Belsay Hall, Northumberland

Belsay Hall was the next stop ... got to through a long drive into the grounds, and some doubling back. After a quick lunch in the car park - at some times a walled garden.
Entering through the stables and service buildings (connected to the hall by underground tunnels not open to the public), we approached from the main drive ..
Inside was completely devoid of all due to dry rot and preservation on going, but some of the effects in the sandstone and the (remaining) shelves in the library gave an indication of what it would have been like.
Underground was a vast arrangement of cellar rooms and the aforementioned tunnel
There was not a lot to keep the attention, with most walls stripped to cure woodworm and dry rot ... so we headed outside to the gardens.

the formal gardens first .. then lead into a walk through the quarry used to provide the stone both for the hall and the castle as well as a lot of other buildings .. this had been landscaped into a pleasant place... with a number of faux bridges.

The plants clinging to the rock walls were very impressive, as were the trees growing out.
A small gallery in the quarry

The quarry path led to the original castle (and later extensions) ... again all empty rooms but we could get up a few levels and look out from the top.

Back through the quarry, and then across the other side of the gardens (below the hall and haw-haw) there was a path to the lake and a stroll through the woods, before heading back.

Time was getting on and we needed some supplies, so we headed back to the campsite stopping in Corbridge. The pub was open for the first time tonight so we headed over for food and pint .. the food was good and it was a shame that we would only get one night here.