Best Things to do on the Northumberland Coast

Northumberland is filled with ancient castles; hidden gardens; unspoilt beaches; rolling hills; rugged moorland; sweeping views; friendly little market towns and a cultural heritage all of its own.

Northumberland has been Phoebe’s family’s holiday destination of choice for longer than she can remember. Nothing screams a holiday to Phoebe more than a week in Northumberland. There are so many things to do whether you’re a family with kids or a couple trying to relax for a weekend, week or two.

Beaches

We have already made a post on our top 4 beaches along the Northumberland Coast, linked here, but there are a few more we think are worth mentioning.

Boulmer – This is one of Phoebe’s mum’s favourite beaches so we had to mention it. Boulmer is a much smaller beach than any of the others we’ve mentioned. It does meet Alnmouth beach but its actual classification as Boulmer beach is very small. Its ideal for a quick evening stroll or for someone with limited mobility. The beach is a mix of soft and harder sand depending on where you walk. It is also where the coastguards are based so you can regularly see them training. There is a small car park just above the beach with no charges.  

Warkworth – Warkworth beach is definitely a lesser-known beach to tourists in the area. As you enter the town of Warkworth from the North, just as you get to the bridge is a turning on the left. This road leads up to a car park great for picnics but more importantly for this beach. Once in the car park you can make your way down the path to the sand dunes of Warkworth. Once through these you hit the ocean. This beach is similar to Alnmouth and actually meets at Alnmouth’s estuary, but it is a bit more slopped and the sand is a bit harder (still great to walk on bare foot).

Alnwick Castle

This one is for any Harry Potter fans, as this was a filming location used in Harry Potter and the Philosphers Stone as well as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. They learned to fly Broomsticks, went about their daily activities, Ron crashed his car with Harry and has the entrance/exit leading to Hagrids cabin and the Forbidden Forest all within the Castle. There have also been various other things filmed here such as Downton Abbey and Transformers The Last Knight.  

Alnwick Castle is also great for others as it is genuinely a stunning castle and has so much to explore. Anyone under 16 can get into the castle for free!

Alnwick Gardens

Alnwick Gardens is great for all ages, and all interested in plants as it is just so beautiful. The gardens are made to entertain children like a giant water feature with diggers at the bottom, to swinging benches in a cherry blossom orchard to a bamboo maze. As well as entertaining children the adults have plenty to enjoy including the claimed “deadliest garden in the world”!! We enjoy walking throughout the entire garden looking at all the different flowers and plants and taking photos. Also here is The Treehouse which holds a fabulous restaurant (best to book ahead), a small cafe and a twin rope bridge for exploring. They even hold weddings in the Treehouse.  

Warkworth, Amble and Alnmouth Villages

Warkworth is a great place for independent shopping, the main road is filled with a variety of shops. Our favourite to go to is Gray’s, described as “where luxury meets affordable” selling a range of fashion accessories from jewellery to Italian handbags to designer scarfs. There is something in this shop for everyone you could possibly think of. Warkworth also has the river running through the town at the back of the main road, this has a wonderful walk on it and is great if you want to be outdoors but need a break from the sand on your feet.

Amble is just down the road from Warkworth and is always worth a drop in if only to go to Spurreli. This ice cream shop is by far the best in the area, it always has a queue out the door but is most definitely worth the wait.

Alnmouth I have obviously already mentioned as being the number one beach along the Northumberland coast, but it also has great food in the village. There are a range of pubs and bistros here and all are as good as one another. When you’ve been on the beach all day and the sun will soon be setting all you want is some fish and chips. Our number one spot for this is The Hope and Anchor Hotel. It’s a pub with accommodation above and an Italian restaurant to the side. We go into the pub and get our chips to take away. The Hope and Anchor is also dog friendly so if you fancy a meal inside you can take the dogs with you. There are also some great shops in Alnmouth like Scotts Deli or Aln Gift Shop.

Holy Island

Holy Island is much further up the Northumberland coast than most of the places we have mentioned so far. It is also one of the most spectacular places to visit. It is a small island reached by a causeway at low tide with an array of things to see and do. Our personal favourite is to go to the castle. It is a great walk through the island to get to it and has stunning views once you reach it. If you go on past the castle into the grounds it leads out to the sea and is a nice spot to just relax. We built stone stacks the last time we went.

Farne Islands

The Farne Islands lie two to three miles from the Northumberland coast. There are between 15 and 20 islands dependant on the tide. The Farne Islands are home to many species of animals but are most known for their puffins and seals. There are around 43,000 paired puffins on the island and is also one of the top grey seal pupping sites in England birthing more than 2000 pups on average each year.

A lot of boat companies run tours to and around the islands, however the islands are actually owned by the National Trust so to go onto the actual islands you need a membership or to pay on top of the boat trips.

We used Billy Sheils Boat Trips to get to the island. They were very attentive and would warn you to put cameras etc away if it was going to get too choppy. We’d stop at all the islands for photos, they’d spin the boat round for both sides to see it fully whilst giving a background about the history or species inhabiting each island. It was a 3 hour round trip with an hour landing on the Inner Farne island. This cost £30 and was free to go on to the island as we are National Trust members. We would say if you’re only going for puffins like us and have been on other tours like Phoebe had with Staffa, this may disappoint you. There are lots of birds to see it’s just not as spectacular.