The prize
The winner and a guest will stay for two nights, B&B, at the Cookie Jar, in Alnwick, Northumberland. Housed in a former convent at the gates of Alnwick Castle, this chic, boutiquey property mixes 21st-century luxury with a thrilling sense of history — and was The Sunday Times’s northern hotel of the year in 2018.
Several of the bedrooms look out to the castle’s battlements, but it’s the Chapel that’s the real show-stopper. A giant suite with stained-glass windows and a double-height ceiling, it’s where our winner and guest will be staying. They will also enjoy a dinner for two in the Bistro.
Beyond the front door, you can visit Bamburgh and Lindisfarne on the coast, trace the route of Hadrian’s Wall to the south and visit Alnwick Castle to see where Harry Potter honed his quidditch skills. For more details, or to book, call 01665 510465 or visit cookiejaralnwick.com.
The prize must be taken between October 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, subject to availability and excluding public holidays.
The clue
Friend is — as the Americans say — absolutely stoked. In part, you can put that down to the skiing. Despite the blazing late-summer sunshine, we’ve just enjoyed an hour of parallel turns on real snow. A chill on the hill, you might call it. Now we’re about to explore a nearby district that was a world first when it opened at the end of the 19th century.
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It’s packed with interest. First, we’re bowled over by the sculptural architecture of a museum, opened 17 years ago. Wrapped in gleaming aluminium, it stands on the district’s northern edge. Friend suggests crossing a shapely footbridge to one of the quays opposite for a better view.
“How’s that!” he cries as we look back across the waterway that sparked the area’s development. The canal isn’t nearly as busy as it was at its 1950s peak, but that could change, Friend says, if an ambitious redevelopment scheme is completed.
Now then, what’s next — an arts centre or TV’s most famous cobbled street? Given that we’re standing right next to the art, let’s go there, I suggest. So we pay our respects to a local painter (mother: Elizabeth) and his teeming industrial landscapes before heading south.
We’ve left the stadium till last. No, not that stadium. We’re here for the other one, a mile south-southeast of the museum. It’s fair to say that Friend is quivering with excitement when he sees it. Over the years, it has hosted many big rock and pop concerts. But it’s the thought of a sport, played here since 1857, that has him fired up now. He just can’t wait until Wednesday.
Enter the competition
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Can’t see the competition form? Enter at thesundaytimes.co.uk/wherewasi
Last week’s winner
The answers are Haverfordwest and Carew Castle. Fiona Clay-Poole of West Glamorgan wins a three-night luxury break in Cornwall, with the Mullion Cove Hotel & Spa.