Northumberland...

Alnwick castle is good - there is a massive tree house in the gardens. Alnwick's a nice town for a potter around too.

we stayed there for a week last summer. Alnwick Gardens are lovely, Bamburgh nice for a stroll and the beach round there is just gorgeous. There is Holy Island to stroll around and you can drive a bit further north and go to Eyemouth just over the border in Scotland - some nice art galleries, jewellry shops and excellent cheap freshly caught fish for sale.

Our twins were only 9 months at the time so we spent most nights at the cottage we rented. But we did have lunch out at the Blue Bell in Belford which was child friendly although had no high chairs, they didnt mind accommodating us and the food was plentiful!

My family hails from round there and live in Wooler. It's a stunningly beautiful county, though I'm not biased, obv . Alnwick's an obvious place to visit, and the \link{http://www.alnwickcastle.com\castle} features in Harry Potter films. Ford and Etal villages are beautiful and the Heatherslaw miniature steam railway runs close by from a working mill(my little boy loves it!). Also head to Bamburgh, Holy Island & Alnmouth on the coast - the beaches up there are wonderful and not heavily used. Rothbury and Corbridge are other pretty popular, picture-postcard places. Can't really recommend places to eat, sadly, as my parents aren't eat-out types, other than for fish and chips, for which we head for Seahouses, a more rough n' ready town (can't remember the name of the restaurant though). Look out for Doddington Dairy icecream too. \link{http://www.visitnorthumbria.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.eating&categoryid=137\This} might help. Have a good holiday!

Bamburgh Castle is fab, also Chillingham (?) castle is very hands on for kids and good fun. All the beaches are lovely, Alnmouth and Coldingham were two I particularly remember. Its a really lovely place, we had a fab time there. Lots of manic seagulls to share your fish and chips with!

aelita - really?? dh from Wooler, works there now and we live within the battlefield site of Flodden Field
Carameli - aelita has suggested loads of great ideas for the area. There's also standing stone ring at Duddo, Alnwick castle gardens are better than Alnwick castle itself, don't pay to go round Bamburgh castle but it's pretty from the outside and Bamburgh beach is nice (though Cheswick and Goswick nicer - acres and acres of pale sand dunes). On the subject of the beaches, don't forget Lindisfarne, but do be careful of the tides or youll get stranded! There's a huge iron age fort on Yeavering Bell if you're into that kind of thing. Nearby there's glinding from Millfield, but it's pricey and obvously weather-dependent. Ford and Etal have been mentioned, and there's often watersports at Etal that time of year. There's also watersports up the Ingram Valley, but it does get very busy on nice summer's days.
Oh, and of course you can visit Flodden Field itself, which has a monument, a short walk, and a nice view!
I could go on.... what sort of things are you interested in and I can be more specific (or bore the pants off you, whichever )

oh and ps, doddington ice cream is indeed very tasty, but be warned that a lot of it is unpasteurised!

2Happy, I'm jealous! I grew up on Teeside (Dad is the native north Northumbrian) but I'd love to move up that way. Alas, I married a Londoner who will not migrate north . Had 5 lovely weeks in Wooler though with my little boy last spring when there was work being done on our flat. Maybe we should meet up for Doddington icecream when I'm next there!

Carameli, I forgot to mention Coldingham - it's a really cute little sandy bay with rock pools to explore - gets fairly busy (by local standards!) & is a trek downhill from the little town itself, but as Dahlia says, it's lovely, and there's a cafe on the seafront.

Aelita - difinitely - let me know if you need a guided tour of Flodden Field. ps does your dad know a music teacher who taught at Berwick high school who's married to a pharmacist who used to work at Boots who live at Yearle just into the hills from wooler. They're the in laws! (and you know, everyone knows everyone round here!)
Carameli - was driving through Kelso today and realised I'd forgotten to recommend the abbeys: Kelso, Melrose, Jedburgh to name just three. Oh, and castles - Norham's another one though not right on the coast like the others mentioned.

2Happy, I'll CAT you next time I'm around,

Fabulous

As a postscript, \link{http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wine/main.jhtml?xml=/wine/2006/01/07/edjan07.xml\this} is one place I wanted to try for eating out, as I seem to remember it was family-friendly. Couldn't remember the name the other day!

Hi,

I would highly recommend a day out at Low Newton-by-the-Sea near Dunstanborough. It's a really cute little place with a sweeping beach and a fabulous pub called the Ship Inn. They do lots of gorgeous meals and snacks using local cheeses, sausages etc and it's a 20-second walk from the beach. There's a lovely village/hamlet green in front of the pub where you can sit and enjoy your food.

Have a great time in Northumberland! It's a really beautiful county.

Popslap