alnwick or alnmouth

[frazzled74]

am getting in early with next years family holiday and fancy a week in northumberland as a base for seaside, castle and day trip to edinburgh. am travelling by train so will go to alnmouth then it is 15min by bus to alnwick, so travelwise, not too much difference. Which one would be best to stay at, dc's 6 and 4. any suggestions?

Alnmouth would seem better to me, because then you have the beach right there on your doorstep, instead of a drive away. Alnmouth is very pretty, has a nice children's playground and lovely sand dunes to play on, as well as the lovely sandy beach and a pretty estuary.

Alnwick is a typical market town. The castle is nice of course. And there are the gardens which are ok to visit. But the town itself is not so attractive as Alnmouth (not to me, anyway). There is a MASSIVE secondhand bookshop in Alnwick.

Thanks I was thinking along those lines, are there a few places to eat in alnmouth (child friendly). We would be eating in most of the time but would like the option to eat out.

There is at least one nice pub to eat in (can't remember the name but I think it claims to be haunted). We have eaten there with our children a couple of times. The pubs are quite old-fashioned and characterful, but child-friendly enough I think. There might also be a cafe or two -- but I don't think there are any pizza-type places or chain restaurants. Is quite a small place.

definitely alnmouth.
beach is lovely and a fair spread of places to do food.

if you go to alnwick check if the treehouse at the gardens still does their really good value "early bird" meals. Great value meal in a great restaurant IMO and the kids will love the idea of eating in a tree house. (You don't have to pay entry to the gardens if you are just going to the tree house bit to eat.

ps - we stayed near alnmouth for our family hols for the last two years and are hoping to go back next year

dont need the pizza/chain places, so sounds like alnmouth is the best, just need to find a holiday cottage now!

Hope you have a lovely time. The golden sandy beaches go on for miles and miles. Really beautiful. And you might see grey seals. Water is sparklingly clear and transparent but limb-achingly cold. Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh castles a good destination but you might need car for that.

or craster? lots of cheapish cottages here but cant find one in alnmouth.

Craster isn't such a pretty village, and as far as I remember the beach there is rocky not sandy (great fun for scrambling about on but perhaps not ideal). It is ideally placed for the walk to Dunstanburgh Castle, and beyond the castle there is a really lovely sandy stretch of beach -- but the walk would be a bit of a hike for 6 and 4 yo.

Bamburgh village would be a good base perhaps?

I agree with the others - deff alnmouth. We had a summer holiday in alnmouth this year. Perfect village size and there are lots of places to eat, nearly all are hotel restaurants. Most suitable for children.

We stayed in a sc cottage booked through Northumbria Cottages. We were very happy with our cottage - two double bedrooms so it depends if you mind your dc sharing a double bed.

And the advntage is you can walk to the hotel restaurants (eg Hope and Anchor and The Sun Inn were good for kids), you can both have a drink and walk fivem minutes home again if you stay right in the village.

Or have a barbecue on the beach and walk home.

There are also barbwcue sites in teh public park.

we stayed here

great thanks for that link, there are a few properties that are ideal.

We went to Northumberland for 2 weeks this summer and loved it