National Trust - Cragside

It was a lovely warm day yesterday, if a little hazy, so we decided to have an afternoon exploring the gardens around the Cragside estate in Northumberland. We received a National Trust membership for Christmas and the estate opened at the beginning of March, so we took the opportunity to have a relaxing afternoon enjoying the sunshine. Was rather weird to be out walking without a dog in tow, but was also nice to have some free time and do exactly what we wanted.

Neither of us were that bothered about going in the house, so we looked around the gardens surrounding the house and lake.

On our way along to the powerhouse. we came across this bridge. This is one of the things I was hoping to find. This bridge is exactly the same as one of the bridges in Jesmond Dene. I did get a photo of it on Wednesday, but if you have read my previous post, you will know I lost most of my photos from that day, including one of the same bridge. Lord Armstrong obviously liked this bridge to have had two built - one on each of his estates.

The waterwheel on the way to the power house. Graeme studying the map to make sure we were going in the right direction. I took a few photos in the powerhouse, but seems as they are of boring machinery and waterwheels, I won't share them all here.

Then we took the path back towards the house, admiring the scenery and grounds as we went.

It was so refreshing to see established, old trees that have been left untouched for hundreds of years. Obviously they are managed so they are safe, but other than that they are just left to grow.

After a quick pit stop at the kiosk to have a drink, we set out to find the Iron Bridge.

As we made our way down the stone steps to the Iron Bridge, I stopped to finish my can of Sprite. I looked up and saw this view - the hazy sunshine streaming through the tree canopy.

I stopped on the Iron Bridge to capture the view of the House. Not an easy task as the bridge rocks quite a bit when anyone walks along it and there were a few families around at the time.

Once you go over the Iron Bridge, there is a meandering walk up the hillside to the Formal Gardens, Clock Tower and Wildlife Hide.

We paid a quick visit to the Clock Tower. I only had my 55-300mm lens on the camera and did not want to swap it for a few photos, so could only get decent photos of the spire and clock, rather than the whole building, as there was no room to move far enough away to get the entire building in one shot.

We then went through the rabbit control gate and entered the Formal Garden.

The spring flowers in the garden are just coming into bloom, so I took the opportunity to practice some flower photos. I love these photos, as they show us that spring has most certainly sprung.

We popped in to the Wildlife Hide, not really expecting to see anything. Luckily, the National Trust has placed a few bird feeders out, so I was able to capture a few of the birds that visit the feeders.

Once I had exhausted the photos opportunities, we made our way down to the Lake and Visitor Centre for another pit stop.

The stunning view of the Lake near the Visitor's Centre.

The Boathouse in the corner of the Lake.

We then made our way back along to the House, via the Pump House.

There are some stunning views of the House and Iron Bridge as you go back along the bottom path.

I took some photos in the Rock Garden on the way back up to the House. As we did not have a dog with us, Graeme drew the short straw to pose for photos in the rockery.

As most of the other visitors had now gone home, I took the opportunity to get some closeup views of the House.

On our way back to the car park, I stopped to capture the last of the sun through the tree canopy.

By now it was nearing 18.00, so we decided to head home. We took the opportunity to follow the Estate Road to see the entire estate and work out where we could go for our return trip. Definitely want to try to return in May/June to visit the Labyrinth, when all of the rhododendrons and azaleas are in full bloom. There are also a couple of lakes at the far end of the esate which are stunning, although we only had time to drive passed them, as the estate was closing and we didn't really want to be locked in for the night.

Today taught me a very important lesson regarding my photography skills. I hold my camera slightly tipped to the right, so all of my photos with straight lines in had to be slightly rotated to the left, thus losing a small area of each photo. As I have not really taken photos of buildings and bridges before, this was a complete surprise. But sure enough, every single photo was slightly off. The weird thing is, they were all off by the same amount, so at least I am consistent. Something else to try to be aware of for future photos.