To prove, even after the passage of many years, that I still had not learned what the gods of chance had been telling me, that when it came to organising events, they were determined never to be on my side, I tried to ignore them and to pretend they did not exist. I used to insist that all the incredible circumstances they had thrown at me, which were completely out of my control or for which I was in no way responsible, were just chance. I know now that is not the case. Some unseen, all powerful entity clearly has nothing better to do than to taunt and tease me. So we come to a visit to Cragside

Cragside is an absolute gem of a property. It is located near Rothbury in Northumberland.  I know it is not an NTS property but it is so close to Scotland and is so full of interest, I stupidly offered to take a coach-load of NTS members to visit it. I have visited Cragside many times over the years and have always enjoyed my visits there. Of course, I had never led a group there, which might explain why I was allowed to enjoy it.

It was once the country home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm. He lived in Newcastle near his factory and Cragside was his country retreat. As an aside, Alexander Armstrong of TV Pointless fame, is a member of the same Armstrong family. It was also the first house to be powered by hydroelectricity in England. As I said, it is full of interest and it also has lovely grounds. I knew NTS members would find it of interest and I was looking forward to taking them.

Everything had been booked in advance, as is normal for these visits but my bad luck continuing to haunt me. Two weeks before we were due to arrive, my wife and I took a drive down to Cragside. It was raining, and had been for most of the day and we had hardly left Edinburgh before we were confronted by a ‘Road Closed’ sign because of flooding. I did a detour but after a few miles was confronted by yet another flood warning. In all I did three detours to avoid floods and on the third one I told my wife I would turn back if I met another such sign. The gods who control these things, realizing they had pushed me as far as I was prepared to be pushed, relented and we eventually reached Cragside.

I introduced myself and explained that we intended bringing a group of elderly Scots to visit Cragside in two weeks time.  Even though the visit should be in your calendar, will you be open? I asked. Do you have any other large groups visiting that day? Do you have a Doors open Day that day? were just some of the questions I put to them. They must have thought I was being overly cautious but, of course, they didn’t have my experience. Having been reassured on all points, we returned to Edinburgh without incident.

The weather continued wet and windy for the next week but it was a good day when we left our usual start point, Charlotte Square, in Edinburgh. Nobody was late, we didn’t meet dreadful traffic and the coach didn’t break down. I even began to feel optimistic about the success of the visit. All went well and we reached Cragside without incident. Was I to be lucky today, I wondered. Had the gods of chance relented or were they up to their mischief elsewhere. I need not have been concerned. They were still on the job.

All the bad weather we and Cragside had experienced over the last two weeks and caused serious damage to the house. Even though Cragside needed water to power it, the rain that had fallen had caused a large part of the house to flood and the gardens and grounds were off limits because of flooding. We didn’t see the lovely rooms displayed here nor could we see the house from the garden. If any visit could be called a washout, this was it.

You won’t be surprised to read that I have not organised a single visit since. The penny eventually drops, even for me.

Bernard Gallivan

February 2019