Newcastle upon Tyne Travel Forum

I coming with my sister to Newcastle the weekend of the bank holiday. We fly in late the friday night and fly out Monday pm. Will the tourist attractions be open on the bank holiday Monday? Also, we want to try and see tynemouth castle and priory, Bamburgh castle, lindirfarn, Hever Castle and Haddon Hall. We will be able to see these things in the 3 days we have in the area? Is it best to book day trips or hire a car and drive ourselves? We are both Australians and don't know the area well. Thanks!

Hiring a car will give you more freedom, but it depends on whether you feel comfortable driving in the UK. Car hire is tightly regulated, so you need not worry about that: just find the most convenient deal at a price that suits you. Make sure you book online well beforehand, so that you get the type of car you want. Petrol costs around 1.15GBP per litre at the moment, so budget for that, and also be aware that there may well be a lot of traffic congestion on a bank holiday weekend.

Tourist attractions such as Bamburgh Castle are open on bank holidays (it's when they get a lot of visitors), so you need not be concerned about that. If you google the attraction's name you will get their website giving you opening times etc.

You have no chance of seeing Hever Castle, imo, unless you want to see nothing else: it's well to the south og London and would take at least 5 hours to get to (probably longer). It could also be a pretty nightmare-ish drive, involving the M1 and M25 motorways (the latter is 'the country's largest car park').

Haddon Hall is also too far, in my opinion; it's in Derbyshire. If you have a 'spare' day, why not visit York, which is a wonderful historic city within reasonable driving distance? Or Alnwick Castle? Or Berwick-on-Tweed? Lots and lots of wonderful places to see much nearer to Newcastle than Haddon.

Distances may seem small on the map, but the UK has a great deal of traffic congestion (even on motorways), and rural roads are often narrow and winding. This site:

http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp?database=B

will give you good printable routes and estimated travel times.

To be honest, I'm not sure if any day tours operate from Mewcastle so you may have to hire a car in order to see what you want to see.

But Northumberland is a most beautiful county, with a huge amount of history: you will enjoy your trip even if it doea not include Hever and Haddon!

I meant 'Newcastle', not 'Mewcastle'! :-)

Thank you so much for that info. My sisters favourite movie is the Princess Bride which is why she wants to see Hever and Haddon. I am actually living in London for a bit currently. I may have to visit them another weekend! Thanks again.

Local Metro line runs from the airport into the city centre and using this railway you can easily visit Tynemouth priory and maybe the Roman forts in both Wallsend www.twmuseums.org.uk/segedunum or South Shields www.twmuseums.org.uk/arbeia. If you hire a car you could easily visit Bamburgh Castle, Lindisfarne and maybe Holy Island in one day. Hope you enjoy your trip but you must try Newcastle city centre for great restaurants and nightlife

Visiting Lindisfarne (Holy Island) is the main thing you must plan if you do decide to hire a car. I haven't been able to find any regular day tours out of Newcastle: I suspect it may not be enough of a tourist-base to offer them (but may be wrong).

The causeway-crossing times will greatly affect the timing of your drive/day........and the island is likely to be very busy on August Bank holiday weekend (expect to pay for your parking).

Crossing times are here:

http://www.northumberlandlife.org/holy-island/Page2.asp

They are quite late in the morning for that weekend, which is good from your point of view. I suggest you set off fairly early on Sunday, 'do' Bamburgh Castle (open at 10 http://www.bamburghcastle.com/ ) then go over to the island for the afternoon. Last crossing time is around 1920, so you'll have time to explore then drive back to Newcastle comfortably.

I only realised you were based here after I replied the first time. You should be able to access Hever fairly easily by train from London Victoria (with a mile or so's walk on arrival): http://www.hevercastle.co.uk/

Haddon Hall (http://www.haddonhall.co.uk/) is a bit more complicated. I would suggest train to Bakewell and then local bus or, possibly, taxi (not cheap), or even car hire again. That part of Derbyshire is really lovely, with lots to see/visit, so it will make a good weekend away.

Trying to predict the weather can be difficult because of local on the day variations.
This information should be used as a guide only.
Here is the average weather for Great Britain for this time of year.
Enjoy your holiday.

January/February/March/April/May/June
July/August/September/October/November/December.

SUN. Possible but not likely.
HUMIDITY. Usually follows the sun, and then:-
ELECTRICAL STORMS. Followed by:-
RAIN. We excel in rain.
PRECIPITATION. NO! it’s called bloody RAIN.
OVERCAST. Most defiantly.
COLD. O yes.
FROST. Comes just when you put in your bedding plants and kills them all off.
SNOW. You never know.
BLIZZARDS. Only when it snows.
SLEET. Rain with icy bits in it.
HAILSTONES. Anytime, anywhere.
FOG. Not always on the Tyne.
GALES. Strike just after the weather man says there is nothing to worry about.
FLOODING. Only if you are daft enough to live near a river.
RAINING CATS AND DOGS. No but we have had fish and frogs.

SPRING. Anytime between January and December, a good indication is when all the housewives do their “spring clean”
SUMMER. Anytime between January and December. Please send us a postcard when you think this will happen we have not a clue.
AUTUMN. Anytime between January and December. All the leaves have left the trees, sorry, I forgot, the acid rain did all that.
WINTER. Anytime between January and December. I think you are getting the idea.

:-)))

And yet, so very true!