Ad Gefrin

The Ad Gefrin Distillery and Visitor Experience located in Wooler is a new whisky distillery, museum and impressive experience of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.
The museum experience introduces visitors to the rich history of Ad Gefrin, which had almost become lost until its rediscovery in the 1950’s. To tell this fascinating story visitors begin by being welcomed into an immersive recreation of the Great Hall, with replica weaponry and the royal thrones. A large-scale projection including life size members of the court bring the reigns of several Northumbrian kings and a taste of their experiences of the Anglo-Saxon period to life through story and song.
Following on from the Great Hall visitors explore the story in greater detail through the collection made up of a carefully curated selection of artefacts set to a backdrop of illustrated scenes depicting key events the chronology of the site of Ad Gefrin. The story is broken down into seven main themes:
- A Place of Nature, exploring the setting and geography featuring an interpretive scale model of the river Glen valley.
- A Place of Language, where the written and spoken words of the Anglo-Saxon tongue can be seen and heard through riddles and verse.
- A Place of Creativity, revealing the varied and intricate work produced by craftspeople of the period, including a digital interactive allowing users to create their own versions of early medieval jewellery.
- A Place of Worship, charting the transition of Northumbria from a Pagan to Christian society through a recreation of the Ruthwell Cross and accompanying AV delivery.
- A Place of Power, recounting the Golden Age of Northumbria and its rise as the dominant kingdom of the mainland Britain for many years via a digital interactive.
- A Place Lost, looking at decline of the kingdom as the it was swallowed up in the unification of England.
- A Place Found, here we find out how the site was rediscovered through aerial reconnaissance and research leading to extensive archaeological digs.
Next is the distillery tour exploring what is involved in creating Northumbria’s first whisky for 200 years, including the Cask Store where the process is brought to life from the first drops of rain to the bottling of the spirit through interactive digital AV and illustration. The tour them climaxes with in the Tasting Room, an immersive space where you can taste the various spirts being produced on site.