Northumberland - is 2 weeks too long?

[verylapsedrunner]

Finally we're going to make it to Northumberland this summer (been on my hit list for some time). Would a week near Bamburgh/Lindisfarne to do the beaches/castles followed by a week right beside Hadrain's Wall be overkill? We would be self catering, enjoy the outdoors and will have the dog in tow. DS(6) heavily into castles & Romans. I don't really want to base ourselves somewhere between the 2 as would rather have the full on castle/beach/Hadrians Wall experience without having to do full day trips.
Am I mad?

Seems like Northumberland was a good choice

If you are going to Lindisfarne, you need to check the tide times in advance and pick a day when they are convenient for an outing. They are always stuck up on the wall of the harbour master's office in Seahouses.

If you look on a local map, a walk to Cuthbert's Cave (weather allowing) is quite nice (and faily short) too.

The castle to avoid (for me personally) would be Chillingham. Pretty expensive and stuffed full of things from car boot sales. However, some people may love it so this is just a personal view.

Good place for coffee and chilling is on the road between the A1 and the causeway over to Lindisfarne - on the left handside about hald way down. Can't remember what its called at the moment though.

Holy Island Tide Times. The fab cafe on the land side of the causeway to Holy Island is the at Beal www.barnatbeal.com/ and is a fabulous place with excellent food.

Try againBarn at Beal - it has a Birds of Prey Centre next to it and you can watch the Causeway on CCTV (always maliciously hoping that some car will be caught by the tides).

That's it Lilymaid! Thanks, I just could not remember the name.

2 weeks is too short! I second all the suggestions so far.

There is also a great secondhand book shop in Alnwick called Barter Books. It's huge - based in the old railway station.

And if you head to Alnwick Gardens on a sunny day, remember to take spare clothes for the DC(s) because they can play in the fountains!

Oh, and the walk from Craster (remember to buy kippers!) to the ruined castle at Dunstanburgh is lovely too (not too far, about 2 miles along the clifftop).