Tourist Guide of Chillingham Castle Hotel

Attraction in Northumberland.

This remarkable castle with its alarming dungeons and torture chamber has, since the twelve-hundreds, been continuously owned by the family of the Earls Grey and their relations.

Named after the king who visited Chillingham in 1617 the James 1st Drawing Room is famous for its recently restored Elizabethan ceiling with its gilded ribs and pendants.

The state rooms are brilliantly furnished with both antique and modern furniture and lined with patterned silk screening hung with paintings and enamels.

The castle Library also displays interesting family memorabilia and has a very fine chimney piece.

You will see active restoration of complex masonry, metalwork and ornamental plaster as the great halls thrive with day to day life. A wide diversity of rooms and style give a refreshing difference to the Castle.

Part of the castle and the coach house have been converted into comfortable holiday apartments, offering the opportunity for a memorable holiday.

The castle is surrounded by lawns and formal gardens, including a topiary garden, with interesting clipped hedges. The woodland can be carpeted with flowers in the spring and early summer, making the walk to the lake an extraordinary experience.

Chilligham Castle ghosts are famous. One of these is the "blue boy", who as midnight rang out would cry and moan in agony (or maybe fear). The noises could be traced to a spot near a passage cut through a ten foot wall.

When the bloodcurdling wails die away a soft halo of light appears around an old four poster bed. Anyone sleeping there, even today, can see the figure of a young boy dressed in blue, and surrounded by light. Behind the wall the bones of a young boy and fragments of blue clothing were discovered.

Another ghost, Lady Mary Berkeley, searches for her husband, who ran off with her sister. Lady Mary, desolate and broken hearted lived in the castle by herself with only her baby girl as a companion. The rustle of her dress can be heard as she passes you by in the turret stairs.

Group tours of the Castle by appointment all year round.