particular interest, was the ceiling, designed by Durham architect Anthony Salvin and built in the same sandstone as the rest of the castle. He used his knowledge of the Great Kitchen at Durham Cathedral to inspire a new kitchen at Alnwick. We saw some wonderful old photographs of large groups of in-service maids, butlers and lads and lasses who helped keep the household well oiled. One amazing feature was the mechanical tunnel that brought food from the kitchen to the dining table and had to be kept warm throughout its long journey; it was really another century in a time gone by.

Siberian Scilla bulbs in full bloom. Photo: Ken Bradshaw

We had a chance to sample the new pizzeria which now replaces the fish and chip café which went down a storm, before we were delighted with a grand tour of the gardens led by our enigmatic effervescent head gardener, Mark whose delightful Yorkshire tones kept us amused, entertained and educated. Highlights were the Siberian scilla plants that looked like pools of water from a distance. We also heard about an earlier Head Gardener who was poached by the Tsar of Russia, the development of the garden through the vision of the Duchess and the Belgium company that was hired for the job. In the walled garden we saw how each section was planted up like a room and that the box hedge planting had been devastated by blight and it is now Lonicera instead.

It was here we saw an early flowering Taihaku (meaning great white) cherry tree, a precursor of what we will see outside on the east where 300 of this beautiful paper flowers are about to bloom; alas we were one week too early. These cherries have been grafted from an original tree in Kent by a certain Captain Collingwood who is known as the ‘cherry fancier’. He was actually invited by a gardener in Japan who showed him an old coloured print of the same tree; unbelievably this was now extinct and it is now the Taihaku cherry tree from Collingwood’s Garden is now the mother and father of all the Taihakus in the world.

One fantastic feature of the Alnwick Gardens is the separate, fenced off Poison Garden where we given a botanical overview of the bad boys of the garden. We were told not to pick, eat or smell any of the plants as they can give you severe rashes, welts and in some cases death. Next door was a superb playful model of the cascading Alnwick Garden in beautiful plastic Lego – what a treat for all kids and kids at heart.

The wonder of Lillydorei. Photo: Ken Bradshaw

Alnwick Castle and gardens are always in the top 2 of 3 tourist attractions of the North East, vying with the wonderful outdoor museum that is Beamish in County Durham. However, there is more. A short walk away and one finds the fairyland play location of Lilidorei. This child-focussed adventure playground is full of little houses all individually designed before one arrives at the multimillion-pound multi-slide. Despite our aging bodies two adventurous Blue Badge Guides climbed to the top to come down the large slide – oh what fun!

Ken Bradshaw coming down the big slide!

Our final location was the £1m tree house, a five-star restaurant built some 20 years ago. It is full of wood on the outside and wood on the inside and they try and use as much local produce in their dishes as possible. Alas we didn’t have time to try the tasty menu but we hope to come back some day.

A huge thanks to my North East Blue Badge colleague Amanda Hepburn who arranged this fascinating visit to Alnwick Castle.

For more information on this amazing place and home to the Duke of Duchess of Northumberland go to www.alnwickcastle.com

 

About the Author

Ken Bradshaw is an expert North East England Blue Badge Tourist Guide and has lived in Durham for over 30 years. Ken has been sharing the incredible and historic North East region of England with global visitors since 2021. He is also a Tour Guide at Durham Cathedral, and knows this building intimately. Book Ken for your next tour in North East England here