Travel: Alnwick (Town, Castle, Gardens)

Alnwick (pronounced without the L or the W) is a town in Northumbria, England.  Its claim to fame is mostly in its castle, but the town is also sizable, with its fair share of shopping, sights, amenities, and activities to make for a worthwhile stop.

One of the side streets.

The town itself features two old gates on the roads passing by the market square.  Along the main roads, you can see opportunities for shopping, restaurants, tearooms, and the like.  There are museums throughout the town.  Accommodations are available through hotels and small bed-and-breakfast places.  Driving through the town can be a little tight, given the gatehouses with the narrow archways and some really narrow side streets.  It is also possible to take the train to town.

Bondgate.

Alnwick Castle rests in easy walking distance from the center of town.  Some of the best views of it can be seen if you follow the road past the castle's barbican (front gate with two sets of gates) to the old stone bridge, and in the afternoon or evening of a good day, the lighting will offer the perfect photo opportunity.  At the front of the castle, you can purchase tickets for either the castle, gardens, or both, and some of this admission is good for a whole year.  The price for admission can be pretty high, so you will need to evaluable whether you think it's worth the price.

The view from the bridge.

Inside the castle, you will be able to see some intact walls, towers, and the main keep.  Areas around the keep are well-kept, and include a number of old cannons.  The towers along the walls contain some exhibits, including wax figures, an armory, and an audio-visual display.  The main keep is most exquisite, with its marble floors and furnished interiors.  The first room you come to will have weapons (guns, blades, bayonets) hung on every inch of the walls in symmetric swirls and patterns.  From there, you can see a library filled wall-to-wall with books, and staterooms with elegant wallpaper, furnishings, ceilings, and displays of china.  Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in these state rooms.

That's not all:  Alnwick Castle has events going on all the time.  Fighting demonstrations, archery, children's activities, festivals, and concerts may occur on any given day.  Schedules are posted around the castle, and can be researched on their website.  I am not certain how much certain events cost, but at the very least, there is a free tour of the "lost cellars," where actors will take visitors down and present some creepy fictional tales with some theatrics for an effective (and perhaps a bit cheesy) ghost-story effect.  A gift shop and tea room are also available.

Alnwick Castle has been around since 1069 AD, and has been the seat of power for the Duke of Northumbria, even to this day (the family occupies part of the castle, leaving the rest open to visitors, which flood the place every year).  The castle was involved in some combat during the War of the Roses.  These days, it is probably most famous for being one of the filming locations for Elizabeth, Robin Hood:  Prince of Thieves, the first two Harry Potter films, and bunch of TV shows (mostly British ones).

Flowers near the Alwick Castle gardens.

Not far from the castle are the gardens, which offers a number of grounds for flowers.  The biggest attractions here include the root gardens (containing mostly vegetable gardens, a beehive display, and for some reason a bunch of plants growing in boots), a massive fountain with alternating streams of water, a few major areas for flowers and statues, and the poison gardens.  The poison garden offers tours, where a guide will talk about a few of the most prominent plants being kept there (including nettles, nightshade, hemlock, cannabis (grown with the permission of the UK government), opiates, and more).  There is a huge treehouse in the gardens, but for some odd reason, I didn't see it.  A gift shop and tearoom is also available in this area (and the gift shop did include a decent-looking book on the plants of the poison garden, which I'll probably find handy in research for some of my novels).

Alnwick is a pretty nice town, but it features a really good castle and a decent garden.  The castle alone is one of the biggest sights to see in England and is worth seeing at least once.