This summer we decided to visit somewhere we had not visited before. We asked where our son would like to visit and he said Alnwick! Well, we HAD been there, many years ago when he was small, but we only stood outside the castle and took photos.

So I made plans to get there, not so straight forward without a car as Alnwick has no railway station, and the bus would take up a lot of our time, so we decided to get the train to nearby Alnmouth and then a local bus into Alnwick.

We packed a picnic and set off on this bright and sunny day. When we arrived at Alnmouth Station we took a walk down to the pretty seaside village and took a few photos. It is a small village with quite a few pubs, a small grocers and some hotels.

As we were about to get ready to take the bus to Alnwick I noticed a sign on a hotel/pub saying “Haunted Hotel”. This was very exciting for our son as he is very interested in ‘haunted’ places and this one apparently has a reputation of being VERY haunted! So we took more photos.

After boarding the bus to Alnwick we had an interesting top deck ride and then got off in Alnwick itself. The castle is a short walk from the bus station. There is actually a lot more to see in the area including the famous Alnwick Gardens, but we did not have enough time, so decided to just visit Alnwick Castle and do Alnwick Gardens another time.

The castle is big and we were not disappointed when we got inside as there was a Knights Quest where you can get dressed up and Slay The Dragon, or throw rats at your dad in the stocks. You can even sit on a throne and pretend you are royalty. There are displays of weapons of the Knights era and there are polystyrene swords for you to practice killing dummy soldiers. There was so much more too. My son loved it!

We moved on to Dragon Quest which is a bit scary with loads of ghoulish sounds and great effects in the Northumberland Dragon’s Lair. We all loved this too.

Inside the medieval walls of Alnwick Castle are the State Rooms which are magnificent. The artwork and sheer luxury of it all stunned us. We only wished we had time to stay longer, unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos.

There is so much more to see in Alnwick Castle, a really great day out for all the family! We will certainly go back to visit the castle again one day. And the Alnwick Gardens? Yes! Next trip!