One of the nest things about having had some time away from home was being able to go and re-visit places that we used to go to as a family years ago. One of those was Cragside where we regularly used to visit on trips up to Northumberland.
The house itself is fascinating and full of great antiques and period furniture. Sadly the timing of our trip meant that the house had closed for the winter just the week before, but the grounds still hold lots of wonders themselves.
The November light gave things a slightly eerie feeling and it wasn't difficult to imagine seeing a strange figure appearing from the dark areas around the lake, or from the murky water itself.
Green colours also strangely appeared stronger in the fading light, but the moodiness of the sky was something that captured my imagination. The clouds certainly threatened rain, but they came after what had actually been a bright sunny winters day.
We were incredibly lucky that it kept dry whilst we were out and the weather only turned very nasty once we were all safely inside the cottage where we were staying. There the thick lined curtains and Clearview woodburner made the cold and wet of outside seem far, far away.
Shame the house was closed when you got there, isn’t that the place with the hydraulic engine in the cellar to power the house’s lifts? It looks like you’ve caught Northumberland at its moodiest, lovely place to be, shame it takes so long to get there tho.
Thats the place Dav – first in the country to use hydraulic power in a private house – or something like that!