Earl Grey teapot in the Earl Grey Tearooms

Our morning walk took us north, across the National Trust field where the horses were out for their early morning exercise, along the dunes and path and the smooth, firm beach of Beadnell Bay. The most amazing thing about the beaches in this part of Northumberland is that you can walk vast stretches of sand with no-one else in sight. Although this morning we followed a party of four and could see people dotted about in the distance. We walked as far as the bridge at `Long Nanny' (where the National Trust warden hut is sited. The hut is used to oversee the `Little Tern' breeding colony between May and August). Turning back, we spent a few minutes watching the curlews in the field across the river and then took the inner dune path and the hoof marked trail back to where we started.

Despite a very grey morning (with no promise of sun for the rest of the week) we decided to head for Howick Gardens and lunch in the grand setting of the Earl Grey tearooms. No-one quite makes Earl Grey tea the way they do here and they have a very special teapot to filter out the tea leaves. Earl Grey who built the hall and established the gardens is apparently responsible for the invention of the tea. Though somehow I doubt that he did the blending himself!