Alnwick Castle Excursion

 Alnwick Castle is the home of the Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland. The family lives in the castle so we were not allowed to take any pictures inside. By the way, you pronounce Alnwick without the “l” or the “w” so it is pronounced “annick.” 

This is the area where (in the first Harry Potter movie) the Ford Escort dropped off Harry and Ron with their luggage and then the car drove off. I was able to take some broomstick flying lessons and did quite well. If you zoom in and look up on top of the castle you might see where Neville lost control of his broomstick and was hanging from one of the statues there.

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I need to work a little more on my landing.

Of course “Leviosa” works here no matter how you pronounce it.

Hermione tried to explain how to pronounce the spell correctly in this courtyard. Hagrid may have brought the Christmas tree in through here as well.

This where the Whomping Willow tree and the entrance to the Forbidden Forest was filmed for the Harry Potter movies. It is also the way to Hagrid’s hut. Do you see the ridge at the edge of the grass and the field? The movie utilized this land feature to help create a tall Hagrid. The other actors would walk on the lower level. 

This is a backyard view of the castle inside the outer Bailey.

I am not sure what this carriage represents but it is beautiful. 

Harry ‘hotspur Percy was born in the mid-1360s. He was a hot-headed and fierce warrior, especially against Scotland, who gave him the nickname. Years later Shakespeare wrote a play about Henry VI in which Hotspur is an important character. Doesn’t it remind you of the chess set in the Harry Potter movie?

While we could not take any pictures inside the castle, there is a new area that just opened up and we could take pictures there. 😁 Project Shurlock is in phase 1 of a four year project. The Great Kitchen was just recently discovered. The area had been leased out to a teaching college and they used the kitchen for catering and classes. A wall had been erected to block the fireplace area (maybe to help with the heating in the winter months or to create wall space for the classroom). During the Victorian period, the Great Kitchen was a state of the art kitchen and was used to cater for the Percy family and their guests.

The horseshoe oven was discovered behind a false wall. The oven was manufactured in London in 1859.

The water wheel inside the upper cupboard is a metal water wheel tank that provided the power to turn the spits over the fireplace. 

This massive door leads to one of 4 larders used by the kitchen staff. This one contained a refrigerator. Ice was placed in the top bin to keep the food cool. It was really rare for this time period.

Outside, there is a beautiful garden but our tickets did not include the garden tour (the description of our excursion said it did 🤔🤨😏😞). I was able to take a pictures of the waterfall fountain and the beautiful side gate.

120 jets in this 21 tiered fountain puts on a show every half hour.