So why not call our rooms after lighthouses we have to call them something. And after all our lighthouses have performed a very worthwhile job over the years. They are solid and dependable and provide a guiding light to all seafarers. And, as one of our Directors knows from first hand experience, when it’s cold and dark and you are out at sea in a small boat and eager to get home, the welcoming sight of the lighthouse can be a real life saver!!

Our lounge over looking the lake is named after the Northumbrian heroine Grace Darling. Born at Bamburgh, Grace Darling's fame is due to an act of courage when with her father, lighthouse keeper William Darling, she rescued the survivors of the shipwrecked SS Forfarshire on 7 September 1838. She was only 22. The Darlings lived at the Longstone lighthouse on Brownsman Island in the Farne Islands.

After difficulties with its engine boilers, the Forfarshire with about 60 people on board struck the rocks of a neighbouring island on a stormy night. Nine of the crew and one passenger escaped on the only lifeboat on board but many of the passengers were drowned. As the morning dawned, 9 survivors were seen clinging to the rocks and Grace and her father rowed to their rescue.

Grace died of consumption (tuberculosis) at the age of only 26 and is buried at Bamburgh church.

So this is our small attempt to pay tribute to the lighthouses of Great Britain and the courageous Grace Darling.