Outing to Alnwick Gardens - Thursday 14th May 2015

Our first outing of 2015 took place on Thursday 14th May with 83 people in two coaches. The coffee stop was at Ord Garden Centre in Berwick where the staff were ready to cope with our numbers, as they had the upstairs section open for us. Here a mixture of bacon rolls, scones and lots of other cakes were on offer. What they had not prepared for was another bus load from Bonnyrigg, who had not booked but luckily came in after us!
We then had a lovely drive down to Alnwick Gardens where the staff were waiting for us with tickets, maps and discount vouchers for their shop. The gardens are in a lovely setting with a terraced fountain on show from the entrance. The weather was kind as it did not rain although there was a cool breeze and very little sun. The highlight for some was the Poison Garden and the interesting stories the guides had to tell. (Don't keep your daffodils bulbs beside your onions in the green house, as one family found out at Christmas when the bulbs were used in the dinner instead of the onions and all ended up in A&E in Newcastle).
High Tea (a two course meal) was at the Victoria Hotel in Bamburgh. All agreed that it was one of the nicest meals we have had.
As usual the drivers went out of their way to make sure most people were dropped off along the coach routes to Waterloo Place if near to home or transport.
Many thanks to the event organisers, Liz, Moira, Carol, etc. and to Austin Travel.