Belford, Northumberland
As is now traditional on the May Day weekend, we met our friends Valerie and Kenn somewhere between their home in West Yorkshire and ours in Glasgow. This time, the choice was Northumberland, specifically Belford, a coaching stop on the main A1 road from London to Edinburgh until it was bypassed in 1983.
It was quite sleepy-looking when we were there, although it livened up with the Saturday morning market. Its coaching past was also evident with the historic Blue Bell Hotel.
Our own accommodation, a former farmhouse, was called Bluebell (all one word) Lodge so it covered all bases by having a blue bell and bluebells (just visible on the middle window upstairs). It was very comfortable and so spacious that we could all have sat in separate rooms if we’d fallen out – which we didn’t, of course.
We were also provided with plenty of reading material – the landlord seemed to know several authors who had left collections of their books. If the weather had been really bad, we would have had plenty to choose from. It wasn’t – mainly bright, but too cold to sit out in the garden or on the tiny little deck over the stream which ran down the side of the house.
So what did we do? Castles galore! More to come…
Great blog post! definitely something that interests me. Im new to blogging, would you mind following me and checking out my own too? Great Read! x Bex ps. im local and its lovely to see people enjoying northumberland as much as i do x
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Hello, and welcome! I’ll be across to visit you soon.
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🙂
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Belford looks delightful and the Bluebell Hotel very inviting.
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Nice inside too (though we had dinner there one evening and the food was a little disappointing)
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I love all the old buildings with stone. And that sun-washed, peeling paint. True rustic, and just gorgeous. I hope the event went well! Kind of cool that the owner just left the books for others to pick up. ^-^
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Thanks Alex! All went well.
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Beautiful–I love all the timeless stonework and the idea of meeting up with friends at new locations.
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Thank you!
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I love places like this one!
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So do I! At least to visit – I love to live in the city.
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This looks like a beautiful place to visit especially since it is not crazy busy. I love some of these pictures…just so nice looking.
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Thanks Birgit, it was a nice little village to stay in.
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Looks a lovely spot to meet up Anabel – what a nice tradition! Love the name – Bluebell Lodge! Am looking forward to reading about all the castles too 🙂
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Thanks – the castles were rather spectacular, so I think you will like them!
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I love castles Anabel so I will love reading about them all!
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Such lovely architecture, Anabel. Love the beautiful blue of that bell. 🙂
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Yes, they kept with the theme! One of my favourite colours.
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What a cute place with indigo door and the blue bell 🙂 I wonder if there is a bluebell wood nearby.
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All blue like the sandals!
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Haha, you cannot forget them 🙂 I too would love to have a pair.
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Love the blue bell . . . and reading your lovely post and seeing the wonderful photos makes me want to return north soon 🙂
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I forget how lovely it is – we don’t go south often enough!
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Sounds good and looks familiar 🙂
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I thought it might!
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Looks like a beautiful place, if sleepy.
Castles???? I’m waiting 🙂
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Won’t have to wait too long I hope…..
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What a lovely little town with some nice old architecture, especially if there are castles too. Looking forward to more pictures from your weekend.
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Thanks, Beth, it’s a beautiful part of England.
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Loved Northumberland when I visited several years ago; fell in love with the landscape and the beaches, the castles and the people. We must have driven past Belford on the A1 as we went to Lindisfarne and then Bamburgh Castle. That’s the trouble with by-passes, you miss these pretty little towns.
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The turn off to Belford is almost immediately opposite the one for Bamburgh. Both it and Lindisfarne coming up soon!
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What a lovely tradition! We are sadly lacking castles (Hearst Castle up the coast is the closest) in our area so I am looking forward to your pictures!
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We visited three in a very small area – all quite stunning.
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There are castles, too? The town itself looks like enough of a place for a nice weekend!
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Oh yes. Big castles!
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Ooh, I am anxious to see them!
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Looks like a lovely town for a visit. Nice pics. (Suzanne)
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Thanks, it was very nice – close to the coast too.
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I love the idea of meeting up in different places, combining the social aspect with the exploring aspect. So many towns and areas to discover, together! So much to see and do, so much to catch up on with long term friends. I’m glad you enjoyed it and curious about the castles!
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Yes, it’s always worked out for us and it means we explore parts of the country we aren’t so familiar with. Glad you are curious! Hope to have a castle ready for next week.
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It looks like the perfect place to meet up with old friends. I love quaint little towns like this. 🙂
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Thank you, it was very quaint, including our cottage – though it had been upgraded inside to very modern standards thankfully!
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I love when places have books for you to borrow and read. Pretty neat tradition to meet up with your friends every year 🙂
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Thanks, Ellen. We have known each other a long time and visited each other’s homes so many times that we had run out of new places to go. It seemed a good idea to start meeting up somewhere else, and it works well.
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