Cragside House Northumberland

To describe Cragside as a Victorian country house is an understatement of epic proportions.

It is in fact a huge country estate with over 1,700 acres of forest and landscaped gardens.

Cragside House nestled in the forest below

It is hard to imagine without seeing it yourself but hopefully these photos will give you a taste of this impressive undertaking.

The estate is near the town of Rothbury in Northumberland, England. It was the home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm. Wikipedia

It has a carriage drive that encompasses the estate which is 6 miles long.

Lord Armstrong was a prolific inventor and incorporated many new technologies into the estate and house. It was the first house in the world to have electricity from hydro power.

The lakes were used to generate hydro-electricity, and the house was the first in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity, using incandescent lamps provided by the inventor Joseph Swan.

Source

The north of England is stunningly beautiful and I hope you get the chance to visit here sometime. In the meantime enjoy the photos.

Edit: At the time when electricity was being used for the first time to light Gragside house using hydroelectric power this was the kind of technology that was dominant in the country.

Cragside was at the bleeding edge of technological innovation. A bit like how #hive is compared to web2!