Just in case you’ve forgotten, we are Rab and Phin, border terriers who love exploring Northumberland. The humans have been a bit lax lately and we’ve not had as many adventures, so imagine our excitement when one morning we were popped into the car and didn’t head in the direction of the dog doctors (the last time we’d been in the car was for our routine health check). The anticipation grew when we picked up Rachel; her presence only ever means two things – treats and adventures!
We were in the car for what seemed like forever (lads – it was only 45 minutes!) when we arrived at Cragside, near Rothbury. As we pulled up, the humans were discussing that it was the first building in the world to be lit by electricity, whilst this is of course fascinating, it’s not really what us dogs are interested in! We want sights, sounds and lots of smells, oh and of course treats and lots of attention. We’d only been there five minutes and had already ticked one off our list, as many people came to fuss over us while we were sat waiting whilst the humans were deciding where to go. I’ve discovered that if I roll over on my back it’s sure to gain me tummy tickles.
There are over 1000 acres of land and over 40 miles of footpaths to explore at Cragside, so we could have easily spent several days there. The humans wanted to see the Rhododendrons which are in full bloom the end of May to mid-June so our timing was perfect. It wasn’t long before the humans were stopping to take photos of them, I don’t really get all this selfies and photos lark, but it keeps them happy. We were more interested in the lovely smells that were all around us.
I wasn’t totally sure about the Iron Bridge, it looked a very long way down, of course I acted brave like terriers are meant to be, but I was glad when we were back on solid ground. The rock garden was brilliant though, and we had great fun trying our paws at dog parkour; did you know that is actually a dog sport and I must say I think we’d excel at it.
After a couple of hours of exploration we headed to the tea rooms for a bite to eat. Dogs are very welcome in the courtyard where there is lots of seating for humans. Rachel ordered some food to take away whilst we waited outside with mum. It was fairly busy so while we were waiting we quickly worked out that if we lay down and watched the world go by we’d be given treats – humans are so easy to train! Soon, the food appeared with soup and bread to begin with, great choice Rachel, we love bread and we knew that if we relaxed at her feet she would dutifully give us some. Dessert was chocolate cake - oh dear Rachel, did you not know we aren’t allowed chocolate, you must try harder next time. Good job you had plenty of dog treats for us.
Sadly, it was time to go home... or so we thought. We’d only been in the car for ten minutes and were still in the grounds when we stopped and jumped out again to have a stroll around Nelly’s Moss lakes walk. I fancied a little splash in the lake but mum had other plans and wouldn’t let me, so we made do with more posing for photographs.
We had a great day and, although we weren’t allowed in the house, there was so much outside to keep us busy we didn’t mind at all. Cragside is definitely dog friendly, so doggy pals what are you waiting for, you just need to convince your humans to take you.