Welcome to Northumberland's, Coast and Seaside...

Introduction Video from One North East England Tourism Team

To the north of the industrial north-east lies the enormous county of Northumberland. Renowned for its castles and beaches, it is a real hidden gem of England’s coastline. Inland it is a rural, agricultural county rising to the Cheviot Hills on the Scottish border. In the west it boasts Kielder Water and Forest and the Northumberland National Park. Attractive inland towns such as Rothbury, Morpeth and Alnwick offer the visitor an unexpected visual treat.

There are numerous well-preserved castles on the Northumberland coast. Warkworth was the 14th century birthplace of Hotspur (Sir Henry Percy), but is now an impressive ruin. The Percy family (The Duke of Northumberland) currently live in nearby Alnwick Castle which has been in their family for 700 years, but is perhaps now more famous as ’Hogwarts’ in the Harry Potter films. On the coast near the small village of Craster, famous for its oak-smoked kippers lies the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle. Begun 700 years ago, Dunstanburgh Castle featured in three paintings by J. M. W. Turner, but has been decaying since the sixteenth century. It stands on a headland, and is the largest castle in Northumberland. The enormous bulk of Bamburgh Castle, rising from a sandy beach is also still occupied, having once been the seat of the kings of Northumbria, and with a history going back to 547 AD. Across a three mile causeway on Holy Island is Lindisfarne Castle, looking across the sea to Bamburgh.

Amble is a small seaport on the River Coquet from where pleasure cruisers take visitors to see the puffins, terns and seals on Coquet Island, a mile offshore. Alnmouth is a pretty port town founded in 1150, with one of the oldest golf courses in England, and its most haunted hotel, the Schooner Hotel. Seahouses, amidst National Trust beaches and dunes, is another small port, from which boats take visitors to the Farne Islands, two to five miles off the coast. The village of Bamburgh, nestling below the Castle, has a 13th century church, and was the home of Grace Darling, the light-house keeper’s daughter, who famously rowed out to sea to rescue five men from the wrecked ’Forfarshire’ steamer.

Lindisfarne, on Holy Island has not only a castle but also an ancient abbey, where St. Aidan founded his monastery in AD 635. Twelve miles away is Berwick-upon-Tweed, the northernmost town in England. It is a traditional market town, but with ramparts and barracks. Berwick has been fought over by English and Scots, changing hands numerous times, but has been administered by England since 1482.

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