Holy Island
As our car meandered down the winding Northumbrian lane, we emerged at the start of the island causeway. Nothing could have prepared me for the awe-inspiring views of the flat, sandy plains and huge expanse of bruised-looking sky. I got out of the car and breathed in the silence.
And so began our two weeks on Holy Island.
We had volunteered to work for the National Trust at Lindisfarne Castle. Our shift patterns were dictated by the tides: from 12:00 – 17:00 during the first week and from 10:00 – 15:00 in the second week. Having received an email before the holiday that read:
Previous volunteers have suggested bringing a good stock of CDs, videos and reading material.
…we got the impression we’d spend most of our evenings in the cosy holiday cottage, staring into the fire while drinking Islay malt whisky. How wrong could we be. We spent hardly any time in the cottage, preferring to make the most of the beautiful island and its people. During our time there we discovered bird sanctuaries and deserted beaches, searched for St Cuthbert’s beads, listened to the seals calling on the sandbanks, walked the Pilgrim’s Way across the bay, crossed at low tide to St Cuthbert’s Island, lay on the grass at midnight to look at the stars in the Milky Way and sat quietly, marvelling at yet another magnificent sunset.
However, we did watch Polanski’s stunning black and white film Cul-de-Sac which was filmed exclusively on the island and in Lindisfarne Castle, starring Donald Pleasance and Francoise Dorleac.
- Wikipedia describes the film as follows:
Cul-de-sac (1966) is a bleak nihilisttragicomedy filmed on location in Northumberland. The general tone and the basic premise of the film owes a great deal to Samuel Beckett‘s Waiting for Godot, along with aspects of Harold Pinter‘s The Birthday Party.
We met some memorable people too. On our first evening on the island we went to The Ship Inn for supper and were lucky enough to participate in a rousing evening of folk songs and spoon playing with Canny Crack. I learnt a Northumbrian song that has a chorus of “One for the rook, one for the crow, one to die and one to grow,” which is, apparently, rather annoying when sung too often! We also spent an evening in the Crown & Anchor and met a couple with whom I’d had a chat in the castle. Sharon and John were celebrating the last night of their honeymoon and invited us to join them with some shots of Glayva. Four rounds later and we were best friends for life and Mr W had to stop me from singing “One for the rook, one for the…!
Sea food is fresh and plentiful on the island with some families still deriving their main income from fishing. Our best meal out was at the Bean Goose restaurant in the village. The oysters were from the island and had been harvested that morning, as had the haddock for the main course. Simply delicious.
On one of our days off we walked from Boulmer to Craster as we’d heard about the must-try crab sandwiches and chips at The Jolly Fisherman and the renowned fish shop and smokehouses, L. Robson & Sons Ltd. Mr W bought some smoked haddock for supper and some kipper fish cakes for our breakfast the next day. Here’s a PDF of Mr W’s recipe for smoked haddock risotto. Yummy.
Alnwick
We visited the nearby town of Alnwick a few times: to attend the 2011 Alnwick Beer Festival, which was partly organised by Nick Lewis from the castle (I was the designated driver, so only had a couple of sips of oddly-named beer); to visit the fabulous, and extensive, second-hand book shop Barter Books (I bought a pristine, hardback copy of a Laurie Lee biography); and we stopped off on our journey back to Manchester to grab a bite to eat at The Tower for some superb food at a reasonable price.
Barter Books is a very welcoming place with velvet-covered sofas and a real fire, where you can linger, and drink good coffee while reading your purchases. We met an interesting local man and his enchanting Bedlington Terrier, Poppy, who is pictured above. She made quite an impression on Mr W who has mentioned her often with a wistful look in his eye.
Lindisfarne Castle
If you like the Arts and Crafts Movement, you’ll love Lindisfarne Castle. Perched on a rocky crag to the south-east of Holy Island, the castle dominates the skyline with stunning views across the bay to the Farne Islands and Bamburgh Castle.
The Castle was originally an Elizabethan fort protecting Holy Island harbour, the last deep-water port before the Anglo- Scottish border. Building began in 1570 using stone from the previously dissolved Lindisfarne Priory and took around 2 years to complete. The fort had an uneventful military history; however, it was garrisoned for over 300 years which shows its importance to national security.
The guns and soldiers were removed in 1893 and after a short period of inactivity, the building was acquired by Mr Edward Hudson, founder of Country Life magazine. Hudson commissioned his friend Edwin Lutyens (later ‘Sir’) to convert the property into a habitable holiday retreat while retaining its character and the building on show today is largely the result of that conversion. The property was sold to Oswald Falk in 1921 and in turn to Sir Edward de Stein in 1929. It was he who in 1944 gave the Castle and field to the National Trust.
After de Stein’s death, the Castle was opened to the public as a National Trust property in 1970 and has attracted thousands of visitors every year since.
The National Trust
The castle also boasts a gorgeous walled garden by the celebrated gardener Gertrude Jekyll, who often worked in collaboration with Lutyens.
My favourite piece in the castle is the wind indicator above, designed by cartographer Macdonald ‘Max’ Gill, (the brother of Eric Gill) as a focal point above the fireplace in the entrance hall. The mechanics for the wind indicator run through the castle walls and up to the weather vane on the Upper Battery. Visitors spending the night in the East Bedroom were often kept awake due to the clanks and whirrs of the cogs if the wind was high. The colourful oil painting measures 2.8 metres wide and 1.5 metres tall and although Hudson commissioned it for decorative purposes it is still in perfect working order. On Tuesday 20 September, it was very windy on the island and the indicator arm was going bonkers, at times doing complete circles of the map!
A huge thank you to the National Trust staff: Daniel, Nick, Steve, Tina, Clare, Julie, Little Steve, Laura and Lizzie, and to our fellow volunteers, in particular Peter, Catherine and Margaret, and the lovely women in the National Trust shop next door to the cottage, who all made us feel very welcome and were jolly good fun too.
The photo above was taken from Lindisfarne Castle and shows the route from the cottage in the village, past the harbour to the castle. This must be the best walk to work in England!
We truly had an amazing, unforgettable two weeks. The Northumbrian coast is absolutely stunning and we will definitely return to enjoy the views, the walks, the food and the solitude.
Yes, it’s true, Mr W does walk on water!
Did I think about Peripheral Vision while I was away?
Nope.
