United Kingdom: of Alnwick and Roald Dahl

Wow two cards from Great Britain received in one day! One an official Postcrossing card, one a direct swap; one from North-east England, the other from North-west England, but both are pretty much my favourite types of cards! I was considering whether to lump them both in the same post. To save some time, I did, and lets hope it doesn't get too confusing ;).

First up, the card from Vanessa (official Postcrossing one). This one over here show the Percy Lion in front of Alnwick Castle. The castle started construction in 1096 and has a pretty interesting history. You can find its full history over here. But the coolest thing about this castle is that it has been used to film several of the movies in the Harry Potter series. No wonder it looks strangely familiar! The castle has its own website here and you can see the variety of activities that it offers.

Next up, a wonderful card as part of a direct swap between me and Dan. It features four of ten stamps on the theme of Roald Dahl's stories. These four depict scenes from the Big Friendly Giant. It was first published in 1982 and has since been a popular read for many children. I read most of the Roald Dahl series when I was younger, and the stories never failed to captivate me! These stamps were issued on 10th January 2012 by the Royal Mail, and in time, I sure look forward to collecting the entire series!

Vanessa sent the card in an envelope. This stamp has a pretty clear postmark on it. It was issued on 27th March 2013 in  a set of four on the theme of national symbols. It is part of the Royal Mail regional definitive stamps. This one shows the English oak tree. I must say, the stamps from the British Isles are relatively difficult to sort because they all look so similar!

Dan sent his postcard with four stamps from the Royal Mail definitive series on Machin. And I was pretty surprised to come across an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the Machin series. Yes, the Machin series lives on decades after its first series had been released. Issued on 3rd January 2013, these stamps came in a set of nine. Thanks Dan for the cute pop-up stickers on the postcard!

Thank you Vanessa and Dan for the wonderful postcards and stamps!