Seaton Delaval Hall

 

Saturday 17 June 2023

We had a good meal in the Craster Arms last night, fish and chips for me and scampi and chips for Sue.

No leftovers for Louis.

Today we went to Seaton Delaval Hall which is in North Tyneside.

The grounds have had a considerable amount of attention in recent years and it definitely shows.

The gardens are impressive and the mixed borders are ablaze with colour.

The hall itself is a bit of a surprise as much of it is just a shell with no floors and bare stone or brick walls following a fire in 1822 and has been like this ever since.

It's interesting to see how it's been built though, something you don't often get to see.

Main hall interior

Other parts are better preserved and whilst for the most part not fully furnished, there are a collection of effects and paintings.

The hall has had a turbulent past and the Delaval's were a colourful family, known for playing practical jokes on their guests and for their extravagant society parties.

They got the nickname 'the gay Delavals'

This is a wig used at one of the Delavals parties

and the upside down room used to confuse their guests

These are some exterior photos of the hall

After the hall we went down to the nearby coast at St Marys Island near Whitley Bay, not to be confused with Whitby Bay, which is easily done, it  nearly caught me out.

There's not a great deal there but I had a nice enough walk along the promenade to the nearby lighthouse.

Then it was onto tonight's parkup, Backwith Hall.

It's a curious place, quite busy with lots going on.

It seems to be a small stately home in large grounds and is now used as a events venue. 

There's pretty much everything here including a golf club, cricket club, bowls club, croquet, tennis and snooker.

And a bar of course !

There was also a big christening party going on with much consumption of Newcastle Brown Ale I think.

It also has dedicated motorhome parking with full services for 10 beer tokens a night, which is pretty good value. We're sharing the parking tonight with four other motorhomes.

Tomorrow we'll head home after breakfast and bring to an end a very enjoyable trip to the lake district and north east which is somewhere I've not really been to before, but I'd certainly be happy to return as Northumberland is a beautiful county.

We have also been extremely lucky with the weather and of course everywhere looks better when the sun shines, and it's certainly shone on us these last two weeks.

I think the highlight for me was the two nights we spent on Gatesgarth Farm just yards from Buttermere, it was so picturesque, peaceful and with the most amazing scenery we were able to enjoy almost to ourselves, with the company of the Herdwicks of course.

I'll definitely be going back there to see my new farmer friend.

The Ashness Bridge episode has been erased from my memory now, just the odd flashback and night sweat 😂