The adventure had begun! His Nibs and I were in the jalopy and on the M1 North at 6am (virtually unheard of for me to even be awake at that hour, let alone dressed and active!), Angel of the North firmly in our sights. Would you believe that, despite passing this sculpture [probably] hundreds of times, we’ve never actually visited this iconic North-East landmark?! Actually, regular blog readers won’t be shocked at all, I am renowned for being a hopeless doofus...
We did have a sneaky coffee stop, purely to keep His Nibs pepped-up whilst driving, but we arrived at the car park at ‘The Angel’ soon enough. From the road, it looks impressive enough, but up-close and personal, the 20-metre-high sculpture knocks your socks off. Sir Antony Gormley is the sculptor behind this installation, which isn’t rusty FYI; its distinctive orange tone comes from the COR-TEN steel it’s manufactured from. Not only is the height of the Angel of the North impressive enough, its 54-metre wingspan is even more mind-blowing; this is wider than a Boeing 757 aeroplane!
Having taken our fill of photos, we were heading back to the 30-space car park (4 spots are for disabled visitors), just as a coach-load of tourists arrived; talk about fortuitous timing. The Angel of the North is free to visit, but please be respectful and take your litter home.
We then headed over to Bellingham on the A68, which sounds fine enough, yes? Ha! Talk about a ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ road!! It’s a good job The Man was driving, else we’d have had more than one airborne ‘yee-haw’ moment; talk about a tarmacked roller-coaster. The views over the terrain were well worth it though – absolutely stunning. Stopping off for coffee and breakfast at Fountain Cottage in Bellingham, we had time to catch our breath in this former workhouse.
Having re-fuelled, we hopped back in the jalopy to drive up to Tower Knowe at Kielder Forest and Water Centre. There’s plenty of car parking and your ticket is usable at any of the Northumbrian Water car parks in the area – good value at £6.50 for a full day. Kielder Water is Britain’s highest capacity reservoir with a mighty 27-mile-long shoreline, and its dam is also our largest at 52 metres high and 1.14km long! The Man and I walked over the dam and back, easily meeting our step-count for the day – slaves to our health-trackers, aren’t we?
The visitor centre, open seasonally between April-October, boasts interactive displays for all the family, there are walking and cycling routes galore (Lakeside Way and others) and even an extensive Geocaching trail. Visit www.geocaching.com for more information. Water sports, Zip Wire, Bird-of-Prey Centre, and a Children’s play area ensure that everyone will stay occupied. Our native red squirrels can be found in this area, as well as several species of bat and water-side mammals. Moving on from the water to the forest, did you know that Kielder Forest is Britain’s biggest forest; covering a vast space of 250 square miles (!); there are no fewer than nine Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) within it, too. Avid star-gazers can visit the Kielder Observatory (booking is essential) which is in the protected Dark Sky area.
Kielder Castle is closed until 2027 for a snazzy upgrade to its cafe and visitor centre, but the grounds are open for cycling and walking, so we had a mooch round for a while. Built in 1775 as a hunting lodge for Hugh Percy, the 1st Duke of Northumberland, the Castle was expanded and rebuilt in the mid-19th century, and is now managed by Forestry England. If you care to part with a fiver, you can drive down the ‘Kielder Forest Drive, A64 12-mile route’. Be aware, though, that low-clearance cars are not advised, and the sharp nature of the road’s surface is not kind to your tyres, despite a 15mph speed limit!
As if our previous ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ moment wasn’t enough, we found ourselves in the same position en route to Black Middens Bastle House - with the added bonus (?) of hairpin bends on the single-track-with-passing-places road...because why not, y’know?! This type of building is generally two-storey (this one is), built with thick stone walls in the troubled Anglo-Scottish borders of 16th-century Britain. Bastle Houses served as homes/refuges for rich freeholders, Lairds, and Heads of border Clans, and also housed their livestock on the lower level. We donned our walking boots for the walk over a couple of undulating fields, encountering flocks of surprised sheep; be advised that there may be cattle in the fields at other times of year. His Nibs and I (OK, me) were very happy nerding out on this quirky building; fellow nerds and geeks, this’ll be your kinda thing – similarly, those who love narrow, bendy, undulating roads will also be happy.
Having survived that adventure, it was time to make our way to our home-for-the-night: Battlesteads Hotel and Restaurant, Wark. From the road, this stone building is beautiful, proving to be just as magnificent in Lodge 20 and its decking/terrace for chilling on in warmer months.
