Landscape & Skyscape
Guests enjoy the exclusive use of a secure, private, garden. The central lawn is surrounded by intriguing and engaging planting in beds landscaped by Anne, in soft counterpoint with a feature corten steel fence and stone wall on one side of the garden.
Situated at the west end of the church, beneath the Kempe stained glass windows which are positioned to catch the dying light, the garden is a superb place to enjoy an evening drink on the patio, watching the sun go down over the neighbouring open fields, gently rising to the hills beyond.
At 55 degrees North, summer evenings in the garden are long, with the stone of the church wall gently giving back the heat it has absorbed during the day to anyone stood or sat near it. In winter, Northumberland’s high latitude means that the Northern Lights are sometimes visible when conditions are right.
Northern Lights During Construction at Warksburn Old Church
The crowning glory visible from the garden is the night sky. Northumberland has the most pristine dark skies in England, and Wark lies on the edge of the International Dark Sky Park, an exceptionally rare status awarded by the International Dark Sky Association. This means that on a clear night, once the sun has set and you’re in a remote spot away from street lights, you can look up into the night sky and see thousands of stars, the Milky Way, and the Andromeda Galaxy (2.5 million light years away) with the naked eye. Rarer events, like meteor showers and space junk reentry burn-ups, once experienced, are also sights never to be forgotten.
A small telescope is available for guests to enjoy the night sky. If you wish to explore deeper into outer space, the Battlesteads Hotel, located a two minute walk away, has “a public astronomical observatory, offering stargazing and astrophotography events and activities to suit everyone from the beginner to the professional. The observatory is staffed by a team of professional astronomers and science communicators.” Bookings can be arranged by the hosts. A few miles away, the Kielder Observatory is also open to the public, its mission being to enable “everyone to experience moments of inspiration, wonder and hope through observing the cosmos”.