Blakey and Cuthbert House are the central pair of a cute, creeper-covered terrace at the entrance to Northumberland’s riverside Brinkburn Estate – famed for its gorgeous 12th-century priory. Adjoining one another, they can seamlessly form a single property when required courtesy of an interconnecting door and garden gates.
Large groups or families will spend ample space for socialising or relaxing, having explored this fascinating, beautiful corner of rural Northumberland.
Cuthbert House is likely to be the social hub. Its downstairs is also particularly open-plan, making it easy to spend time together while never feeling cramped. To one side is a sitting room featuring two sofas facing a Smart TV, then a dining room (ask us if you’d like a larger dining table installed here so everyone can dine together) and finally a kitchen combining appliances galore with a built-in breakfast bar and its four counter stools.
Blakey House, meanwhile, has its own snug sitting area and Smart TV – where kids could watch their favourite shows before supper or bed – along with an additional dining table and kitchen.
Across the two cottages, there are four bathrooms and four bedrooms in total. Those bedrooms all have super-king-sized beds, all four of which can easily be set up as twin singles instead. As well as chests of drawers and luxury robes, every sleeping quarter has a restful, Scandi-style palette of white, slate and pine. Rainfall showers await in all bathrooms, plus a deep bathtub per property.
Each house has its own sun-trap garden on whose lawns dogs or kids might gad about. Outdoor seating is provided, enabling meals in the fresh air, and there are fine views over fields. A gate leads through the fence dividing these two gardens, as does another at the front, adding to the ease and ensuring that you can also maximise the outdoor space when taking both properties.
Brinkburn Priory is a two-minute drive or ten-minute walk away, secluded on a snaking, steep-sided bend of the River Coquet. Featuring distinctive witches’-hat towers, it was built in 1135 by Augustinian monks delighted at the seclusion of this wooded valley. Centuries later, the now-private residence was painted by Turner before seeing a gothic manor house added.
Around the wider Brinkburn estate, there’s a designated spot for wild swimmers and a gorgeous circular trail to walk along the Coquet. Access to that is offered by a meadow-crossing path from the houses’ back gardens.
Ready to explore further? Alnwick Castle and the pretty market town of Rothbury are close, while Coquetdale, the Coquet’s upper section, is a wonderfully wild expanse of open moorland and rocky outcrops extending into the Cheviot Hills and Northumberland National Park.
ADDITIONAL ACCOMMODATION
For guests looking to holiday together, this property can be booked alongside the other two cottages in the row, Bel House (sleeps 4), and Mullins House (sleeps 4). Blakey House and Cuthbert House can also be booked individually sleeping 4 each. A further two properties, The Stables (sleeps 8) and Priory Cottage (sleeps 2), are located 0.5 miles away on the Estate. The Stables & Priory Cottage can be booked as a single unit sleeping 10.
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