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N.umberland & Scottish Borders Days 1&2 roughitinerary of 8 drive nights Cornhill on Tweed

Hi to all and thanks for any responses--

On my 7th or 8th extensive UK visit (wife's 3rd), we'll be based near Cornhill-on- Tweed in a self- catering accommodation for our first segment. Rather than post all our POTENTIAL ONLY inclusions/draft days in one lengthy post, I'm dividing them into four separate forum segments.

Below is the first of two. Each will be clearly excessive in ambition and seeks relief aimed at better and more realistic editing suggestions for a reasonable day.

Any and all whittling and/or potentially better alternatives are requested. Please stay within the given day geographic parameters formula as we've not shown other day itinerary options physically beyond. All vehicle days begin and end in our Cornhill on Tweed base. The first is perhaps our most excessively ambitious in need of editing despite a ten-hour day within the Edinburgh area itself. (Later dinner return than others which will normally be hopefully before 5:30 p.m).

Day 1 Potential itinerary inclusion/exclusions in and around Edinburgh -a return visit for me & fist for wife:

National Trust (have passes) Gladstone'sLand/ GeorgianHouse/taste of Edinburgh.Center/ NewhailesEst./ Nat.Trust InvereskGarden

108 miles return totals -- drive time LOW estimate 31/4 hours

Day 2 Potential Itinerary Inclusions: Etal&EH castle /Ford/ Bamburgh & Eng. Heritage (have passes) castle ruins / Beadnell/ Seahouses/ Dunstanburgh Castle ruins EH & Craster/ Kirknewton Scotland

Please note: Two obvious gems within easy drive range excluded today are Wooler and Holy Island planned in another later day's itinerary)

88 mi Drive Time Low Estimate 2 3/4 hours

Any and all red pencil exclusions, replacements, suggestions within, etc. will be carefully studied and much appreciated for the feedback. All good things----

Posted by
2324 posts

Day 2 - you may not be covering a great distance, but there is a lot to see.
Just to point out, Bamburgh Castle isn't English Heritage, and is still privately owned. Buy your ticket on line for a 5% discount. The castle and grounds need 2-3 hours minimum as there is a lot to see.

There is no car access Dunstanburgh Castle. Most people park at Craster and walk along the footpath above the shore. It's just over a mile to walk so you need to allow 20-30 minutes for the walk. The outside of Dunstanburgh silhouetted against the sky is magnificent, although there isn't a lot left inside the ruins. You probably need to allow 90minutes+ for this.

The Ford and Etal estate could probably fill a couple of hours too.

I think you may need to prune the itineray for this day a bit...

Posted by
889 posts

We enjoyed the walk to Dunstanburgh. I think we bought the English Heritage book and “did” the castle thoroughly, because that’s what we usually do! We also did the castle at Etal. One other interesting site is the Battle of Flodden, not a big site. There are signs that explain the battle and you can see the topography, which was quite interesting. This doesn’t take long.