Cragside - nr Rothbury, Morpeth, Northumberland
Cragside, near Rothbury in Northumberland is one of the most fantastic Victorian houses in England. Cragside was built high up on the hillside above Rothbury on a rocky crag for the Newcastle shipping magnet Lord Armstrong who also spent a large part of his fortune rebuilding Bamburgh Castle.
Today Cragside is owned and managed by the National Trust and as well as giving visitors an insight into the pioneering Victorian technology used in the house also offers lots of walks and trails in the surrounding woodland . The house at Cragside is famous as being one of the very first in the country to have electricity and running water. The electricity for the house was generated hydro electrically from a station on the burn about 200 yards below the house and water was also pumped to the house to provide not only running water but was also used to power machinery like the servant's lift. The house is also full of other ingenious technology and at the time of its inception was definately state of the art and very much revolutionary.
The surrounding grounds are also something quite special and now covered in dense woodland and one of the last few places in the north of England where the red squirrel is still dominant. If you anywhere near Alnwick, then Cragside is only about a twenty minutes drive and is definately worth a visit.
The house is usually open mid March to the end of October, and the grounds from mid March to before Christmas although the times vary so it is always advisable checking the National Trust website for up to date times.
This entry was posted on Wednesday April 30th, 2008 at 10:17 PM and is filed under Places to Visit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
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