On a sunny, bright but chilly September Sunday with nothing to do, me and Mr Kitten went for a drive in Northumberland.....
This is Wallington Hall. It is a Grade I listed country house and gardens near the village of Morpeth. The house has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated complete with the estate and farms by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet who inherited it from his father in 1928.....
The house is set in 100 acres of parkland, which includes a wooded dene, ornamental lakes, lawns, and a walled garden.....
My favourite bit are these stone heads. They are four carved dragon sculptures located on the East Lawn of the estate. Originally created for a Bishopsgate city gateway in London in 1733, they were later relocated to Northumberland by Sir Walter Blackett and placed in their current position in 1928.....
At some point in Wallington’s history the following verse was written as part of a poem entitled 'Cheviot'.....
{Fair Wallington has been decreed by fate to be the cap’tal of a large estate. The wine of Wallington old songsters praise the Phoenix from her ashes Blacketts raise}.....
The film,'The Black Velvet Gown' from the novel written by Dame Catherine Cookson, was filmed partly on location at Wallington Hall as was the TV adaptation of her novel 'The Rag Nymph'.....
It was abit too cold to sit outside and have our picnic so we sat in our car near the cows in a field.....
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....
We made our way home via the lovely Wallington Bridge, designed by James Paine bringing the B6342 road from the south across the Wansbeck and up to Wallington Hall. It was built using honey coloured sandstone. It has a main arch with two flood arches on either side. There are sculptured stone parapets and the single track roadway climbs at either end with a severe hump in the centre. Traffic collisions are quite common which requires replacement of damaged balusters. It is also Grade I listed.....
