Things to do in Northumberland....suggestions please

[pinkpainter]

Just booked a week away in the summer to Warkworth, Northumberland with my husband and 2 daughters (aged 1 and 4).

We've never been to this area before, and it will be our wedding anniversary whilst away so compiling a list of things to do in dry and wet weather, and would love some suggestions of things a bit special (but not too pricey) for our wedding anniversary, with the girls tagging along too.

I already have Alnwick Castle on my list, Seven Stories in Newcastle (would this be better with older children though?) and the Spurreli Ice Cream boutique at Amble.

Any other things to do/not to be missed please?

[frazzledbutcalm]

Our fantastic beaches obviously ;-)
Bowling at Longbenton.
Ice skating at Tynemouth (not sure about 1yr old though)
Play parks at Blyth and Whitley Bay. Small one at Seaton Sluice.
Dinosaur golf at Tynemouth.
Morpeth for park and duck feeding.
Seahouses for the best fish and chips ever! And boat trips to Farne Islands.
Whitley Bay rockpooling on the beach and lighthouse visit.
Various softplay areas everywhere.
Butterfly world, but that's an hour and half drive away.

[Spinaroo]

Go to the treehouse restaurant in Alnwick Gardens for your anniversary dinner/ lunch- a lovely experience

[WMDinthekitchen]

Alnmouth has a wonderful beach. Alnwick has Barter Books in the old station building - good for a short look at the books and a visit to the cafe.

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

Cragside country house. Beautiful
YY to the Tree House in Alnwick Gardens. There is a special children's garden too.

[musickeepsmesane]

Everything they all said!! My DH and I took a last minute trip there. Never knew anything about Northumberland before then. It is fantastic place. Took our breath away. The beaches....amazing. Plenty to do (all been said) and the people are really friendly too. We can't wait to go back. We have been to butterfly world too. We were in the area tho', it is a bit far from Northumberland. Have to say, kids loved it.

[pinkpainter]

Brilliant - it all sounds fantastic!! Will add all of the suggestions above to my list along with postcodes, distances from Warkworth, prices etc. We are National Trust members so hoping some of these are NT places so we get some free days out too.
Love the idea of the treehouse at Alnwick for lunch on our wedding anniversary.

[pinkpainter]

Forgot to say - thank you for all the posts so far :)

[MyNameIsInigoMontoya]

Don't forget a walk on Newcastle quayside - see the bridges, Baltic, Sage etc. If you go on a Sunday there's a market on too, or look up events on other dates.

Tynemouth is lovely for a walk on the clifftops and play on the beach.

Cragside and Wallington are both National Trust & great for families.

7 Stories is good for all ages except maybe the very smallest, ours liked it best from around 2 I think, though littler ones would be OK.

The Centre for Life is a good wet-weather option in Newcastle, it has a fab under-7s play area upstairs. I refuse to go there on sunny days though, it doesn't get much daylight inside so would be a waste!

Holy Island (Lindisfarne) is interesting to visit and you get plenty of fresh air.

If you're feeling a bit more adventurous, you can get boat trips from Seahouses to the Farne Islands, to see loads of seabirds, puffins and hopefully seals. Depends whether you think the kids would be OK on a boat though!

[Northumberlandlass]

www.vindolanda.com/ for some Hadrian Wall delights - also park at Steel Rigg carpark and have a walk - stunning scenery. We always found giving DS a sword made it far more enjoyable!

NT places - Wallington Hall & Cragside - both lovely. Cragside has a great Adventure Playground.

All the above! There is so much more to Northumberland than the coast (even though it's beautiful) come inland too

[ouryve]

There's a castle at Warkworth, too, which is a ruin, so not full of precious stuff and quite good fun.
Seconding the seahouses fish and chips. The Neptune is my favourite chippy, there. A proper sit down do with a dirty great pot of tea and everything!
The beaches are fabulous, too. We love druridge bay - when the tide's out there is so much sand!

[ArbitraryUsername]

The discovery museum in Newcastle is good. It has water play for small people (take wellies and a change of clothes).

[ArbitraryUsername]

Wallington has an adventure playground now too. And a play train/station too. Gibside's play area is great too. Both have much better cakes than cragside.

If it's sunny the gardens's at Alnwick castle are wonderful (better than the castle for little ones). There are water fountains and sculptures that the kids can play in (so take changes of clothes there too).

[florry88]

we are going to Northumberland for the 4th year in a row becasue we love it so much.

Beach at Bamburgh is lovely, great playpark at Embleton ( pub across road lets you take drinks across to park) , lovely rock pools at ?? ( Ive forgotten where!) sausage rolls from the delhi at bamburgh( hope your not going the same week as us!)

Im not a fan of seahouses but kids like to spend heir pennies at the big gift
shop there.

so much to do, you may find you will just be getting used to finding the best places when its time to leave, hence needing another holiday there.

[enjoyingscience]

Yes to Druridge Bay - it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere (i.e. right next to where I grew up :)) so take a picnic. Acres of beautiful sand and hardly any people. Bliss. If you want to go rock pooling Cresswell beach is along the same stretch, and it has an ice-cream shop.

Warkworth, Bamburgh and Lindisfarne are all lovely.

For your anniversary, the restaurant on top of the baltic is brilliant, quite high end but not crazy money, and I've taken by DS there and they've always been lovely with him. Great view out onto the bridges. It's called Six.

Gallry/museum wise Centre for Life is fab if it's rainy to tire them out, and they've got Dinosaurs on this summer. The Laing is a wonderful gallery and they've made bits of it more interactive, so good for little ones too. The Great North Museum is free - it has natural histrory bits, roman bits and all sorts.

You'll have a lovely time! If you want a nice cup of tea and a sit down, I'll give you my Nana's address.

[frazzledbutcalm]

music There's a few butterfly worlds, the butterfly world I mean is Cleveland, TS18 3RH ... It's 1 hr 40 mins from Warkworth, Newcastle is 50 mins from warkworth so it's only a bit further ...

I live here in Northumberland, I'm VERY fortunate
Oh and music ... I agree, we are lovely people

[Northumberlandlass]

We are Frazzled we are !!

[frazzledbutcalm]

Northumberland ... I think we're VERY special, let's sing our praises!!

[bassetfeet]

Newcastle upon Tyne is a lovely city and has smallish town centre with good shopping and lots of places to eat .
Go for a stroll down Grey St with its magnificent architecture down to the quayside and its bars,cafes ......and those iconic bridges .
You will love it . Quite unique .
But Sheesh dont tell everyone

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

Come to Sunderland , we have a million Greggs

[bassetfeet]

cant argue there Ken the best pasties in all the country .

[ArbitraryUsername]

If greggs is a tourist attraction, then the OP has to visit gosforth, home of the first ever greggs. There's on of those posh greggs on the high street now.

[Doyouthinktheysaurus]

Oh, we are having a week in Warkworth in the summer too Followed by a week in the Yorkshire Dales, can't wait......

Dunstanburgh castle is great.
Alnwick castle is magical.
Hadrians wall. Not been but planning too this time
Lindisfarne is amazing, well worth a trip.
Bamburgh castle, amazing beach there too.

We went to Northumberland a few years back, absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back. We stayed higher up last time, not far from Berwick upon Tweed. That's also well worth a visit.

W live on the south coast so it's a hell of a trip but I fell in love with Northumberland las time and can't wait to go back. I would happily move there if I could if only the winters weren't so harsh

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

I was joking

[ArbitraryUsername]

I know. I was joking along with you. Although just imagine some kind of greggs pilgrimage for a holiday...

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

Well there is only a Greggs or a pound shop pilgramage that would ever bring you to Sunderland. Thin Brendan from coach trip couldn't even cope !