Across the Pond: Belsay Hall and Castle

As most of you know, when we first arrived in England we rented a cottage in the country before moving into our house. During the drive to the cottage we passed by a castle a small distance from the road. Although I was seriously jet lagged from our long flight from home, I immediately perked up when I saw it and thought "How cool is this?! A castle right there off the road in the middle of nowhere."

Several months later I came to find out that the castle had a name and was part of the English Heritage, to which we became members, and was open for viewing. The really neat thing with all the properties managed by English Heritage is that there is always something going on at them. Either a display, workshop, event or re-enactment. So it's like going to a new place every time with new things to discover.

The first time we went to Belsay was on Easter Sunday. Since the egg and Easter basket hunt at our house always seems to be over in the blink of an eye, we were looking for something to do for the rest of the day. With the weather decent (ie not raining) we drove out to the country to check out Belsay Hall and Castle. The hall, castle and gardens are the creation of the Middleton family and has been built out over seven centuries. First came the castle in the 14th century. A Jacobean style mansion wing was later added to the castle. The family stayed there until Christmas Day 1817 when they moved into Belsay Hall (pictured below). Nice Christmas present I'll say!

The Hall is in a classical Greek revival style which means it has lots of columns and a center hall where all the rooms lead off of. It's now shown without furnishings so you can really see all the details of the craftsmanship in the woodworking and stone carvings. Even the wallpaper, while being faded now, can still be seen in some of the bedrooms.

The gardens surrounding the Castle and Hall were amazing. There was a quarry garden, where stone was cut for the Hall. Ferns, Magnolias and even a croquet lawn are all hidden along the paths between the Hall and Castle. We actually saw the Belsay Croquet Club playing a game on the lawn during our second visit. Although we went at different times of the year, the first time in April and the second time in June, the weather was freezing both times! Brrrr. But, different things were flowering and growing each time so I can't wait to visit again in the Fall and Winter months to see what changes are in store. I will say this though: my down jacket; best...investment...ever!

The castle is towards the right and the addition is to the left. You can see how the addition has more windows than the castle. This is because there wasn't really a need any longer to defend ones land as in years past so the homes didn't have to be so fortress like.

View from the castle.

Belsay Hall

I tried to capture all three different levels of the Hall. The floor joists have been removed but you can see all three fireplaces (mostly just the hearth of the top level).

Upon entering the front door.

Stairs heading up from the center hall. You can still see the brass fittings that kept the runner in place. I felt like I was in Downton Abbey. All I needed was a pretty dress and about 50 servants at my beckon call!