THE ERL NORTHUMBERLAND EVENT

Tour Highlights

Join us in a beautiful hotel for 4 nights in a small village amongst superb Northumberland countryside.

Visits we hope to include Craigside House, the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power, Seaton Delaval Hall which used the same architect as Castle Howard, The Weardale Railway and George Stevenson’s Birthplace. All the time driving along superb roads in and out of National Parks, and even touching Scotland.

First and last nights at The Izaak Walton Hotel at Ilam, a 3 star with 2 AA Rosettes for food., and an original pub. However, if you wish to go direct to/from Blanchland, then no problem - just tell us via the Booking Form.

The middle five nights are at The Lord Crewe Arms Hotel, four star, 21 rooms, AA Rosette restaurant. The Lord Crewe Arms Hotel is a medieval hotel dating back to 1165 that was used as a hiding hole by monks of nearby Blanchland Abbey for centuries and contains hidden stairways and stone flagged floors. The hotel is built upon the former Abbey guest house named named after Lord Crewe, the Bishop of Durham. The Lord Crewe Arms Hotel has a fireplace where 'General' Tom Forster hid during the 1715 Jacobite rising and is reputedly haunted by the ghost of his sister, Dorothy Foster.

Step back in time in Blanchland, the postcard-perfect, honey-stone village with the rightful reputation as one of the prettiest villages in the north of England. Stones, cobbles, hanging baskets and winding lanes are everywhere in Blanchland, and there isn’t a modern-day chain store in sight!

The White Monk Tea Room, which used to be the village school at Blanchland Abbey and the magnificent Lord Crewe Arms Hotel which was originally built as the Abbot’s Lodge are all that you’ll find in this small village. Blanchland Abbey was founded by Walter de Bolbec in 1165. Edward III visited the hidden gem while campaigning against the Scots in 1327. During church restoration in 1881, a ‘marvellous system of drains devised by the monks’ was discovered under the chancel, at least that is what the architect thought. It is much more likely that the ‘drains’ were, in fact, acoustic pits beneath the choir stalls, meant to amplify the voices of monks singing.