We have now been approved by "Clarins" for the supply of their toiletries
Clarins are pleased to be associated with The Northumberland House

New for 2008
Many of the things on the following list were always planned, but some have been added as a direct response to suggestions from guests. We are always grateful to receive feedback and our aim is to fulfil the most demanding wish lists!

Silver Winner Self Catering Holiday of the Year
National Awards for Excellence 2006
After winning our Regional award in 2005 we were thrilled to travel to London
and collect our prestigious National Silver award at the "Tourism Oscars" in April.
Thanks to Richard Waters & all the team at Business Link, Alnwick
who have supported us through our first year.

Wow...
Our guests have realised how easy it is to travel here by public transport. Alnmouth, the East Coast Mainline station is just a couple of miles away. This route links Aberdeen & London (Alnmouth to London 4 hours). Many of our guests have travelled by train and then walked from the house.
There are two shops in the village. All you need is a taxi from the station.
Prebook through Derek Bowden - 01665 603 911
Directions to the house

Entertainment Centre
After 6 attempts to position the LCD TV in the family room,
we have at last found its perfect location.
Underneath it, we have placed a unit containing DVDs, CDs & local books.

DVD Player
You will find this on the entertainment centre, under the radio/CD player in the family room.
There are now two rooms where you can watch DVDs, this has been very popular.

Plants for the Garden
We have spent much of 2005 & early 2006 completing the hard landscaping and designing the garden. The garden is currently being planted with some exquisite plants, such as magnolia, camelia,cordelines, hebes, photinia, eucalyptus, cornus, prunus, bay, box & fruit trees. We have reinstated the boundary hedges with hawthorn, blackthorn, rowan, sessile oak, beech & holly. We have put a great deal of thought into selecting plants to attract wildlife into the garden.
Herbs are grown around the seating area, terrace & pond.

Garden Plan Added to the Web Site
We have e-mailed our garden plan to guests and
they have found it useful, so we have decided to add it to our web site.
In addition, although we are thrilled when journalists write about us (and they often do),
there does seem to be a tendency to flirt with the facts about the size of the garden!
View the garden plan

Giant Jenga
Strictly an outside game, stored in a basket in the garden shed

Sofa
The chaise longue and footstool have moved into the small dining room and three new 4-seat sofas have been added to the sitting room, making a total of 3 in that room and 6 sofas in total on the ground floor.

Beer Glasses
We thought people drank beer & lager out of the bottle, but apparently not!

Square Dinner Plates
The gorgeous deep round ones are difficult to stack in the dishwashers,
so we have bought some equally gorgeous large square plates..

Herbs & Spices
We have started a collection of dried herbs & spices in the cupboard at the end of the kitchen peninsular. We are grateful when guests add to these. Fresh herbs are planted in the garden.

Cooking Oil
We leave local bacon & eggs in our Welcome Hamper,
so it seemed logical to leave wonderful cold pressed local oil in the hamper.

Fresh Flowers in the Hall
One of our enthusiastic cleaners threw away the tall bamboo and
the replacement fresh flowers have been admired, so they will become a permanent feature.

More Dishwasher Tablets
We now leave extra dishwasher tablets, probably enough for the whole of your stay.

Hand Towel for the Kitchen
It was requested, so it is now there!

More Serving Spoons
Many of our guests are serious cooks and 3 serving spoons were just not enough!
There are now 9 serving spoons and 3 large serving forks

Huge Casserole Dishes
Enormous & heavy, but vast and there are 2 of them.

Enormous Pan
Almost big enough to bath the baby, we had one already so you could bring twins!

Continuous Web Site Updates
Mike has been on a course (thanks to Mark Shipperlee at BizFiz, Alnwick)
so we now continuously update the web site.
New features include, availability, garden plan and completely revamped, local and
extensive 'Images of Northumberland' page, plus a special links page for special people.
"Images of Northumberland" and "Special Links"

Extra Brochures
Realisation dawned, a lot of you are coming,
you will need a lot of brochures - so we now send 6.

Earlier Arrival Time
Arrival time used to be 5:30pm and this just didn't work, because nearly everyone asked to arrive earlier. Our new arrival time is after 4:00pm. We are very fussy about how we hand over the house and we are always working right up until the last minute - so we cannot give you the stress free welcome you deserve if guests arrive early.
When guests see the house, the bathrooms, the stacks of towels, the toiletries, the hampers, etc. many of them tell us it is a miracle we manage to do it all in such a short time. They are so right!!!
Our new departure time is 10:00am.

Mirror in the Cloakroom
The boys just needed to check their equipment!

Photographic Artwork
A beautiful photograph of Alnmouth Estuary has been added to our collection of local artwork. It was taken by graduate photographer Paul at LithUaE photography. Paul takes commissions for producing large photographic work of special places. He will travel anywhere.
Large framed photographs range from £300 plus expenses.
"LithUaE Group - Light Space Photography"

Fiona Burn, Cook
Fiona has an impressive CV and cooks for some of the local aristocracy.
Fiona will take care of everythingfor your dinner party including
preparing the table, cooking, serving and tidying up afterwards.
"Special Links"

Redecoration & Refurbishment
We always spend most of January redecorating, cleaning curtains,
replacing damaged floor tiles, sealing floors and generally maintaining the house.

New Bed
In en-suite-5, the king sized bed with the wooden frame
has been replaced with a superior king sized divan and a new headboard.

Books
We just keep adding to them. The only thing we ask is if you want to take Audrey Niffenegger, Sebastian Faulks, Bill Bryson, Amy Tan, John Irving, Phillipa Gregory or Jean's favourite Alan Bennett home with you, that is fine, but please leave the replacement cost in the honesty pot.