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Internationally recognised dark skies
The Waiting Room is located close to the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park . At 572 square miles (1,483 square kilometres) it is also Europe’s largest area of protected night sky. Due to its pristine skies it was awarded gold tier designation by the International Dark Sky Association, making it officially the best place in England for people to go to enjoy the heavens. . Most of the UK's population live in densely populated and light polluted urban areas. They see a handful of stars through an orange glow. Here in the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park your eyes can feast on up to 2,000 at any one time; the furthest object you can see with your naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy – a vast island of stars very similar to our own Milky Way. This amazing object is 2.5 million light years away! The Milky Way cannot be seen from built up areas. In fact, 80% of us have never seen it. The Northumberland International Dark Sky Park is also the best place in England to see the Aurora. On a clear night you're gong to be awestruck just looking up above your cabin at Staward, but if you fancy seeing deep into the heart of the night sky through a telescope then we are a few minutes drive from local observatories at Allenheads and Wark, and within easy reach of the internationally renowned observatory at Kielder. |
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