Alnwick Castle ~ Oct 2019

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After our visit to Preston Tower we drove up to Alnwick to see the castle. We’ve been here before so if you want to know about it the details are in this post HERE. This time we were looking at it from the road and walking in the park that surrounds it.

Before we got there we came across a little feature by the side of one of the roads in Alnwick and though I’m not sure, it could be part of the walls that surrounded Alnwick in the 15th century.

? part of Alnwick Town Walls.

We parked up the hill from the castle and had a walk down to the bridge over the River Aln.

River Aln from the bridge.
River Aln from the bridge (the other way 🙂 )

The Percy Lion was commissioned by the 1st Duke of Northumberland and stands on the east parapet of the Lion Bridge. The bridge replaces an earlier one destroyed in a flood in 1770, its design is in the 18thC. Gothic ‘castle style’ and is said to be by Robert Adam’s older brother John, although this attribution has been questioned. In the late 1980’s the statue of the lion was knocked into the river by a fairground wagon crossing the bridge. (http://www.northumbria.info/Pages/lionbrdg.html)

Percy the Lion on the Lion Bridge.

We had a wander down by the river, lovely in the late afternoon sunshine, and a couple of swans were sailing up.

We saw a couple swans sailing elegantly on the river

Sailing swans

We saw a couple of flying swans too, not quite as graceful as they are on the water.

flying swans.

We were trying to get a good reflection of the castle in the river, but couldn’t find the right spot, will need to go back!

Alnwick Castle

Those clouds looked menacing, so we headed back to the car, but they passed over and we got a few more shots of the castle.

Alnwick Castle

And then we went home! 🙂

For a full set of pictures of Preston Tower and Alnwick Castle there is an album HERE and all pictures are embiggenable and betterable with a click!

57 thoughts on “Alnwick Castle ~ Oct 2019”

  1. Boah! Superduper photos again, particularly the last one. I guess the castle is a bit too far off the river for cool reflection shots, no? Anyhoo, is Aln river part of the CRT network and navigable by narrowboat? Guess I’ve seen those lions on the bridge in some boaters’ videos on YouTube.

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    1. Thanks Orca, it’s not in the CRT network so no narrowboats on it. I have seen other photos with the reflection of the castle in the river, just a matter of finding the right spot! Thanks for visiting.

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  5. …wow…swans in flight…great pic’…jealous as all hell, cos I’ve been trying to capture the black swans in flight out at Aramoana for ages….even had them “suspended” in one spot in a howling southerly wind and still couldn’t get it!!!….sigh…(stuck indoors…can you tell?)….

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    1. It was a lucky shot really I think if I’d tried I would have missed them, I just swung the camera in the general direction and clicked. Yep also stuck indoors, it snowed this morning and now it’s raining so that’s situation normal 🤣

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      1. …raining here too….still have to go in to work at 4.30am…(although there is no freight to play with)…and found out earlier that the lads may have blocked the yard drain on Sat’….it never rains, it floods!…. (crossed eyes emoji)…..

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          1. ….been an “interesting” 3 1/2 months changing to this new job….me and the guy who started at the same time keep telling each other it can’t get any worse….we keep proving each other wrong!…..hi-ho….onwards and downwards….

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  7. Great shots, FR. I have probably mentioned this before, but when staying at Seahouses, I drove over to spend the day at Alnwick Castle, only to find it was ‘closed for a private function’. I have never forgiven the Duke! 🙂
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  11. Such beauty…these photos are amazing, and the castle and grounds are stunning. I can’t imagine how it is to live with so much incredible history. Simply stunning photos, you are so very talented! Looking forward to clicking on the link to see more! ☮️

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      1. It was fine. I’d expected to queue for ages, but I was in and out in half an hour. It only took that long because I didn’t know where everything was on the shelves and had to wander around a bit.

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