Felton

Felton is a small village in north Northumberland in North East England. Felton is situated about 10 miles south of Alnwick and 9 miles north of Morpeth. The nearest city, Newcastle upon Tyne is south of the village and the Scottish border is about an hour away. At the last UK Census in 2011, Felton had a population of 932, down from 952 in 2001.

There are two bridges crossing the River Coquet. The oldest dates to around the 15th Century, while the other was built in 1926. The older bridge is closed to traffic, and is often used for village events including carol singing at Christmas.

Felton has a close community centred on events in the village, spread across the calendar. Every summer Felton has a fair and a fun run around the village, whilst a pantomime was performed in the village hall for the ninth time this year.

Felton has two shops; a newsagent, artisan bakery and restaurant, and the other a post office and village store. It also has a hairdresser and doctors surgery. The Village magazine, The Bridge, was first published a few years ago, and is delivered to the villagers bimonthly. Church of St Michael and All Angels is Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England.

Education

Felton Church of England First School has served the village for years and plays a vital role in the village community, organising and holding events. It serves children between the ages of 3 to 9, from where they (mostly) go on to the middle school, Lindisfarne Middle School, in Alnwick.

Sport

A speedway training track operated from Bockenfield Aerodrome near Felton in the late 1970s. Trainees participated in junior league type events against fellow Northern England and Scottish tracks. The venue is no longer used for speedway however.

Transport

Road

Felton lies adjacent to the A1, the main national north/south trunk road, providing easy access to Newcastle upon Tyne (24 miles south) and to the Scottish capital Edinburgh (100 miles north).

Bus

Felton has an hourly bus service provided by Arriva with routes between Alnwick and Newcastle stopping there every hour

Rail

The main East Coast railway link between Edinburgh (journey time approximately 1:10) and London (journey time approximately 3:45) runs via the nearby Alnmouth for Alnwick Station, with a weekday service of 15 trains per day north to Edinburgh and 13 trains per day south to London.

Air

Newcastle Airport lies around 45 minutes drive-time away, and provides 19 daily flights to London (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City), with regular flights to other UK centres. The airport also operates regular flights to many European destinations, along with destinations in Africa and North America.

Notable people

E.M. Forster

The notable novelist's Uncle Willie lived at Acton House, near Felton. Forster spent part of the summer with him for several years around 1900. He wrote a letter from there on 27 July 1899:

Yesterday I went to Bamborough (sic) saw the castle and tombs of my ancestors - I've no reason to suppose they are, though the name is the same and the arms similar, but Bamborough is such a nice cradle for one's race that I shall always call them mine. Then I paddled on the deserted beach...

Forster, by his own account, used Acton House as a model for Cadover in his own favourite novel The Longest Journey (1907). This was Forster's most autobiographical work, in which, again by his own account, the character of Mrs Failing owes something to Uncle Willie.

Oliver Cromwell

Before a bypass was built in the 1980s, the A1 passed through the village. A plaque located on Main Street commemorates the stay of Oliver Cromwell when 6 Main Street formed part of a coaching inn called "The Old Angel". The building is believed to date from around 1631 and in 1650 Oliver Cromwell was reputed to have stayed there on his way to the Battle of Dunbar.