Inside, you'll see a large area where there are plenty of tables and chairs where you can sit. You can sit outside or inside the cafe'. It was a nice hot sunny day when we were there, so we bought a couple of hot chocolates and sat outside.

If you want to buy something to remind you of the day or a gift for someone, they have a gift shop. They also have toilets there as well. Every time we have been there, we noticed these are always kept clean.

The Wonderful House
After we had our drinks we decided to go to the hall itself to have a look inside the wonderful house It's just a few minutes walk away.

Even before you reach the house, you get to appreciate all the beautiful trees and flowers on the way. You also get your first glimpse of Cragside House as you're walking along the path towards it. It truly does look magnificent as it pokes out from the trees.

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Beautiful Place

Cragside

There is also something really interesting about Cragside Hall. This house was ahead of its time. It was the first house in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity. You can see the workings of this if you go down to the lower levels of the house.

You go down into the kitchen, which was used by the servants back in the day. The kitchen is still original as it was in the day. You see all the work surfaces and pots and pans on the walls. You can almost imagine what it was like with servants there.

At the other side of the kitchen there is a short flight of steps. At the bottom, you'll find a room where the hydraulic generator is and there is a lift. This was powered by the generator. Of course, you cannot use the lift.

What we liked is that there are tour guides in the house. We often saw them giving talks to small groups of people. So when we got down to where the lift is, there was a guide talking to one or two people about how it all worked.

It was very interesting as he explained how they managed to get water to come down into the house and into the generator. This produced electricity for the lift and also other household appliances and lights.

The Beautiful Gardens
When you come out of the house, there is a path to your right. We followed the path down which takes you through the beautiful gardens. What a beautiful sight it is. There are all sorts of wonderful colourful flowers there. It really is a pleasure to see. You can see that the gardens are well looked after.

The River Walk

When we followed the path further down, it took us to a wooden bridge that crossed a river. We continued to follow the path which takes you along the side of the river. We found it very relaxing and enjoyable.

As we walked along, we saw more beautiful plants and flowers. The lovely smell of these flowers filled the air.

A little further along, there is a lovely arched bridge going across the river. The path takes you underneath it. We saw quite a few people walking across. We didn't cross it, but we could see it was another way to get from the house to the river walk.

The Beautiful Lake

When you get to the end of this lovely walk, it brings you back up not far from the cafe' where we were earlier. On your left is a beautiful lake. We saw this earlier when walked over to get our drinks at the cafe'. The lake is quite large and it has all sorts of ducks and even swans. If you like taking photographs as we do, you can get some beautiful photos of the lake.

Entry Cost (and our tip)
This place is looked after by the National Trust. If you're not a member then you have to pay entry.

The very first time we went to Cragside Hall the people on the gate told us how much it was to get in and also said it would work out cheaper for us if we became members. He said we would already be saving money as soon as we visited three National Trust places.

If you become a member, then it is free as are all other National Trust places throughout the UK. So it definitely saves you money by becoming a member. You don't need to join at the gate. You can join the National Trust by going online.

In all, we would definitely recommend you go to Cragside Hall. It is suitable for people of all ages and is also dog friendly. We are glad of this as we like to take our dog Chip with us. However, dogs are not allowed inside the house. So we put him in the car, which was in a shaded spot, and left the window down to keep him cool.

Cragside hall is one of our most favourite places. There are beautiful breathtaking gardens, gorgeous scenery, lovely walks along the river and also a large lake with ducks and swans.

If that’s not enough, there is Cragside Hall. You'll definitely want to see it. It is beautiful and original inside and has a very interesting history.

There is also plenty of parking as there are two very large car parks. You can also relax with a drink and a snack in the cafe which has inside and outside seating.

The last time we were there, the first thing we did was get ourselves a nice drink. So after we parked the car, we made our way down to the cafe. It's just a couple of minutes walk from the car park.

The Cafe'
The cafe' area is in an enclosed space which you get to through an archway. You'll see the archway below a clock tower.

To find the entrance, you walk through an archway. Then at the corner of the house, turn to your right and you’ll see the door there.

It really is a house worth seeing. It’s really quite beautiful. We believe all the decor and furniture is original.