Today I’m travelling on what Conde Nast Traveler Magazine calls “Britain’s Most Luxurious Train”,
and rates as one of the world’s Top 10 Trains: the “Northern Belle”.
I’ll be revealing what the eye-watering fare gets me, the unusual history of the train,
it’s link to cruising and some surprising quirks I never thought I’d see or experience on a train.
I’m starting the journey at London Victoria station, we arrived at 9:15am
ready for our 9:30 departure just as the 7-carriage train was pulling in.
So, we are about to head off on an adventure today, which is on the Northern Belle, which is
one of the very smart Pullman train carriages and trains that take you on exotic day trips
around the UK. So, we're heading off. It's a crazy expensive trip, so we'll tell you whether we think
it's worth it, but it's kind of one of the iconic things to do. So, we're here at London Victoria
and about to head off and board the train. Although the train looked pretty underwhelming
pulling in, stepping on board into the Chatsworth carriage we had been allocated,
the wow factor was huge. Big comfy sofa-style seats, plush and opulent cutlery and crockery,
the tables looked magnificent. Settling in we were offered a Mimosa,
though we went for orange juice and sparkling water, and soon we were on our way - and were
surprised to be entertained by two musicians that roamed up and down the carriages during the trip.
Breakfast followed not long after, served by the smartly uniformed hosts. While
taking orders all dietary quirks were sorted, like Mark being dairy sensitive.
Breakfast started with a Tri-melon starter with yogurt (soya yogurt for Mark),
the main was a Twice Baked cheddar cheese souffle (delicious) while Mark had the vegetarian mushroom
and bubble and squeak, and then the most enormous bread basket I have ever seen was brough round
Breakfast done, I thought I’d go and explore some more of the train.
First, a quick stop in of the toilet facilities to check out something
I’d read in one of the booklets about the revamp of the train on our table.
Every carriage’s toilets have these stunning mosaic floors created by the same company that
restored the Orient Express. That done more exploring of the train.
So, there is a dress code on board where you're asked not to wear jeans or trainers.
And most people, like me, as you can see, do get dressed up. A lot of people ask
me what sort of people come on this trip? Well, because it's kind of a costly trip,
a lot of people come on here to celebrate. So, in fact, when we got on board, the guards and
the manager and stuff were asking people, "Are you on here to celebrate anything?" So, there's people
doing significant birthdays or anniversaries, that kind of stuff. Or just splashing out and
pampering, which is what we are actually doing. We're actually spending some of Mark's bonus
this year to go on this rather nice trip. While other carriages I explored were full,
just as the train was coming to a stop to wait for another train to pass, I found one,
the Harlech, was empty. A chance sit down to tell you more about the train
Very much like cruise lines, trains used to be very glamorous, and the Northern
Belle is designed to kind of bring back a lot of that glamour, and so they run these
very exotic day trips all around the UK. The Belle trains are originally the trains
that used to take people, way back when, on their summer vacations, you know, went to all the big
tourist resorts. So, for example, this train today, we're heading to Bournemouth. So, it's
actually doing the route of the old Bournemouth Belle, which ran between 1931 and 1967.
So, we are heading down this way. We're actually not far from Southampton. The train used to stop
at Southampton so people could get off and go on their wonderful trans-Atlantic voyages.
The link between cruising and trains still seems a strong one, as not only did I hear many people
in our carriage talking about cruises they’d been on – but three of the carriages on this trip were
chartered by a cruise agency called “Imagine Cruising” that sell cruise and rail packages.
The train uses old Pullman coaches all turned into and revamped into these
glamourous plush carriages for when the Northern Belle went into service in 2000
And let me tell you the names of the different carriages, because they're all named after stately
homes. You've got the Alnwick, the Belvoir, the Chatsworth, the Glamis, the Harlech, the Duart,
and the Warwick. And I probably massacred those. In fact, one of these, which is the most famous
of all, actually used to be one of the royal carriages. So that's one that's much sought after.
The Northern Belle first came to service in 2000, and it's actually owned by a British company. So,
it's separate to the Orient Express. On the move again and, so time to head
back to my carriage to enjoy the scenery as we cruise towards Bournemouth, where we will
be by 1:30pm. The ride was broken up by another unusual feature: the roaming on-train magician
So, now we are here in Bournemouth. This is the train. It's going to head off,
I guess, and do whatever it does. Reset. And then we are going to
be meeting the train back here at 5:30 on the other platform to head
back to London and have a rather nice dinner. And so, it’s a little bit noisy, but the train
has just come into Bournemouth. We’ve had our time in Bournemouth, and we’re about to now head back
on the train. What did we do in Bournemouth? We went and played slot machines. And won how many
bars of chocolate? Five.
Won five bars of chocolate. Not bad for four- We did do other things.
Not for £40. Anyway, let’s go. Stepping back on the train after those 4 hours in
town, Mark and I swapped seats, as he hates riding backwards. And we found a glass of champagne,
a plate of smoked duck and spiced tuna canapes, and a pouch with a gift on our plates waiting for
us. Mark got a keyring, me a magnet. The gifts are themed to the carriage, so we’ll have to ride 6
more times in different carriages to get them all. We then got served this caviar and
quail egg canape. So tasty. Included in the fare is a bottle
of wine per couple for dinner, with a choice of 2 whites, 2 reds and 2 rose. We had asked for the
non-alcoholic wine. As you can see, this was not a great success. Mark called it cooking vinegar.
Cocktails and other drinks, including liqueurs or fancier wines had to be paid for,
and there menus and prices for both. Soon it was time for the 4-course dinner.
The starter was Smoked mackerel rillette, not usually a fan, even Mark enjoyed this a lot.
The main was a Duo of Lamb with celeriac, fondant potato, asparagus, sugar snaps,
carrot puree and, of course, gravy and mint sauce. This was really tasty.
Dessert was a White Chocolate and raspberry mousse, though Mark had a dairy-free lemon tart.
Then along came one their signatures, the vast cheese board tray which was rather grand.
I’m not usually a big cheese eater but took a slice of everything and loved it.
We were then given two homemade chocolates in a box to take home.
So, we're steaming now towards Victoria at the end of our, quite an amazing trip. It
really is crazy expensive, but it also is really something very special. You can see why people
come and do this for a special occasion. So, definitely something to think about.
But just how much did it cost? We could have done a 3-night mini-break cruise
in an Oceanview cabin on MSC Virtuosa out of Southampton at the for just £10 per person more.
The day trip on the train cost £440 per person, that 3-night cruise to Rotterdam and back is
$450 per person, this though is a trip I will treasure forever. It was incredible and way
preferred Mark using his bonus on this treat So, here we are at Victoria, 12 hours after
we left. We're all piling off the train, and a really good fun day. So, time to head homewards.