in the footsteps of harry potter in alnwick castle on #igtravelthursday

Alnwick Collage Here comes the first part of the big road trip reportage for #IG Travel Thursday: we haven’t really done lots of driving other than our Disney trip in California, which was just eight hours straight on an American highway type of thing. So completely different from this “drive across the UK, all around Scotland and back home again” trip: tons to see and lots of tiny, windy roads with just one lanes at times…

What ever made me think that England, and UK were small places – if not the distance, the driving time at least is pretty long considering that we started from almost the most South-Eastern point of the country. We spend the first night at the infamous Hogs Head Inn (at least for Harry Potter fans!), which is rather new little hotel close to Alnwick Castle where Harry Potter was filmed. So cool, thought our daughter! Brooms flying Alnwick Collage I must admit that Alnwick Castle is pretty impressive with its numerous towers, nooks and crannies everywhere. It’s been in the same family for over 500 years and it’s truly amazing inside out. They are certainly taking advantage of the Potter fans and have put Hollywood-style (yes, entertaining!) broomstick flying school for muggles and other fun things to do for the young (and older) fans. Alnwick 2 Collage

For the young ones there is a lot to see and do – wagon full of dress-up clothes, fencing, archery, clay works, the dungeon with dragons…and the older ones haven’y been forgotten either. There seems to be a lot of entertainment going on (not sure if it’s just the holiday times and weekends) – we got to enjoy dance and music groups from different parts of Europe while enjoying our food on the green: hot off the smoking grill in inner courtyard where one can get a tasty cheeseburger and a cider for just £6.00 – a steal compared to many other popular destinations!

Exploring Alnwick CollageSo book a day to explore the Castle as well as Alnwick gardens for time flies here and it would be a crime to rush around in a glorious place that has stood in place for so many centuries! Th good thing about the ticket is that it can be validated to last a year – who know when one finds their way back to Northern England again…

And no, I didn’t forget my Instagram snaps, but I just wasn’t to keen to fill my IG feed with a gazillion pictures from Alnwick, so I used these collages to share the wonders of Alnwick Castle with my few Instagram shots…so happy #IG Travel Thursday. I look forward to reading all the posts this week again!

Hogs Head Inn

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick magical sky

Broomstick flying

Alnwick clock tower

Czech dancers Alnwick Castle

Here’s my weekly favourite from @wanderlustdesigner – the mystical Blue Mosque combined with a pretty park scenery. It’s been nearly 15 years since I visited Istanbul and it was an amazing place for scenery, food and shopping too!

Wanderlustdesigner

 I hope to see you all joining us either with your travel post or by using the #IGTravelThursday tag on Instagram. Please read the rules below for your post first: Linky Rules