Ad Gefrin museum and whisky distillery helping put Wooler on Northumberland tourist map

Chris Conway went to Wooler to see how whisky is having an impact on the town's economic outlook for ITVX.

The re-ignition of a tradition not seen in Northumberland for more than 200 years is helping to bring more people to one of the county's lesser known tourist towns.

Wooler, the gateway to the Cheviot Hills, is home to Ad Gefrin - an ancient site once home to Northumbrian royalty.

It is now also home to the county's first single malt whisky distillery.

Chris Ferguson, experience director for Ad Gefrin, said: "The ancient site of Ad Gefrin hadn't had its story told. No-one had thought to make single malt whisky in Northumberland before.

"We are the North East's first single malt distillery and an Anglo Saxon museum. So we celebrate the best of the region.

"It's an unknown. It's a museum with a distillery on the side - that's not been done before and it's in a part of Northumberland that hasn't had this kind of offer before. So it was a risk on lots of levels."

It opened a year ago, offering people the chance to find out more about the distilling process, as well as the Anglo Saxon history of the area.

The distillery's cask warehouse has space for around 12,000 barrels - but it will still be two to three years before the first are ready for consumption.

Head distiller Ben Murphy said: "The game of whisky is a long one. There's no quick way of doing what we're doing.

"There is a reason it's done this way - the length of time gives a maturity and a flavour profile to our spirit that you can't fully achieve by rapidly ageing. For us, it works."

While still in its infancy, it is already attracting visitors, last year bringing about 64,000 people to the town.

"It's just been a brilliant year. It's been fantastic to welcome people and to bring this many people to Wooler has had an impact on the town," added Mr Ferguson.

"We want to end up in a place where Wooler really is on people's first choice list of places to visit when they come to Northumberland."

Among those sharing the success are other businesses in the town.

Jackie Maxwell, who runs Doddington Dairy Milk Bar, said: "We've seen a big influx of visitors to Wooler. This last Easter weekend Wooler was buzzing with people.

"We welcome this business that was coming to Wooler and they tried to encourage locals to be part of that journey so it's something we've been on since the very beginning. As a local business we feel part of that journey too."

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