Alnwick Castle
For a country that is oft associated with fog and rain, almost every day out I had while living in England happened on a beautiful day. Maybe that was because my husband and I felt obligated to seize every sunny day that came along by going outside. And maybe it was because we got lucky. That’s not to say we never walked in the mud and mizzle, because if there’s one thing we learned about life in the UK, it was that there is no bad weather, only the wrong shoes. I found I could bear outings in any sort of weather except for the weather we experienced the weekend we traveled to Northumberland. For two days we experienced nearly non-stop pouring rain, the kind of pouring rain that leaves the knees of your jeans soaked through and the water dripping over the sides of your hooded rainjacket, which most annoyingly of all, takes away your peripheral vision so you’re only able to look straight ahead
Alnwick Castle has been around since the 1100s, a fortress on the border of England and Scotland during the many years of skirmishes that occurred between the two nations. Today it’s recognizable as a stand-in for Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films, as well as featuring in two episodes of Downton Abbey.
The Outer Bailey in the picture above was used as the location of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s first flying lesson with Madame Hooch. Typically, tourists pose for pictures on flying broomsticks as they jump into the air here, but the rain kept us from exploring any area of the castle that was uncovered. Despite not being able to enjoy the grounds as we would have liked, my family had a marvelous afternoon at Alnwick (pronounced Ann-ick). Kids can dress as knights and practice their jousting skills with the dummies knights would use to train with. There’s even a dragon to slay! The inside of the castle is gorgeous and a joy to walk through. Taking pictures wasn’t allowed at the time of my visit, or I would show you a picture of the absolutely divine library.
Visit Alnwick for an amazing medieval atmosphere, walking in the shoes of your favorite wizards, and my favorite visit of all, to visit the amazing Barter Books. But more on that later.