Deadly Plants And A Giant Treehouse In Britain’s Coolest Garden At Alnwick Castle

Unapologetically contemporary, occasionally weird and always inspiring, Alnwick Garden in Northeast England is a must-see. It features a poison garden (home to Deadly Nightshade, Mandrake and even a certain narcotic normally banned in Britain) as well as a bamboo labyrinth and a treehouse restaurant.

It’s pretty intoxicating even for those who wouldn’t know a Sweet Pea from a spade. While you’re there, don’t miss Alnwick Castle, the medieval fortress used as a backdrop for the Harry Potter films, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and Downton Abbey.

Alnwick Poison Garden contains plants from around the world renowned for their deadly properties.

The treehouse is home to wobbly rope bridges, treetop walkways and a highly regarded restaurant serving delicious local dishes.

Every half hour the water in the Grand Cascade leaps to life to create a dancing display formed by carefully choreographed jets.

Alnwick Castle is home to works of art by Canaletto, Titian and Van Dyck as well as magnificent state rooms and more.

5 amazing Alnwick Castle and Garden facts

• The treetop restaurant is one of the world’s largest treehouses
• The Grand Cascade is the largest water feature of its kind in England
• Alnwick Castle became Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
• The 2014 Downton Abbey Christmas special was filmed at Alwnick Castle
• There has been a castle on the site for more than 1,000 years

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WRITTEN BYVISITBRITAIN

You Can Be the First Honeymooners In A Custom Luxury Submarine

Since announcing Lovers Deep earlier this year, Oliver's Travels has had about 50 inquiries, 10 of which were fairly serious, Bell says, and "two of which, we are still in negotiations with. We're hoping someone is going to take the plunge. We just need someone with the right budget to come along."

The travel company only needs to book one Lovers Deep journey each year to make the venture financially sustainable.

Oliver's Travels' submarine is docked and waiting for the first pair of adventuroustravelers. Its interior will be finished once the first trip is booked, customized and outfitted to the specifications of whoever takes a Lovers Deep journey.

With a luxe, romantic submarine setting to woo your significant other, aphrodisiacs such as oysters and caviar may seem unnecessary — but that too is part of the Lovers Deep experience. A special aphrodisiac menu has been developed for the excursion."The interior will be built bespoke for whoever books it," Bell says. The companyneeds a three-month lead time to finish the submarine's interior for whoever books it.

If a honeymoon getaway is not what you had in mind, the submarine can be outfitted with up to three sleeping cabins and turned into an underwater party.

The submarine is able to stay beneath the ocean's surface for up to 12 hours at a time. It can be booked for longer than just the proposed two days, but Bell says it's not likely anyone would want to be underwater for much longer. The trip is more about the novelty of the experience than the duration, he says. And novelty is what Oliver's Travels is all about.

"We specialize in French chateaus, castles in the U.K. and luxury Italian villas, and when we started moving into more quirky, original and unique we found that the more offbeat we went, the more popular it was — things like stays in windmills and clock towers," Bell says.

If Oliver's Travels has its way, the underwater experience may not really be the final frontier after all.

Bell and his staff haven't figured out how to get travelers to the moon yet, but they haven't given up. And they are in the midst of developing still more outlandish and unusual trips.

"We're about tie up a deal with a plane in Costa Rica that looks like it crashed into the trees. It's sort of hanging in trees, but it's a very mini hotel that sleeps four," Bell says.

 Contributed by Mia Taylor, Main Street