4 Best Sights in Alnwick, The Northeast

A marvelous flight of fancy, Alnwick Garden celebrated its 20-year anniversary at the turn of this decade and remains one of the area's most beautiful, unusual, and kid-friendly attractions. Alongside traditional features like perfectly manicured lawns, shaded woodland walks, and a charming rose garden are more unusual elements like the enormous Grand Cascade water feature, a Poison Garden with everything from hemlock to cannabis, and a labyrinth of towering bamboo. The grounds are also home to the largest "Tai-haku" cherry orchard in the world, as well as a recently spruced-up shop and a number of excellent dining and drinking options, including one of the area's most unique restaurants, the Treehouse. If you want to take a little of the garden home with you, you can buy clippings of the unique varieties of roses in the shop.

The turrets and towers of Tudor-style Cragside, a Victorian country house, look out over the edge of a forested hillside. It was built between 1864 and 1895 by Lord Armstrong, an early electrical engineer and inventor, and designed by Richard Norman Shaw, a well-regarded architect. Among Armstrong's contemporaries, Cragside was called "the palace of a modern magician" because it contained so many of his inventions. This was the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity; the grounds also hold an energy center with restored mid-Victorian machinery. There are Pre-Raphaelite paintings and an elaborate mock-Renaissance marble chimneypiece.

The grounds are as impressive as the house; they cover around 1,000 acres and include an enormous sandstone rock garden, a picture-perfect iron bridge, and 14 different waymarked paths and trails, which bloom with rhododendrons in June. There's also a children's adventure playground. If you come by car, don't miss the six-mile Carriage Drive around the estate. There are some lovely viewpoints and picnic spots along the way, like the gorgeous Nelly's Moss lake. To get here, take the B6341 southwest of Alnwick for about 10.5 miles. Paths around the grounds are steep, and distances can be long, so wear comfortable shoes.

Sometimes called the "Windsor of the North," the imposing Alnwick Castle will likely provoke cries of "Hogwarts!" from younger visitors as it comes into view over the hill; the grounds appear as the exterior of the famous School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter movies. Older visitors might also recognize it as Brancaster Castle from the TV series Downton Abbey. In reality, the castle is the ancestral home to the dukes of Northumberland, whose family, the Percys, dominated in the Northeast for centuries.

While the exterior is all imposing turrets and towers, the Italianate interiors are lavish and stately. Family photos and other knickknacks scattered around the state rooms are a subtle but pointed reminder that this is a family home, rather than a museum. Highlights include the extraordinary gun room, lined with hundreds of antique pistols arranged in swirling patterns; the formal dining room, its table set as if guests are due at any minute; and the magnificent galleried library, containing 14,000 books in floor-to-ceiling cases.

There's plenty here for kids, too. Join a free film tour to hear fascinating anecdotes from the filming of the first two Harry Potter films (as well as Transformers: The Last Knight, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and many more). There are also Potter–themed events on certain dates, including broomstick lessons on the exact spot used in the movie (check the website for the schedule). Elsewhere, Dragon Quest is a labyrinth designed to teach a bit of medieval history; there's have-a-go archery (weather permitting); and there are regular special events, from alchemy and wand-making to bird of prey displays and longbow demonstrations.

For the best views of the castle's dramatic exterior, follow the 20-minute Capability Brown Walk along the River Aln. Tickets are valid for one year, so you can come back if you don't see everything in a day. Keep in mind that many castle events are canceled in inclement weather (which isn't uncommon).

A fine historical anecdote concerns this idyllic Augustinian priory, founded in the early 12th century and located 15 miles southwest of Alnwick. A group of Scottish "reivers" came looking for the place to raid and loot it, but because it was entirely hidden by forest, they were unable to find it and gave up. The monks were so happy that they sounded the bells in celebration, thus revealing the location—and the Scots promptly returned and sacked the place. Most of the beautiful, light-filled building is the result of a loving Victorian restoration, though the spirit of the original has been retained, along with a few physical elements. Highlights of the interior include the stunning stone-carved altar, the striking stained-glass windows, and the William Hill organ, regularly used for classical music concerts. On the same site is a mill and a 19th-century manor house, which incorporates the undercroft from the former monk's refectory. The house is said to be inhabited by the spirits of a monk and a nun, and several workmen have reported sightings in recent years. The walk from the car park takes 10 minutes, but it's a lovely way to first encounter the priory. Those with mobility issues can drive all the way down.