#CountryKids at Bamburgh Castle

I finally got to join my parents and children in Northumberland and on my first day we drove up the coast to Bamburgh Castle. It is visible from a long distance away and from close up its very impressive:

We wrapped up against the bitter wind and walked up the hill and in through the gateway:

Despite the cold we decided to explore the outside parts of the castle first including the impressive display of cannons on the battlements:

 

A need to escape the biting wind sent us in to discover what was in the Stone Museum. It turned out to be a collection of querns and other stones discovered on digs:

It wasn't much to grab a child's attention! So we carried on exploring right to the end of the castle where there is the remains of a windmill. There are also wonderful views:

We then once again sought shelter and my daughter spotted signs to a museum in the old Wash House. It turned out to be a fascinating couple of rooms based upon the work of the engineer and inventor Lord Armstrong. The children both had a try on the big gun:

Gramps was left enjoying all the artefacts whilst the rest of us once again braved the wind to cross over the hill to the Keep and State Rooms. On the way we past this beautiful work of art:

The castle offered a children's quiz tour but both mine rejected the offer of one of these. They weren't too enthused by the thought of looking around the insides of the castle or to listen to the facts from the guide book. They were however sucked into the maths' challenges that had been put onto the chalk board:

My daughter did some very impressive multiplication to solve her puzzle:

The children didn't leave me much time to appreciate some of the castle but they did stop to use the mirrors to have a closer look at the ceiling in the great hall:

After the gift shop the room that kept them entertained the longest was a hands on place with various games and puzzles for them to try. Some of them dated back to medieval times:

My dad had discovered that that stable block was also full of plenty of old fashioned games that we could try:

These kept us all having fun for quite some time:

We can highly recommend the cafe at the castle for hot lunch or a yummy cake! It fortified four of us nicely for an incredibly windy walk back via the beach:

The wind made the sand blow along the beach in a spectacular fashion and we were glad the wind was behind us! Of course the children were really enjoying the amazing sand dunes which just had to be jumped and slid down:

They were even brave mad enough to roll up their trousers and paddle in the sea:

They also enjoyed leaping over all the rivulets that crossed the beach on our 3 mile walk back:

I would really love to spend time on the beach on a warm & sunny summer's day!