Britain's Best Kept Secret

You didn't hear this from me, but Northumberland has it all...clean sandy beaches, dramatic castles, seaside towns, pretty stone villages and cosy tearooms. Best of all, almost no one seems to know about the charms of Britain's least densely populated county, making it blissfully uncrowded. B and I enjoyed it so much that we've already booked another week there in September, based in a cottage just a few hundred metres from this superb beach...

Dunstan beach (Embleton Bay), backdrop to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

On our next trip (sans Les Outlaws), we hope to take advantage of the superb walking to be had along the 64 mile long Northumberland Coast Path. To be fair to Les Outlaws, they did their share of walking, as we dragged them around another castle or three, including Alnwick (famously used as Hogwarts in the first two 'Harry Potter' films), Warksworth and Bamburgh.

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick Castle

Warksworth Castle

Bamburgh Castle

Harbour at Seahouses

One of the highlights of the holiday was a boat trip from Seahouses out to the Farne Islands, which lie two to three miles off the Northumberland coast midway between the fishing village of Seahouses and the magnificent Castle of Bamburgh. As well as being the most famous Sea Bird Sanctuary in the British Isles they also have a large colony of Atlantic or Grey Seals. At this time of the year, nesting puffins, seagulls, shags, terns and cormorants can be seen in their thousands. We were taken to view basking seals and the nesting birds on the cliff faces....boy, what a wiff! Nothing quite like the pungent aroma of guana!

Puffins and seagulls

We spent an hour on Inner Farne (one of only two islands that can be landed)...dodging dive bombing terns, hell bent on protecting their nests by incessantly pecking the top of our heads. We'd been warned to warn hats...I think a pith helmet or crash hemet would have been in order as cloth caps offer scant protection from their fierce beaks. The only place to take refuge from this bizarre, Hitchcockesque experience was a tiny church dating from 1370 and dedicated to St Cuthbert (d. 687).

Territorial Tern

St Cuthberts

We also passed Longstone Lighthouse, made famous by Grace Darling and her father, the lighthouse keeper, William Darling. On the night of the 7th September 1838 they rescued nine survivors from the Forfarshire, a paddle steam ship bound for Dundee, which ran aground on Big Harcar in stormy seas.

Longstone Lighthouse

Really looking forward to going back.....