Hexham Book Festival 2012

Hexham Book Festival 2012 - 23rd April to 3rd May - Supported by the Queen's Hall Arts

This will be the seventh Hexham Book Festival thanks to generous funding from the Gillian Dickinson Trust and your vital support. This year will be one of the most vibrant festivals around; they’re celebrating the brightest and best of new fiction; a rich mix of gardening, food, and travel writers; trenchant views on art, politics and philosophy with Brian Sewell, Polly Toynbee and AC Grayling; the importance of truculence from seasoned politician Tam Dalyell and swashbuckling words from former poet laureate Andrew Motion.

Here's a list of events taking place this year at various venues around Hexham, make sure you visit the festival website for more information:

Monday 23rd April 
6pm-8pm, World Book Night, Rebecca Jenkins & Harry Pearson, Library QH

Mon 30thApril, Tues 1st & Thurs 3rd May 
1pm-2pm, Words in the Gallery, The Robinson-Gay Gallery, Hexham

Thursday 26th April 
1pm-2pm, SJ Watson, Rachel Joyce, Library QH
7pm-7.30pm, Amanda Baker, Cafe QH
8pm-9pm, Mari Hannah, Library QH

Friday 27th April 
10am – 11am, Gerard Baker & Joanna Blythman, Theatre QH
11.30am-12.30pm, Claudia Roden, Theatre QH
2pm-3pm, Clare Foster & Andrea Jones, Theatre QH
6pm- 7pm, Esther Woolfson,
7.30pm – 8.30pm, Brian Sewell, Theatre QH

Saturday 28th April 
10am-2pm, Book Shed, Sele Park
11am-12noon, Lisa Hilton, Theatre QH
12.30pm-1.30pm, Simon Scarrow, Theatre QH
2pm-3pm, Polly Toynbee & David Walker, Theatre QH
2.30pm-3.30pm, Whisper Works, Library QH
3.30pm-4.30pm, Tam Dalyell, Theatre QH
5pm – 6pm, Martin Gayford, Theatre QH
6.30pm-7.30pm, AC Grayling, Theatre QH
8pm–9pm, Iain Banks, Theatre QH

Sunday 29th April 
10am-12noon, Alison Baverstock Workshop, Beaumont Hotel
11am-12noon, Sam Moorhead & David Stuttard
1pm-2.30pm, A Novel Event, Forum Cinema

Monday 30th April 
Meg Rosoff, Schools event

Tuesday 1st May 
10am-12noon, Meg Rosoff Workshop, Beaumont Hotel
6pm-7pm, Richard Holloway, Hexham Abbey
8pm-9pm, Sarah Moss, Book Group Forum, Library QH

Wednesday 2nd May 
10am-12noon, Sarah Moss, Workshop, Beaumont Hotel
1pm-2pm, Mike Pannet & Malcolm Castle, Beaumont Hotel
6.30pm -7.30pm, Tristan Goolley & Jim Crumley, Theatre QH
7.30pm-8.30pm, Paul Torday & JW, Ironmonger, Theatre QH
6pm-7pm, Amanda Baker, Café QH
7.30pm, Andrew Motion, Theatre QH

Words Across Northumberland

Wednesday 30th May 
6pm-7pm, Kate Williams, Alnwick Garden
8pm-9pm, Val McDermott, Alnwick Garden

Thursday 31st May 
7.30pm-8.30pm, Joanne Harris, Alnwick garden

The Place I Love

We had this lovely poem by Derek. A. Sim posted on our Facebook Wall, I think it captures beautifully how a lot of people feel about Northumberland. What do you think? We'd love to hear your comments.

The Place I Love
You’ll never guess the place where I have been,
You’ll never believe the things I have seen.
I’ve been to a place that’s hidden from most,
To a secret location, on the north east coast.
It’s quiet, remote, and way off the track,
A place once visited, you’ll long to go back.
A place from where birds, from Kittiwake, to tern,
Fly to far away places, to always return.
Where the shells on the sand lie undisturbed,
And the Puffins of Farne, may nest, un-perturbed.
Where the mighty North Sea, meets the place I would be,
The beautiful Farne Isles, in the coaly North Sea.
Where the fishermen steer clear, so as not to upset,
This wonderful wildlife, oft shrouded in fret,
For here is a place, where few folk have been,
Where the fish can swim free, and the waters are clean.
Where the dolphin and seal, may swim side by side,
Where they breed and play courtship, with no need to hide,
Where the Cod and the Haddock, reproduce in large number,
Far, far away, from the industrial Humber!

Go visit…Northumberland’s beautiful coast.

Written by; Derek. A. Sim.

The Treehouse Restaurant at The Alnwick Garden - Review

Alnwick Castle from the approach to the Restaurant

However you approach The Treehouse Restaurant at The Alnwick Garden, you cannot fail to be impressed by what meets you. From the main town car park you walk by a beautiful view of Alnwick Castle which at this time of year is carpeted with spring bulbs and you get a sneak peak of the grand cascade of the garden. Even from the Garden’s main car park you have the imposing view of the Treehouse itself and its stylish decked entrance. If you weren’t excited about your meal when you set off you certainly will be when you arrive, it’s hard to imagine a more impressive and unique venue.

The Treehouse Restaurant

Once inside the Treehouse itself the sense of wonder continues, it’s a living landscape and offers a dining experience like no other anywhere in the world. The building was built around the trees, some of which now appear to grow through the floor and everywhere you look there is twisted bow and twig forming the walls. It’s hard to see where the building stops and the trees start, it’s such an elegant and natural setting with a roaring scented fire in the middle of the room and thousands of subtle lights intermingled within the branches. There’s a lot to take in and you may find yourself stopping and staring in wonder when you walk through the door, until a member of staff politely gets your attention!

We had a table for four booked for a Sunday lunch, our coats were taken and we were shown to our table by the fire in the centre of the room. I slid along the bench to sit with my back to the fire and it was an unfortunate coincidence that both myself and my father who were seated here both suffer from bad backs. Within in a couple of minutes I became uncomfortably warm with the fire being no more than 2 feet away and the concrete lip of the fireplace was in my lower back with no support above it. We quickly realised that we wouldn’t be able to comfortably enjoy a long, relaxed meal at this table and made the awkward decision to ask to be moved. We were one of the first groups to arrive and the staff were incredibly accommodating so it wasn’t an issue at all despite our waiter’s joke ‘yes we can move you to a table just outside the door’. He really deserved praise for how he interacted with us and the tables around us, he had just the right balance of friendliness and cheeky humour without ever overstepping the mark. The service we received throughout the meal was almost faultless.

Inside the Treehouse Restaurant

At our new table we relaxed and perused the menu which was cram packed with local and seasonal produce, which was excellent to see. Local produce included Brinkburn Goats Cheese, Swallow's Smoked Haddock, Doddington Dairy Ice Cream, Northumbrian Cheeses and sustainably sourced fish.

I found myself distracted by the beauty of the room and had to keep drawing myself back to the task in hand – choosing from the extensive Sunday Lunch menu. We all commented that it was nice to see menu where we were tempted by so many dishes, it was genuinely a difficult decision to make for each course. Around the table we had the Goats Cheese and the Treehouse Terrine for starters. The generous portion of Terrine was pork and duck wrapped in bacon and served with salad, a sauce and toasted brioche. The goats cheese was equally generous in size and served with salad, beetroot chutney and a basil and balsamic dressing. The quality of ingredients, particularly in the terrine shone through with an excellent depth of flavour and simple, clean presentation.

On to the main courses, being Sunday most of our party opted for the roast dinner (beef and pork) and we also had one chicken. I’ll get the one downside of the meal straight out of the way, the topside of beef was extremely tasty but by no stretch of the imagination could it be described as tender. The pork however was a delight, so tender it barely managed to hold its form and served with a delicious honey crunch mustard and apple sauce. Each plate was cleanly presented with the meat of choice, several roast potatoes, mashed potato, a huge homemade Yorkshire pudding and in the case of the beef a good serving of extremely tasty, rich gravy. Vegetables for the table of four came in a small cast iron pot and consisted of mange tout, French beans, broccoli, carrots and courgette. When they arrived I was concerned that there might not be enough for four, but as it turned out it was just the right amount. The trend recently with many restaurants is to provide an obscene amount of food in an attempt to give the appearance of value for money, a wasteful bandwagon I'm pleased to say the Treehouse hasn't jumped on.

Roast Topside of Beef and homemade Yorkshire Pudding

The divine Sticky Toffee and Ginger Pudding

We were all extremely pleased with our main courses, the Roasted Supreme of Chicken came with a leek and herb crust, confit potato and a blue cheese sauce, a difficult dish to present well. It would have been rude not to have sampled a dessert, so after a short break we had a look at the menu. What choice! Classic dishes with a modern twist included Sticky Toffee and Ginger Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream, Treehouse Lemon Posset, Homemade Cheesecake, Dark Chocolate and Orange Tart and a Trio of Northumbrian Cheeses. I tend to rate a restaurant's desserts by the standard of their Sticky Toffee Pudding so the decision, for me at least, was straighforward.

As it turned out it was the highlight of the meal, the light pudding had a good warm hit of ginger which was balanced by the butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream perfectly. The addition of the ginger to the pudding was a new (to me) combination of flavours which made the taste buds sing and I will certainly be taking this idea away with me. The Cheesecake and Lemon Posset were also throroughly enjoyed with the posset having a consistency and smoothness close to a panna cotta. After all this wonderful cuisine we couldn't even manage to fit in a coffee to round off the meal, we were perfectly content.

It came time for us to head home and we could barely bring ourselves to leave the table, a sure sign of a great meal. We will be returning!

Highlight: The Treehouse itself, the food could be michelin standard and still easily be overshadowed by the pure genius of the venue.
Lowlight: It's being very nitpicky as we enjoyed the meal so much, but the tenderness of the roast topside of beef could be improved.

The Treehouse Restaurant’s Scores
Venue: 5 out of 5
Ambience: 4 ½ out of 5
Service: 4 out of 5
Presentation: 3 ½ out of 5
Taste: 4 out of 5
Value for Money: 3 ½ out of 5

Overall Score: Sunday Lunch at The Treehouse cost £22.75 for three courses or £18.50 for two courses. In my view this prices the restaurant into the ‘special occasion’ category, regular dining here might be somewhat extravagant and beyond the means of a lot of people especially in these hard times. That’s not to say I wouldn’t consider it to be reasonable value for money, the special venue certainly justifies (in my mind) a large part of the premium you’re paying. It’s the kind of dining experience that you’ll remember for a long time, the stuff great memories are made of and in my mind you can’t put a price tag on that. 4 ½ out of 5

My scoring system explained:
5 = Outstanding
4 = Excellent
3 = Good
2 = Average
1 = Poor

Northumberland Residents' Festival 24th and 25th March 2012

Lindisfarne Castle - Free Entry 24/25th March

Now in it’s third year the Northumberland Residents’ Festival is an exciting opportunity to rediscover some of our great attractions around the County that are sometimes taken for granted. As we all know, Northumberland is an amazing place to live and Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th March is your chance to ‘play the tourist’ with heavily discounted or free entry to many of our top attractions.

When was the last time you explored the history of Lord Armstrong at Cragside House and Gardens? Or visited Holy Island and took in the glorious view from the top of Lindisfarne Castle? You can do both of these things FREE during the Residents’ Festival just by downloading a voucher and taking along proof that you live in Northumberland.

Our top picks of places to visit:
Woodhorn Museum have recently launched a new exhibitition that is just great for the kids (and big kids!) called INVASION! See amazing props and costumes from your favourite sci-fi films and television shows including Star Wars, Doctor Who, Aliens and many more. Come face to face with iconic robots including Robby the Robot, B9 and Robocop. It's an out of this world experience on your doorstep! They also currently have other wonderful exhibitions including Mining a Golden Seam and Spirit of Northumberland, an exhibition of new work inspired by the people, places and traditions of Northumberland. There really is something for everyone here.

Cragside House and Gardens has been a family favourite of since I was a child and they are constantly making improvements and introducing new exhibitionsto keep things interesting and new this year is Cragside: The Servants' Side. This is your chance to see the real faces of the Cragside servants and find out about the untold stories of life in service. Discover the romance of James McDougle and see his original footman's livery uniform. Learn the Victorian recipe for brown bread ice cream, served to Cragside's Royal guests. With close up photographs of original parts of the servants' tower you'll get a real glimpse behind closed doors.

The lesser known Bailiffgate Museum is often overlooked compared to some of our County's bigger attractions, but this is an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with a real gem of a museum. It's just along from the Castle at Alnwick and one of their current fascinating exhibitions is As They Really Were - the Citizens of Alnwick 1831 - Professor Keith Middlemas. Spot your ancestors through a unique exhibition of drawings painted by a nineteenth-century, Alnwick artist, Percy Forster (born 1801). Forster was the son of the Duke of Northumberland’s gamekeeper and his artwork was exhibited at the Royal Academy. The sketches are of Alnwick townsfolk in the 1830s at the time of the first ever census and represent a cross section of society. “Handy Tom” the butcher’s man, Wise Willie, Purvis the cow doctor, Henry Trotter the horse farrier and “Damn you dog” Brosby are among the many fascinating characters who come to life in these portraits.

So get out there and enjoy some long lost family favourites! Simply download the voucher here and choose from this full list of where to go.

Free entry at:
Bailiffgate Museum (Free)
Cragside (Free)
Lindisfarne Castle (Free)
Wallington (Free)
Longframlington Gardens (Free)

2 for 1 Entry at:

Bamburgh Castle (2for1)
Belsay Hall & Gardens (2for1)
Chesters Roman Fort (2for1)
Corbridge Roman Town (2for1)
Dunstanburgh Castle (2for1)
Etal Castle (2for1)
Hexham Old Gaol (2for1)
Lindisfarne Priory (2for1)
Newbiggin Maritime Centre (2for1)
RNLI Grace Darling Museum (2for1)
Seaton Delaval Hall (2for1)
Warkworth Castle & Hermitage (2for1)

50% off, or other offer at:

Alnwick Garden (50% off)
Kirkley Hall (50% off)
Woodhorn (Buy Adult - Child free)

Where will you visit during the festival? Let us know by commenting below.

You must bring proof that you live in Northumberland when presenting these vouchers at an event. A driving licence, utility bill or bank statement will all be accepted. To save time, please complete the discount voucher before arrival at the venue.

Award-winning Photo from Alnmouth Beach

I was really pleased to be informed yesterday that this photo I took of my dog on Alnmouth beach came third in a National photo competition to find Britain's Next Top Dog that was being run by Welcome Cottages. I've been visiting Alnmouth for as long as I can remember and it is such a special place to me and my family, so I was thrilled to find out that the photo had won a prize.

The photo came about in a really strange way, we were walking along the beach as we had done thousands of times before and Homer just stopped and sat down in a rare monent of calmness. He stared out to sea as if transfixed on something amazingly beautiful that we couldn't see. Perhaps he just stopped to admire the view (and who could blame him!), but it gave me just enough time to snap him in a real moment of serendipity. I can't help but think the location is what sold the judges on the photo, it has to be my favourite beach in Northumberland.... and that's not an easy decision to make!

I look forward to receiving the canvas print that is part of the prize.

The Rock Festival Choir Concert

Rock Festival Choir Concert, Director Peter Brown, Organist Peter Hignett

The Rock Festival Choir will perform a concert at St Paul’s Church, Alnwick on Sunday 1st April at 7.30pm. The repertoire includes music from last April’s royal wedding - Paul Mealor’s Ubi Caritas, John Rutter’s This is the Day and I was Glad by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, whose well known anthem was also performed during the Queen’s coronation 60 years ago, evoking both the royal wedding and celebrating the Diamond Jubilee.

The Choir will also perform Bob Chilcott’s Requiem, which was first performed in March 2010 and which has been internationally recognised as a major new choral work. Peter Brown, Director of the Rock Festival Choir, believes this will be the first performance of this beautiful, reflective and memorable work in the North East of England.


Tickets available on the door, £7.50 (£6.50 Concessions)