Things to do in Northumberland!?...

[Badvoc]

Going to Northumberland for our summer hols in July.
2 ds's aged 9 and 4.
Staying near beadnell.
I want to go to:
Alnwick castle
Bamburgh castle
Holy island
Anything else we could check out?
Or that we should give a miss!?
Thanks.

I posted this very same thread last year! Bamburgh castle looks impressive from outside but was a disappointment inside to us. Though walking along the beach was wonderful DD was happy just playing there for ages - she was 2 at the time.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/uk/1426739-Holiday-in-Northumberland

We and Dd liked the honey farm W S Robson (& honey ice cream was gorgeous!)

Forgot to say we like it so much we're going back to Northumberland this year as well.

Kielder Water - Lots of outdoor activities by the reservoir too like cycling and water things and wildlife to see. There's a fantastic observatory. If you can get to a talk, they are really child friendly too. Really exciting - go there at night, pitch black, look at stars and it's in the middle of bloody nowhere! Fab.

Cragside. I haven't personally been but know a ton of people who rave about it.

Rothbury is a nice place to stop for a cuppa if you're passing and if you want to go further north, Berwick is quite sweet. The walls and pier are nice and a nice selection of little shops and galleries.

Warkworth Castle is worth a visit - proper old ruin the kids can run round.

Fabulous beaches in Northumberland - miles and miles of sand at Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Alnmouth and Druridge.

Castles - Warkworth, Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh

Lots of roman stuff along and around Hadrian's Wall - Housesteads and Vinolandia

Inland - Fielder Forest for mountain biking.

Urban fix - Newcastle - Centre for Life, Hancock Museum, Sage Centre, and you are not far from Edinburgh

Boat trip to Farne Islands

Lindisfarne - drive over causeway (check tide times!), great chips at The Ship! more beaches and castles!

Morpeth is nice for a potter.

Alnmouth is beautiful

Hexham is also nice.

Alnwick Garden
Northumberlandia
Whitehouse Farm
Barter Books

Northumberland is lovely. We've visited a few times and would recommended visiting:

Cragside (National Trust property)
Alnwick gardens (take spare change of clothes for the kids as there are water features for them to get wet in)
Alnwick castle (Harry Potter was filmed there)
Barter books in Alnwick (huge second hand bookshop with miniature train)
Castles previously mentioned in above posts
Net fishing at side of River Coquet in Rothbury

Can I suggest that you do one of the treasure trails from www.treasuretrails.co.uk/ to explore bits. I can especially recommend the Tynemouth one if you're going to be that far South.

Take body boards and you wont get them out of the sea.
Agree otherwise with above posts. Though wouldn't bother with urban fix choosing Northumberland is a holiday about open spaces !
We're going back this year too!

Ooh thank you!
Have wanted to visit for years and now ds2 is older we can do more...
Where we are staying is right next to a beach (annstead farm) so am hoping its a decent one!

Agree that Northumberland is all about wide open space (there is even a place called Wide Open ), but was thinking that if the OP is coming from a long way, it could be an opportunity to visit Edinburgh or Newcastle. That's all.

Cocklawburn beach near Berwick is lovely.

Spittal near Berwick has arcades, park, splash park, bouncy castle , chips and ice cream etc.

It's nice up in the Cheviots too for a picnic, walk and paddle in stream.

East links is at Dunbar (40ish miles from beadnell) and is a good farm park but fairly expensive.

Life centre at Newcastle is good for a rainy day - right next to train station - ds (6) loves it.

Oh and there's heatherslaw mill which has a wee railway - you can get train along to etal village - walk up to village / castle / river and have a picnic and then get train back.

If you're going to tynemouth, go on a Saturday - there is a fabulous market in the railway station!

Oh and if you wanted to see pandas they're at Edinburgh zoo

We were wondering about Edinburgh on the train tbh...both boys love trains and I have never been.

I would recommend walk at Newton by the sea - massive beach and my children loved it. Also my favourite children's day out of all time - not Northumberland but North Yorkshire so not far - the Forbidden Corner. Brilliant.

Train goes from Berwick fairly regularly - takes 45 minutes.

If your DC like books there is an amazing second hand bookshop in Alnwick's old train station - Barter Books
It's a great place for lunch too - it has a wonderful cafe in the old waiting rooms.

Another thing that is great to do is take a boat trip out to the Farne Islands to see the seals and seabirds. When the seabirds are nesting it is an incredible sight - not sure if they still will be by July though, but the seals should still be there

Take a stunt kite or two - the beaches are perfect for kite flying

Also Kielder Forest - great for mountain biking and walks

Agree with above
Barter Books - amazing!
Anwick Castle has a great treehouse you can have lunch in
The railway mentioned above was loved by our kids
Treasure Trail was great
Seahouses was worth a visit
Boat trip from Seahouses

Try looking on daysoutwiththekids for things to do.

Oh no, not a book shop!
(I have a slight book buying problem issue!:))
Better get saving...
I want dh to get a bike holder thing do the car (largish estate car) it he is not keen...how can I convince him? can You get them to hold 2 adult and 2 kids bikes?
Oooohhhh...am getting excited now! :)

You'd better take extra cash then - barter books whilst brilliant, is very expensive for a second hand shop!

Oh :(
Am still going though!

Get away from Beadnell and be prepared to walk a little way from any car park and you will have half a mile of beach to yourselves, take a walk down to the tern colony at Long Nanny.