Collingwood21 Does Belsay (Belsay Hall & Gardens)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Belsay Hall & Gardens
Date:	20/07/03 (182 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good events, Public transport access, Unique gardens

Disadvantages: Expensive if you are not an EH member, Poor interpretation

I think the best way for me to start this review is to tell you what Belsay actually is. Well, it is a small village in Northumberland, not much more than a cluster of houses set among vast expanse of fields that feels as if you are in the middle of nowhere. More importantly for this review though, it also lends its name to a 30 acre country estate owned by English Heritage - formerly the home of the Middleton family for 600 years. I have visited this estate twice over recent weeks, once last month to escape the city for a day, and again this weekend to attend an event there.

The Belsay Estate is a rather unusual one to say the least. Anyone who is used to visiting historic sites will no doubt be familiar with one of two main types - you either get a ruined castle or you get the archetypal English country mansion with formal gardens. Belsay, though, is a combination of the two. At one end of the estate you have a small fourteenth century castle tower with an added Jacobean manor house, while at the other there is a nineteenth century Greek-revival hall. Between the two, you get a mixture of formal gardens and woodland walks. What this leaves is effectively a history of the activities of the Middletons on the estate over time, with the buildings and gardens formerly unaltered in the past 200 years.


- Getting to Belsay
Although it feels very rural and remote, the Belsay estate has the big advantage of being reasonably close to Newcastle, with a major A road right on its doorstep. If you are driving, it will take you 30-40 minutes from Newcastle city centre and is very straightforward to fin
d - just take the A696 (which starts at Kingston Park), and follow the brown English Heritage signs once you get to Belsay village. If you need public transport, it is also
possible to get to the village by bus if you are travelling from the city. Arriva Northumbria's 508 service to Rothbury stops at Belsay village, leaving from G
ateshead metro station, Newcastle train station and Newcastle's Haymarket bus station on summer Sundays until October. It takes around 2 hours, and you will need to walk the 2 miles or so from the village to the estate. For information, phone 0870 608 2608.


- How much will it cost?
Entrance to the Belsay estate costs £4.50 for adults, £3.40 for concessions (student and seniors with ID), £2.30 for children under 16 and is free for under 5's. If you are in a group of 11 or more, then you can get a 15% discount on your entry fee. English Heritage members are admitted for free, with members of CADW and Historic Scotland getting a 50% discount. If you join English Heritage during your visit, then your entry fee is refunded to you. Some events may charge a small additional fee, although they are usually free to members. (Please note, these prices are more up to date than those quoted by dooyoo in the category heading).


- What can I do there?
The entrance to the estate brings you into the main car park, which is located in the courtyard of the buildings associated with Belsay Hall (the nineteenth century structures). As well as the hall itself, the courtyard has all of the important visitor facilities: the toilets, cafe, gift shop and introductory exhibition. I would recommend having a look around the exhibition before venturing out into the estate - it is located above the shop, and gives you the basic history of Belsay and the Middleton family. Although very basic, it is quite well presented and does help you to understand what you are seeing in the various buildings and gardens, th
us removing the need to buy a guidebook for most visitors. There are two problems with the exhibition, though. Firstly, it is up steep steps that not everyone will be able to manage. Secondly, there are no external signposts to tell you it is there. I only found there was an exhibition at the end of my first visit to Belsay, when I
went to browse around the gift shop before leaving and discovered it by accident. This was mildly annoying, as I know I could have got a lot more out of my visit had I had that information before I went to look around the estate.

Belsay Hall itself is a Grade 1 listed building, and one of Europe's best examples of Greek revival architecture. In fact, it has even been described in a recent article in The Times as "the ultimate refinement of classical architecture in the Regency period". The hall was built by one of the more eccentric members of the Middleton family, who had it designed on the basis of 300 architectural drawings he made whilst on his honeymoon tour of Greece in 1804. At the time the hall was being built, it was the Roman style that was still in fashion - Greek was almost unknown in England - so he was considered to be rather barmy by society for pursuing this. The result of design was a rather severe building, although to be fair it probably appears harsher than it is due to the fact that is now nothing more than an empty shell. The last occupant of the hall insisted in his will that no refurnishing was to take place under English Heritage's care, leaving a bleak building with little for the average visitor to see. There has been some attempt to incorporate interpretation panels into the rooms, but they are bland and boring - unless you are an expert on architectural history, this is rather a disappointing experience.

Leaving the hall, there are two ways across to Belsay Castle - the short path through the car park, or the longer path through the gardens. I would strongly sug
gest you take the garden route, as it is far more scenic. This walk will take you through the winter garden (with heather, conifers, scented plants and a croque
t lawn), through an area of woodland and into the unique quarry garden. The quarry garden was created after stone had been cut from this area of the estate to provide
building material for the hall - the result is a man-made ravine filled with vines, ferns, rhododendrons, tropical plants, and soaring gateways, a quite unexpected find in Northumberland! This part of Belsay is unlike anything I have ever come across before, and I loved it; the atmosphere was peaceful and quiet, yet in places almost Middle Earth in character.

The end of the quarry garden path brings you out next to Belsay Castle. The castle is a rather strange hybrid - part fortified tower, and part Jacobean manor house, and to be honest is does look rather odd. This was the original home of the Middletons and had to be fortified due to the proximity of the Scottish border, with the manor added at a later date, presumable when the region was more secure and the family felt safe enough to live in an undefended home. Both of these building are now in ruin, although it is possible to explore the castle and climb to the top for a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside from the top. There is no real interpretation at this site - something I found to be rather a shame - and English Heritage seem to prefer to use it more for a backdrop for events in the open field in front of it.

A visit to the Belsay estate will take you between 2 and 3 hours, more if there is an event taking place. Available visitor facilities are:
- the cafe (open only in summer, but offering reasonably priced food, drinks and home-made cakes, including a children's menu)
- picnic area with tables
- the shop (small, selling English heritage books, Belsay souvenirs and ice creams)
- toilets with baby changing facilities and
disabled access
- wheelchairs available for free use
- free leaflets with maps of the estate, available from the entrance and inside the hall

Wheelch
air access is available to the ground floor of the hall, shop, cafe and parts of the formal gardens. Disabled visitors may find it difficult to reach the ca
stle as the path is uneven and sloping, and will not be able to enter this building as there is no ramp available. The exhibition, as I have said, is off limits unless you can manage the stairs.


- My opinion
The Belsay estate has an awful lot of potential as a historic visitor attraction, although at the moment I really don't think it is making the most of what it has. Although I appreciate that English Heritage are always going to be short on funds and that conservation is top priority, they really need to consider some changes here - most of all in communication with the visitor. It was not just that the exhibition was not signposted or that there was a complete lack of "way out" signs, either. The strongest memory I have of my first visit was of a great disappointment in finding the hall to be empty; nowhere (not in the member's guidebook, the website or any leaflet) does it mention that Belsay Hall is unfurnished. I have been to many historic sites across Britain, and my experience tells me that it is reasonable to expect a nineteenth century country hall to have period furnishings within it in a National Trust-ish manner, unless told otherwise. And it was not just me: the hall rang to sounds of other visitors muttering "its empty" and "there is nothing here".

The sole reason I made a return visit to Belsay was for this weekend's event, the excellent annual medieval tournament (which I highly recommend, by the way). Would I return to see just the property again? No. And that comes from a committed English Heritage member and regular visitor of historic sites.
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Overall, recommended if you...
- are already an EH member
- like gardens
- are interested in nineteenth century architecture
- can visit when there i
s an event on

But avoid if you...
- have to pay full entrance price (it is just too expensive for what you get)
- are disab
led
- like buildings furnished in period style
- cannot make it to any events


- Details
Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens
Belsay
Nr. Ponteland
Northumberland

The estate is open 10am to 4pm (winter) or 6pm (summer) throughout the year (except Christmas and New Year).

Tel: 01661 881636

www.english-heritage.org.uk

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