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The land of far horizons: greeting cards

Greeting cards for everyday use, depicting Northumberland through the seasons of the year, are available from shops across the region, and also from this website. The images include many of the popular landmarks across Northumberland, such as Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Farne Islands, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland National Park, Cheviot Hills, Simonside Hills, Hadrian’s Wall, Sycamore Gap, Housesteads Crags, Crag Lough, Caw Gap, Milecastle 39, Hexham, Kielder, Hareshaw Linn, North Tyne valley, and wildlife such as puffins and red squirrels. The cards are supplied with a mailing envelope, in a protective cellophane sleeve, and are A5 size (148 x 210mm), blank inside for your own greeting.

Hadrian’s Wall was the most heavily fortified border in the Roman Empire, and dates from AD 122, during the rule of the emperor Hadrian. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The best preserved remains of the wall are situated along a conspicuous geological feature known as the Whin Sill, a tabular layer of  igneous dolerite rock in the north east of England. Housesteads Crags, close to the famous Housesteads Roman Fort, look spectacular on a fine winter’s day with snow lying.

 

Northumberland greeting cards

Greeting cards for everyday use, depicting Northumberland through the seasons of the year, are available from shops across the region, and also from this website. The images include many of the popular landmarks across Northumberland, such as Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Farne Islands, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland National Park, Cheviot Hills, Simonside Hills, Hadrian’s Wall, Sycamore Gap, Housesteads Crags, Crag Lough, Caw Gap, Milecastle 39, Hexham, Kielder, Hareshaw Linn, North Tyne valley, and wildlife such as puffins and red squirrels. The cards are supplied with a mailing envelope, in a protective cellophane sleeve, and are A5 size (148 x 210mm), blank inside for your own greeting.

Alnwick Castle is often regarded as the best medieval castle in northern England. It dates from the 11th century and has been the seat of the Percy family and the Dukes of Northumberland, for 700 years. Swans are often seen in the River Aln, flowing from the Cheviot Hills to the North Sea.

 

 

Northumberland : the land of far horizons greeting cards

Greeting cards for everyday use, depicting Northumberland through the seasons of the year, are available from shops across the region, and also from this website. The images include many of the popular landmarks across Northumberland, such as Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Farne Islands, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland National Park, Cheviot Hills, Simonside Hills, Hadrian’s Wall, Sycamore Gap, Housesteads Crags, Crag Lough, Caw Gap, Milecastle 39, Hexham, Kielder, Hareshaw Linn, North Tyne valley, and wildlife such as puffins and red squirrels. The cards are supplied with a mailing envelope, in a protective cellophane sleeve, and are A5 size (148 x 210mm), blank inside for your own greeting.

The Cheviot (815m), an ancient extinct volcano, is the highest point in the Cheviot Hills and the wild moors and uplands of Northumberland, which continue northwards across the Scottish border. The huge sweeping skies and far horizons, so typical of the Northumberland hills, can be well seen in this view from Battle Hill near Elsdon.

 

 

Northumberland greeting cards: Dark Sky

Northumberland is the most sparsely populated region in England, and one of the many benefits of this (along with quiet roads, open spaces, and unspoiled landscapes) is the darkness of the night sky, which makes this area one of the best places for observing the stars and planets.

Northumberland International Dark Sky Park is the largest area of protected night sky in Europe, covering 572 square miles (1,483 square kilometres). The area was awarded gold status designation in 2013 by the International Dark Sky Association in Tucson, Arizona, the world authority on light pollution. This status means that controls are now  in place to prevent light pollution and to protect the night sky.

One of my best selling cards is the view of Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland National Park, in winter, when on clear nights the stars glitter brightly in the dark skies to the north of the wall, a region with vast empty spaces and just a few remote farms and hamlets scattered across the land towards the Scottish border.