Holy Island and Berwick upon Tweed

On Friday we spent time doing some last minute shopping for presents. We visited Holy Island, which has been a favourite spot of ours for the last thirty five years.

We first visited Holy Island when my best friend from Teacher Training days, Dave, invited Dot and myself to stay with him and his wife Sheila. One day he said he would take us somewhere where he was sure we had not been before, but he was sure we would like the place. It turned out to be Holy Island. We have visited it ever since and stayed at more or less all times of the year.

Our two eldest daughters have spent many happy hours playing on the beaches of Holy Island and Bamburgh. Our youngest daughter took her first unaided steps outside the Post Office on Holy Island.

I have played the organ at the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin for two previous Vicars, Revd Dennis Bill and Revd David Adam

Altar Table and Reredos of St Mary the Virgin HolyIsland

Sanctuary Carpet - a replica of a page from the Lindisfarne Gospels

St Mary the Virgin Parish Church and the Priory from the Heugh

Indeed a strange coincidence is that last year when we first stayed at Waren Mill, our next door but one neighbour was David Adam who has now retired, but is still active in writing books on Celtic Prayers and Celtic Christianity.

I have taken parties from St Michael & All Angels Cottingley on pilgrimages to Holy Island, and made the acquaintance of Dr Kate Tristram a scholar on Celtic Christianity. She has addressed our pilgrimages on more than one occasion, usually telling us of her researches and studies before they have been published!

So what can I say about Holy Island? It’s not a picture box pretty place. In late autumn and winter the cold north eastern winds can sweep across it and make it feel like Siberia, but it is a place of almost mystical beauty. It’s not a tangible beauty you can capture on film, but rather an atmosphere, an ethereal feeling, a hypnotic sense of peace and calm.

I’ve no intention of going into the history of the island - suffice it to say that it was the Cradle of Christianity in the Golden Age of Northumbria.

St Aidan

and St Oswald and St Cuthbert are three of the saints inextricably connected with Holy Island, or Lindisfarne, to give it its other name. The Lindisfarne Gospels were produced here,

Replica of a page of the Lindisfarne Gospels in the the Peter Chapel

and they now reside in the British Museum.

If you are a bird watcher you can see many examples of native British birds as well as examples of birds which pass through from northern climes.

If you enjoy peace and serenity, history, Castles,

Priories,

Celtic History, Christian History, bird watching, walks, wild flowers, wonderful sunsets etc.

then Holy Island is for you!

We called at The Barn at Beal for lunch. This is an example of a local farmer diversifying. What was his old cow shed is now a café overlooking Holy Island.

The Barn at Beal

The Barn at Beal (interior)

The food is drawn from local sources and much of it home baked. The welcome by the Maitre D is warm and welcoming. If you are in the area do call in. You will not be disappointed by the food or the views! There is also a Birds of Prey Centre.

We then spent some time having a final walk around Berwick,