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Travel tales of an empty nester
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Home  >  Blog  >  In search of Lindisfarne Mead

In search of Lindisfarne Mead

Trish Burgess Posted on26/02/201522/07/2016 Northumberland 14 Comments

Known as the ‘nectar of the gods’ Lindisfarne Mead is a rather delicious fortified wine produced on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the Northumberland coast. Made with honey, fermented grape juice and fortified with spirits, this mead is made exclusively at St Aidan’s Winery on the island. It is one of the many reasons people cross the causeway from the mainland each day, ensuring they return before the tide comes in.

The word ‘honeymoon’ is derived from an old Norse custom where newly-weds drank mead for a whole ‘moon’ to increase fertility and the chance of a happy and fulfilled marriage. I wasn’t intending to drink it for a month, but a bottle or two to take home would hopefully put a smile on my face and wouldn’t be enough to have any impact on my fecundity, with a bit of luck.

With this in mind, we set off from our holiday home in Seahouses last August and drove up the coast a short distance. The tide was out so we crossed with care and joined the other visitors, walking from the main car park into the centre of the village, not quite in the same manner as St Aidan would have made the journey in 635AD from Iona to found his monastery.

It was a beautiful day, perfect for seeing the castle and the priory at their very best.

Lindisfarne Castle

 

Lindisfarne Priory
View across to the village on Holy Island

I even managed what I felt was quite an ‘arty’ photograph (see below)

Upturned herring boats used as storage sheds on Holy Island

We walked, we sat, we stopped for an ice-cream, we looked in some of the little shops for souvenirs. All the while I kept saying to the family that I knew the winery was somewhere close. I had been to the island before, many years ago, on a school trip, when I and a bunch of daft teenage girls thought we would be completely inebriated just by having a sniff of the mead, never mind a small taster.

It’s not a large island by any stretch of the imagination and I don’t quite know why I didn’t ask directions. I thought maybe it had closed down and that the mead was sold in one of the souvenir shops. The family were getting rather annoyed at my quest for this magical elixir and suggested if we wandered back to the car park, we might see it on the way. We didn’t. We did see some people ahead of us with a cream-coloured plastic carrier bag which looked suspiciously like it was holding glass bottles – but they were too far ahead of us and it was too hot to run.

I continued wittering about this until we returned to Seahouses. Later that day, in the shop round the corner from our accommodation, I found a whole shelf full of Lindisfarne Mead. In fact, every shop in the town was selling the stuff. Of course we bought it in the first shop we entered, then kept seeing it cheaper everywhere else.

We sat on the balcony that evening and poured the gloopy, golden liquid into two small wine glasses. It was heavenly.

“So…” asked Dougie, with an optimistic grin and a twinkle in his eye. “Has it got you going yet?”

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14 Comments

  1. Midlife Singlemum Reply
    26/02/2015 at 8:32 pm

    Love this post. A real piece of unspoiled England.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      28/02/2015 at 10:40 am

      It's such a beautiful part of the country. Coming back to be a tourist where I grew up was very special – great to share with my family.

  2. Nana Go-Go Reply
    26/02/2015 at 8:55 pm

    Ha Ha ….trust your Dougie……such an atypical Scotsman!!! Lovely post, Trish…..such a nice distraction from 'The Great British Sewing Bee' whose only saving grace tonight is the sight of Patrick in a kilt and who is very definitely not an atypical Scotsman but it seems to work for him, oddly enough!! Great to 'hear' from you and many thanks for popping over to mine and commenting. xxx

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      28/02/2015 at 10:43 am

      Glad you like the post Nana – I realised I hadn't written about our trip to Lindsfarne and it all came flooding back to me.
      I'm not a sewer but I do love dropping into the Great British Sewing Bee once in a while. I may have to hunt out this episode with Patrick in a kilt.

  3. Steve Reply
    27/02/2015 at 7:09 am

    I can honestly say I have sampled this nectar for myself and can confirm it's positive effects. Or possibly it was just all down to me.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      28/02/2015 at 10:44 am

      Ah you will never know. Maybe do some trials – with an without the mead influence?

  4. libby Reply
    27/02/2015 at 9:34 am

    We didn't try this drink when we visited … maybe next time. Did you finish the bottle?

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      28/02/2015 at 10:46 am

      Ooh you must. Hope you find it easier finding the winery, Libby. We should have looked at a map – it was quite obvious then and we wondered how we had missed it.
      We did finish the bottle …eventually. Bit sweet for polishing off in one go.

  5. Sarah Reply
    27/02/2015 at 9:43 am

    Lovely! What lovely photos and such a spectacular spot.

    I went to Lindisfarne donkey's years ago too, and my parents bought some mead. We all had a taste, naturally. 🙂

    I hope Dougie got his "just desserts"… 😉

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      28/02/2015 at 10:47 am

      I think it's fair to say he had a happy holiday. Could have been the mead or all that fresh sea air ;-)))

  6. Ting at My Travel Monkey Reply
    27/02/2015 at 11:11 am

    I've never been to around Northumberland coast before, so it's really interesting to read about Holy Island and Lindisfarne. The wine sounds delicious… Fab photos and love the arty shot!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      28/02/2015 at 10:48 am

      I'm so glad you appreciate the arty shot. I was getting moaned at by the family at the time for fussing about while taking it. I do think it was worth it 🙂
      You would love that part of the UK, Ting. So pretty – wonderful beaches, castles etc.

  7. Mens Flip Flops Reply
    10/03/2015 at 12:39 pm

    I would like to try this wine!! Really good photos and read thank you, I will be looking to visit Northumberland.

  8. Pingback: CanvasPop turns my photo into a piece of art - Mum's Gone To ...

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