Northumberland

Have you looked at Alnwick Castle? It's very impressive and has been used in quite a few movies and tv shows. It has a bit of a theme park vibe, with guided tours and things for kids, but it still has quite a bit for the historically interested. Bamburgh Castle is also very impressive, with a magnificent setting on a cliff top by the North Sea.

It really is a lovely place, and quite quiet too. The National Park is almost empty half the time.
There is holiday accommodation all over the place. Your best bet would be a town such as Alnwick (pronounced A'nick) or Rothbury. They're both small, Rothbury being the smaller of the two. You might also consider Wooler. Otherwise, the Visit Northmberland website has plenty of accommodation information.

It’s a wonderful part of the country, but it covers a wide area. Much of the coast only has small villages, which may be too small for your base.

Alnwick is OK for a visit, but the character of the place has been ruined by the Harry Potter groupies that have overwhelmed the small town. If you want a larger village/ small town, I would suggest Rothbury, where the National Trust property Cragside is a must - allow 4 hours here. It’s a gem.

Alternatively, you could consider the smaller Wooler for a good inland base or nearer to the coast is Belford. I stayed at the Old Vicarage B & B here a few years ago, which was excellent.

A trip to Holy Island is magical, but as it’s accessed via a tidal causeway, check local tide times online to ensure you can get on and off safely. The castle here is worth a visit and the walk round the island takes a couple of hours with photo stops.

Depending on when you visit, you may be able to take a boat trip out to the Farne Islands, although these are subject to sea conditions.

Berwick-upon-Tweed on the Scottish border has changed hands between England and Scotland many times and therefore has an interesting history.

The twin villages of Ford and Etal have a great place for afternoon tea called the Lavender Tearooms. Try a Singin’ Hinny. It’s the local version of a scone.

The castles on the coast are also good to visit and photograph - Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh. Head inland into the hills and try to find the local white Cheviot cattle.

Some of Vera is filmed in Newcastle and County Durham in addition to Northumberland. There are websites that note filming locations if you want more information.

If you want somewhere rural, I have stayed at Ross Farm - rosscottages.co.uk which are of a very high standard, but they only accept weekly bookings. I stayed in one of the former coastguard cottages. You can walk to the beach from here, but there aren’t any restaurants in walking distance from memory.

Hi Sharon -

Northumberland is a fantastic place and still one of the UK's best kept secrets. Go now before the word gets out! Jennifer has given good information and there's not much I can add, other than if you are travelling up by train, Alnwick is the obvious stop off point. However if you can pick up a car there, consider staying on the coast at nearby Alnmouth, smaller, quieter and by the sea.

The Farne Islands are accessed from Seahouses, and I recently visited St. Abbs Head which has a good walk up to the lighthouse (and back) and a great little cafe in the tiny harbour.

If you are into walking/hiking the walk down the coastline is wonderful. I used to run the Northumberland Coastal Run (age and arthritis make this an unlikely event in future for me!) which also makes a wonderful walk and starts at Beadnell Harbour and follows the coast to Alnmouth, about 13 miles dependent on where the tide is! It's about a third beach, a third quiet roads and a third cliff top paths and farm tracks and visits High Newton, Dunstaburgh, Craster, Boulmer and Alnmouth en route.

The Cheviots which straddle the England/Scotland border are wilder, rougher and more remote from, well, anywhere, offer tougher hiking. There are also semi official trails - St Cuthberts Way which runs from Melrose Abbey in Scotland down to Lindisfarne and the Northumberland Coastal Path which runs from Lindisfarne south to Alnmouth.

Warkworth has a castle and might make a good base if Alnwick/Alnmouth doesn't fit the bill.

Hope you can sort yourself a suitable itinerary from the information supplied. Fingers crossed for decent weather which is the only thing you can't pre book! Have a great trip!

Ian

Just a comment on travelling to Northumberland. If you don’t need to visit London then simplest would be flying into Newcastle. Plenty of connecting flights via Heathrow, Amsterdam and Paris. And with the latter two you would avoid immigration queues until Newcastle.

And second, don’t overlook Newcastle upon Tyne - not often mentioned on these forums but a very fine city.

OK. It's obvious to me now that I've chosen a good destination. Thanks for all your suggestions!!

Don't miss the Bowes Museum a French chateau style building -fabulous

http://thebowesmuseum.org.uk

Reasons to visit Newcastle: you've got the magnificent Georgian and early Victorian architecture of the city, at its most visually appealing in Grey Street - England's finest street. Maybe climb (Earl) Grey's Monument (he of the eponymous tea). Check out the Theatre Royal.

There's the indoor Victorian Grainger Market with its many market stalls, including an original "penny bazaar" branch of Marks & Spencer; get yourself weighed at the old Weigh House. Another highlight is the Edwardian Central Arcade - an early indoor shopping mall.

Down by the quayside you can see the seven bridges that cross the Tyne to Gateshead. Walk across the Millennium Bridge to the Baltic (art gallery) and the Sage (concert hall).

There's Bessie Surtees House dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Norman Castle Keep is worth exploring for views across the city. You could visit the Lit & Phil., one of the oldest libraries in the country; the Laing Art Gallery; the Discovery Museum for science and local history; the Great North Museum for natural history.

What about a tour of St James' Park one of the largest football grounds in England?

If it's a sunny day, spend time at Tynemouth with its beaches, ancient priory and castle).

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/tynemouth/tynemouth/index.html

http://www.thecrackmagazine.com/days_out

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/newcastle

And the Great Exhibition of the North takes place in the city this year.

https://getnorth2018.com/

We saw a falcon show in the courtyard of Alnwick Castle, but I don't remember whether it was a regular feature or a unique event. The gardens there are also very good. We liked Bambergh Castle though we were just about blown off into the countryside by the wind from the North Sea. We missed Lindisfarne (Holy Island) because the tides were wrong.

If you're going to Vera country, won't you need a Land Rover? And a bunch of SOCOs following in your wake? ;-)

So, it sounds like so much to see in Newcastle. Would it make sense to stay there for a few days? Does a car make sense there? Perhaps stay there and do day trips from there?