Northumberland

[PLHJ84]

Got a few days in Northumberland next weekend to visit Alnwick castle mainly. Are there any other places near by worth a visit on the other couple of days? Kids are 11 & 14. Thanks

We stayed up there when our kids were similar ages. We all loved Cragside and Wallington.

Kielder Water is lovely with walking and bike trails.

Hexham and Corbridge are both worth visiting.

You could pop into Alnwick gardens too.
Cragside
Dunstanburgh castle
Amble

Depending on what you enjoy you Beamish Open Air Museum is worth a trip but might be a bit far depending on where in Northumberland you are staying. The Farne Islands boat trips from Seahouses are really good and apparently there have been orca sightings this week...lots of videos on face book. Holy Island also interesting especially if the weather good If the weather is rubbish you could do a day in Newcastle...its not that far. (We live there...often do Alnwick as an afternoon out at the weekend)

Bamburgh castle and holy island

I'm just back from a few days doing Hadrian's Wall forts, but that might be a bit further than you want.

Cragside is amazing, the first house to have electricity. Beautiful grounds with lots to see. I'd recommend stopping at the Running Fox on the way for treats.

The walk from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle is lovely and there's really nice places to eat in Craster.

Holy Island is just magic but please check tide times and be aware that it is the sea though. RNLI are called out regularly to helped stranded motorists.

We love Seahouses, a boat ride with Serenity (there's currently orcas!) , a walk along the beach and then end with a meal at The Black Swan Inn.

My favourite is Chillingham Castle. It's really eccentric and interesting.

Bamburgh and Lindisfarne also worth a visit.

Keilder
Cragside
Wallington
Hexham
Amble/Seahorses
Bamburgh or Lindisfarne

Ford and Etal train, the heavy horse farm (we ususally park in Etal get the train to Heatherslaw and walk the rest) - this might be too young for your kids though
Lindisfarne
Bamburgh
Duddo stone circle
Craster (particularly if you like Kippers…and Dunstanburgh castle is a lovely walk along the coast)
Cragside
Wallington
Chillingham castle
Seashouses - boat out to Farne islands, puffins are there at the mo.

Northumberland zoo (never actually been to this one though)

Holy Island in the morning (if the tides work that way) then Bamburgh and on to Seahouses for fish and chips and a boat trip. Or coasteering near Dunstanburgh

Do a boat trip to Farne Isles. There's a pod of Orca's currently. Plus usual dolphins, puffins etc

I’d do Rothbury and Cragside one day and Bamburgh and Seahouses another.

Barter Books in Alnwick - and make sure you're hungry!

This all sounds lovely, I think I'm going to spend a few weeks in the summer in Northumberland!
Where would be a good base? I want to see Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Cresswell beach, but anywhere with beautiful scenery and gentle walks.

Base yourself somewhere coastal. Somewhere like Seahouses, Embleton, Low Newton, Alnmouth.

Don't go too far inland. Northumberland is a huge county! If you go to far inland you'll spend hours driving to see all those places. And the coast is fabulous.

We like staying in Berwick Upon Tweed.

Bit further up but means you can pop into Scotland too. Some lovely castles, border towns and only an hour from Edinburgh.

Thank you, I didn’t realise Edinburgh was so near!

There's a lovely B&B right next to Berwick station with amazing views over the tweed and the railway bridge

We were in Northumberland last week for part of half term. We stayed in Bamburgh. Places we visited & enjoyed (DC are 10 & 6):
Alnwick Gardens & Lilodori
Barter Books
Bamburgh Castle
Cragside

We did also go to Holy Island but found the Priory overpriced (English Heritage so free if you have membership) & the Castle closed - didn’t realise it closed over an hour before the causeway closed. So we had a very windy walk & nice lunch but was underwhelmed tbh. The causeway was interesting to see. But wish we’d kept to our original plan of a day trip to Edinburgh.

We did this a few years ago and popped over the border to Peebles and did and alpaca walk - it was really nice! Also went to Hawick to visit two cashmere mills, which had great factory shops.