Cragside -National Trust Morpeth

An extraordinary Victorian house, gardens and woodland – a wonder of its age.

Discover the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. It is crammed full of ingenious gadgets – most of them still working. The gardens are incredible. One of the largest rock gardens in Europe leads down to the Iron Bridge, which in turn leads to the Formal Garden.

 House

Home of Lord Armstrong, Tyneside's notable industrialist, engineer and innovator and one of the most modern and surprising houses for its time in the country. By the 1880s, the house had hot and cold running water, central heating, fire alarms, telephones, a Turkish bath suite and a hydraulic passenger lift.  Most amazing of all, it became the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity.