The Northern Vicar Blog

A beautiful January Saturday morning. One of those who comments on this blog had suggested I visit Felton (church and bakery) – the bakery/coffee shop was full with a queue! We continued on a convoluted route through Guyzance and past Warkworth station (which I see is a holiday cottage – www.thewaitingrooms.co.uk) – then into Warkworth from the north. When we holidayed in the North, while living in the South, we came and enjoyed the Castle and the Town – since moving here, we haven’t visited. Daft! We started in Topsy Turvy cafe – fine – and then walked up to...

I needn’t apologise for the delay in blogging – it’s less than 2 minutes since I pressed “Publish” on the last one – and I can’t apologise for the white space in the last one as that is WordPress’ fault. (One of my pet hates is the computer voice on the train that apologises for the late running of this service. I want a human being to apologise, not a computer. How can a computer feel sorry for “any inconvenience caused?” End of rant). I love driving through Netherwitton. Lovely old mill dating to 1787 – first cotton, then...

Why does every blog need to start with an apology? There are not enough hours in the day. I spent Friday 6 January 2012 photographing trains on the London Overground, and returned home for our Epiphany Service (with a superb choir of 24 – I bet St Mary’s Ponteland was one of the few Northumberland churches that managed Choral Communion for Three Wise Men on the right day).  On Saturday 7th the sun was shining. We drove to Rothbury, and stopped to photo a couple of churches en route – should have photoed Meldon station on the Wannie Line...

Two posts in two days … . A beautiful sunny day today, so we drove along the Wall, had morning coffee (and lemon meringue pie) at St Oswald’s tea room at Heavenfield, then north to Wark (missed Wark church), Bellingham (already done), and out towards Kielder. At NY771859, just beside the North Tyne, and on a pretty nasty bend – I spied a church. Redundant, locked, broken windows, overgrown churchyard. It is St Luke’s church, a Greenwich Hospital construction of 1818 (like Humshaugh and Thorneyburn), is grade II listed, and has apparently been redundant for quite a few years....

I love the drive north from Ponteland up the A696 in the direction of Carter Bar and Scotland – and it is silly that I’ve done so few of the churches along it. We went out on Saturday 24 July, and turned right along a road signposted “Elsdon – light vehicles only”. I like roads like this – Julie is never quite as keen! Elsdon NY936933 is a gorgeous little village – a village green, a Pele Tower, a church, and a tea room. The tea room was a pleasure – it is a cyclists’ cafe, front room of...

This is ridiculous. I visited St Aidan’s Bamburgh on Friday 1 July with a smashing trip to the Castle and Grace Darling Museum organised by Ponteland Local History Society – many thanks to John et al. It is now 10 August and the blog has not been written. I read the guidebooks and was going to do a decent, detailed blog discussing saints, architecture, etc. – but instead I’ll do something simple. At least I’ll get it done. Let’s start with a railway poster. It was a beautiful afternoon and the church looked gorgeous, as did the sea. We...