College Valley - the houses in the Valley

This is the estate office at the start of the valley





Then comes a series of adjoining cottages. When we first saw them our first thoughts

were that they were originally thatched cottages, but no, we now believe that they were purpose built around 1919.




One third of the way up is Whitehall...we had originally thought this was for let...but no its not for letting :-(


There is then a small almost wooden or timber building. Very basic but beautiful none the less. Even the maps don't give it a name.




Next comes Cuddystone Hall



and this is followed by Fleehope...sorry no picture yet.


and adjacent to Fleehope is this timber building





Finally at the top of the Valley is Mounthooly and the YHA.

Cuddystone Hall - College Valley

Cuddystone Hall is halfway up the Valley towards Mounthooly.WHen we passed these sheep were waiting in the doorway almost as if they were expecting the parson for a sermon or perhaps more likely the first guests for a dance.

RAF memorial - WW2 -Cheviot hills

We were surprised to come across this memorial to the airmen killed in WW2 when their planes crashed in the Cheviot Hills. It's a lonely setting in the College Valley and vert atmospheric. The laminated A4 sheet was left in memory by a couple of Dutch families who have memories of the contribution that these airmen made 60 plus years ago.
10th October 1939 - Hart
18th March 1940 - Hampden
24th April 1941 - Hurricane
15th January 1942 - Wellington
9th January 1943 - Wellington
25th March 1943 - Spitfire
15th May 1944 - Beaufighter
25 Sep 1944 - Stirling
4th October 1944 - Lancaster
12th Dec 1944 - Mosquito
14th Dec 1944 - B17
18th Feb 1945 - Halifax
23 July 1946 - Warwick


Coldburn cottage and Dunsdale House are the closest properties, within 1/2 mile.

Hethpool Mill and Panoramio

Have just added a picture to Panoramio. This means that it will also end up on Google Earth.
Its always interesting to record the exact grid reference and altitude as follows

55º 32' 41.25" N 2º 10' 0.16" W

and 145 metres above sea level.

Hethpool Lake

At the foot of the College Valley is a lovely quiet lake. Fishing is possible and a boat can be hired. However just sitting there with the peace and quiet is wonderfully relaxing.
In addition to Hethpool Mill you can also rent Coldburn Cottage or for a bigger house there is Dunsdale house.

Berwick upon Tweed - Castle walls and harbour

Berwick is only 30 minutes or so from Wooler, the roads quiet and easy. The Castle Walls were impressive and the harbour attractive. At its confluence with the sea the river Tweed is wide and slow. However Berwick centre seemed to us to be a little bit busier than expected and we were glad to get back to the quiet Cheviot Hills.

If you are looking to stay in Berwick upon Tweed then we can recommend the River Dene house.

More photos on Flickr.

Just a short post to say that we have all been busy updating and sorting the photographs on Flickr.
There are sets to cover our holidays up in the North of the County as well as sets showing the cottages grouped together by geographical area.
These are good examples of what you can see
Coastal cottages
North Pennine cottages
Borders cottages
Central cottages
Hadrians Wall cottages
and National Park

We hope that you like the collages and the variety of properties which you can rent for your ideal holiday in Northumberland.

Holy Island and the causeway

First day staying in the College Valley we decided, as the weather didnt look so good to head out to Holy Island. Unfortuantely when we arrived at 9.30 am the causeway was closed with the tide. The timetables said that we could not cross until 11.30 am so with time to kill we started to explore along the shoreline at Beal Point and try to work along to Goswick Sands.What we hadnt expected to see, as the attached photo shows is that there are world war II bunkers here. A small reminder that the past is never very far away.

We have quite a few cottages close by to Holy Island such as
Bede Cottage
Cuthbert Cottage
and
The Hayloft

KirkYetholm and Town Yetholm

Staying in the College Valley we couldn'y resist making a short trip to KirkYetholm. After all it is the end of the Pennine way and only 9 miles or so away. The countryside is beautiful and on the way there we saw some of the most impressive farm houses we have seen in a long time. Plenty of money up here.

KirkYetholme itself was genteel, quiet, pretty and with a pub of course. A little further on is Town Yetholm which has a proper village green and village shop.

The pictures show the Village green at KirkYetholm as well as the poster declaring the Pennine way at an end.


If you are interested in accommodation at the end of the Pennine way and close to the border with Scotland then we have Greenlea Cottage as an inviting property to rent.

Hethpool Linn - waterfalls

Staying in the College Valley we had read about the local waterfalls, only a mile from
Hethpool Mill.

The walk was easy enough albeit it we had to skirt around 3 rather frisky horses. Unfortunately the heavy rainfall had made the going rather wet and soggy but the gorge and falls were unexpectedly good.

Back from Wooler and the College Valley

We stayed at Hethpool Mill for 1 week, just got back this week end and loads to write about. Overall the house and area were more than we had expected. The weather was very poor , lots of rain and the rivers in full spate. However despite this we still had a good time. The house was very well presented, lots of room and the furnishings were high quality. The setting was QUIET .....as quiet as anywhere we have been. We took days off to the coast, Berwick, Seahouses, Bamburgh and also a day into the Scottish Borders to Jedburgh and Kelso.So much more to talk about over the next few weeks...but at the moment just the beautiful Panorama from the front of the Mill house.