I visited many castles on my three month visit to the UK in 2005. Bamburgh Castle was definitely one of the very best. Situated on top of an imposing crag and right on the beach it presents an amazing sight as you enter Bamburgh from the north or south. The castle is the lastest in a long line of castle situated on the crag dating back to the 5th Century. The castle has a fine collection of armour and arms as well as an interesting archeology museum. When I visited there was a dig in process just outside of the castle. There are excellent views from the castle walls looking out over the coast. I would thoroughly recommend this castle to anyone.

Lindisfarne Priory is a special place. Even though there are huge numbers of tourists, the island and the priory still seem to have a sort of calmess about them. The Lindisfarne Priory experience begins with a visit to the museum which outlines the history of the priory and St Cuthbert the famous bishop. After wandering through the museum you go into the grounds of the priory which still has some fairly substantial ruins. The Priory is well signed with informative information panels around the grounds. I would whole heartedly recommend a visit to this property.



It is important to note that there is a causeway over to the island which is only accesible at low tide so you need to time your visit fairly well. I drove over to the island and their was plenty of parking available. I saw lots of people walking to the island over the causeway but they were getting quite wet from the spray of passing traffic.

I visited Ordord Castle in 2005. It was a very pleasant surprise. Orford Castle was built by Henry II in the mid 1100's. All that is left is the keep which is very well preserved. It contains an excellent internal stone staircase with graffiti spanning the last two hundred years or more. The views from the top of the keep are excellent. There is a nice little English Heritage store with helpful staff. I would recommend it to anyone visiting the area.