Northumberland's coast and countryside
Northumberland has some of the finest coastline in Britain, with a 39 mile stretch designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. If that's not enough for you, the countryside is filled with picturesque towns and villages and is home to the UK's least visited National Park, the ever-beautiful Northumberland National Park.
Cheviot Hills
Rolling hills and sheep-filled valleys make up the northern part of Northumberland National Park. The air here is the purest in England, perfect for emptying your lungs of the exhaust fumes. The lamb produced in the hills has a very distinct, sweet flavour, and is incredibly tasty!
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Embleton Bay
Stop off in the golf-club for a cup of tea and a bacon roll then cross the links to my favorite beach. Across the little trip-trap bridge and through the dunes, the vista of the sea and sky opens up. Welcome to Paradise. At one end, the ruins of Dunstanburgh castle and at the other wooden holiday houses built among the dunes. (A recent press story put one of these houses at £220,000.)
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Farne Islands
Pick a day and catch a boat at Seahouses harbour, out to the Farnes. (There are 15 to 28 islands depending on the tide.) There is a colony of seals and bird-watching is a must with puffins and terns and, um, those white ones with the grey heads and the black skinny ones with the long necks and those ones with the feathers. Some boats drop off passengers for a tour of the Longstone lighthouse – try not to miss the boat back.
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Bamburgh Beach
Golden endless sands, shifting blue seas, families picnicing, children racing through the dunes, kites and sandcastles. Welcome to the perfect summer holiday.
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Barn at Beal
Newly renovated visitor attraction close to Holy Island with trails through the fields, and information about farming and seasons as well as a bird of prey centre, a small adventure playground and a good café. Not that I am obsessed by cafes you understand (- OK I lie. I am obsessed by cafes and this is a good one.)
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Glendale Show
Living in the country you are obliged to go to country shows. Glendale is a must. It is caught all around by the Cheviots and has just about anything you would want from a country show, tractors, hounds, quadbike displays, stalls selling lambskin slippers and jam. Not together though. Not like in a sandwich.
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Grace Darling
Complete with coble in which the young Grace and her father rowed through the storm from the Longstone lighthouse to rescue the shipwrecked passengers and sailors from the SS Forfarshire, the newly renovated museum in Bamburgh village is intensely moving. Grace was lionized by the press and public but died of TB at 26. A monument to her built in sight of the sea, is across the road in the churchyard.
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To discover more about the beauty and attractions of the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, click here.
To discover more about the what to see and do in the rolling countryside of Northumberland, click here.
Wife in the North castles & historic sites