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.
