Our venue for the weekend is the uttlerly and completely wonderful Featherstone Castle in the picturesque Northumbria countryside. It's a maze of stairways, courtyards, towers, fireplaces and creaking wooden doors which is just perfect for hide and seek.

It's easy to get lost in the castle, so if it's your first time be sure to turn up in time to get a tour. We will be greeting people and showing newcomers around from 6pm on the Friday evening.

The original structure dates from the early 12th Century, parts of which are still habitable (that's right, two of the bedrooms are in the original Peel tower). The border tower was substantially expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries creating a labyrinthine maze of rooms, narrow corridors and stairwells with uneven flagged stone floors downstairs & boards upstairs.

Photographs of the castle can be found in our gallery.

Activities take place around the castle in the ballroom and lounges. Accomodation comprises dormitories which vary in size from 2 to 10 beds.

Getting There

The Castle is located in the Tyne valley, about 3 miles south of Haltwhistle, with relatively easy access from the A69. The nearest train station is in Haltwhistle, on the Newcastle to Carlisle line. We've included a Google map below, but you can also find the castle at Multimap.com or Streetmap.co.uk.

View Larger Map

For satellite-navigation, GPS, or route-planning software, the full address of the castle is:

Featherstone Castle,
Featherstone,
Haltwhistle.
NE49 0JG

Ordinance Survey grid reference NY 673 609

External Links

Haltwhistle weather forecasts can be found at the BBC and Weather.com

Wikipedia has a page for Featherstone Castle.

English Heritage have a couple of photos, showing the entrance gate and the lawn outside the ballroom.

An intrepid chap called Case Allen has a history page with a watercolour painting of the castle, as well as the Featherstone coat of arms.

The Featherstone Society offer a few photos, and there's another good set over at Northumberland-Cam.