Northumberland is a vast, varied and unspoilt landscape. Although it sits in the top five of England’s largest counties by size, it is amongst the lowest five in terms of population density, so always feels wild, open and empty. The North Sea coastline is punctuated with long sandy beaches, while the waters offshore are home to migrating and resident seabirds, seals, dolphins and passing whales. Move inland and you’ll find the dark, dense conifer woodland of Kielder and the rolling, heather-clad moorland of the Northumberland National Park. To the west is the highest point in the county, the Cheviot, namesake peak of the Cheviot Hills, which towers to 815 metres. Meanwhile, to the south you’ll find the raw and windswept beauty of the North Pennines.
Amongst the expansive backdrop of this remote, rugged county you’ll find epic bikepacking adventures, adrenaline-fuelled mountain bike trails and long, wonderful walks through untamed wilderness. Away from dry land you’ll find fast-moving rivers for high-octane, white-knuckle white-water rafting along with sheltered pools, bays and still waters for wild swimming and paddleboarding.
Though it lies outside the ceremonial county border, the cosmopolitan city of Newcastle acts as the main hub. Travel further into Northumberland itself and you’ll find a host of quaint market towns, dark whinstone villages and small sandstone settlements. Wildlife is plentiful. It is not unusual to find birds of prey circling overhead throughout most of the county. And being located so close to the Scottish border, the region has had a long and troubled history. Most notably the Romans made their indelible mark, with Hadrian’s Wall acting as a first line of defence to keep out the troublesome Scots, as well as a symbolic statement of Emperor Hadrian’s imperial power.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne is the obvious gateway into the wilder reaches of Northumberland. It’s a vibrant city with various car-hire options along with trains and buses to the rural reaches of the county. Newcastle can be reached by road from the south via the M1 which continues onto the A1 motorway outside Doncaster. There are also major roads running south from Edinburgh and east from Carlisle.
There are direct trains from London Kings Cross, which take around three hours. Change at Doncaster for trains from Liverpool and Manchester or take the scenic coast route from Edinburgh.
Newcastle is served by National Express and Flixbus services. National Express also run services to and from the towns of Berwick-upon-Tweed and Alnwick. Once in the county, Arriva North East (0344 800 4411) operates local services right across the county, from Berwick to Newcastle.
Newcastle International Airport is just seven miles from the city centre with flights operated by airlines such as Easyjet, Ryanair, Jet2, KLM and British Airways. From the airport there is a shuttle bus into the city or car hire facilities.
During the spring the weather can be changeable, the forecast switching from bright sunshine to biblical downpours, so it’s best to bring a range of clothing options. With fewer crowds than neighbouring Cumbria, the school summer holidays can be an ideal time to visit, especially if you base yourself away from the tourist hotspots such as the coast and Kielder village. Once the kids are back, during September and October, the weather can still be warm but with a cooling breeze and the woods become alive with mushrooms – great for foraging. If you don’t mind the shorter days and freezing weather, one of the best times to visit is in the winter. The trees and hills can be dusted with snow and Kielder often put on a Christmas fair with a skating rink. If you are lucky, the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights are visible right across the county during these colder months.
With wide empty expanses of moorland, vast areas of forest, a wild coastline and dramatic inland crags, Northumberland is not a county you can easily explore in a single short break. To really experience the region, it’s worth coming back to visit again and again. One of the most rewarding ways to familiarise yourself with the range of landscapes it has to offer is to first explore by car, taking day trips to tourist hotspots like Kielder, Hadrian’s Wall, Alnwick and the beautiful coastline. This way you can get a real sense of the place and work out where you would like to return for a dedicated walking holiday, an extended bikepacking adventure or perhaps even a climbing and bouldering trip.
When it comes to walking, Northumberland has something for all levels and abilities. Walks range from challenging multi-day hikes to pleasant afternoon rambles. Starting in Wallsend on the outskirts of Newcastle, crossing right across Northumberland and neighbouring Cumbria, the Hadrian’s Wall Path is one of the longest and most rewarding multi-day hikes in the region. Over 10,000 people per year walk this historic national trail, which follows the line of the Roman wall, itself a dedicated UNESCO World Heritage site.
Elsewhere in the county you can enjoy a short amble along the coast path, taking in one of the coastline’s medieval fortresses such as Dunstanburgh or Bamburgh Castle. Or, close to the forest, you could take in all, or sections of, the Kielder Lakeside Way, boasting stunning views of Kielder Water.
Blessed with small inland cliffs, rocky sandstone grit crags and giant glacial erratic boulders, Northumberland is one of the best outdoor bouldering locations in the UK. For those just starting to take this sport outside, tuition is available through Adventure Training North East (email info@atne.co.uk). Along with certified instructors they can provide climbing shoes, chalk and the all-important crash mats.
For those with a bit of outdoor experience already, you could do worse than head to Back Bowden Doors, where you’ll find a range of graded climbs from F3 to F8b. Or you could head straight to Ravensheugh Crag in the Simonside Hills, which has a range of trad and bouldering climbs in the mid to high grades.
If the weather takes a turn for the worse, which is inevitable sooner or later in this part of the world, there’s Climb Newcastle in the heart of the city, often described as the best climbing centre in the North of England. They actually run two centres, with one in Byker and the other in Ouseburn, both of which have climbing across the grades for children and adults alike.
Two iconic long-distance cycle paths pass through Northumberland from their traditional starting points in coastal Cumbria. Firstly, there’s the 136-mile Sea to Sea (C2C) route, which traverses the Cumbrian countryside, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and of course the famously wild and scenic Northumbrian section. Taking in the Fells of the Lake District and the North Pennines, this calf-crunching route will challenge even the most seasoned cyclist. On the Cumbrian side there is the five-mile climb up Hartside Pass to a height of 1,904 ft before you tackle the nearly 2000-foot tall Black Hill on the Northumbrian/Cumbrian border. Off-road sections on the old Stanhope and Tyne rail-line present you with impressive sculptures such as Terris Novis by Turner Prize-winning artist Tony Cragg and David Kemp’s comical Old Transformers. The route takes most cyclists three days to complete, with overnight stops, though some choose to do it at a more leisurely five to six days. Elite athletes can complete it all in as little as a single day, though that approach seems somewhat masochistic.
If you do not fancy such extreme hills and want to take in a bit of Roman history too, then there’s the Hadrian’s Wall Cycle Route. This runs from Whitehaven on the Cumbrian coast all the way to Tynemouth in the North East. Following a mix of off-road cycle path sections mixed in with quiet lanes and low-traffic roads, its highest point is a much more manageable 250m. Following the old wall, much of the route undulates fairly gently.
One of the best ways to explore the vast and diverse county of Northumberland is by road. Inspired by road trips around Iceland and Scotland’s popular NC500, a Northumberland native set up the NLAND 250 or NC250 to take in his favourite parts of his home county. It’s a far less crowded route than any of its contemporaries and can be done in a speedy 2 to 3 days or a more leisurely week to ten days. It follows a handful of distinctive and differing sections, through an ever-changing landscape.
The first is the rugged coastline from Berwick-upon-Tweed, passing hotspots like the pilgrimage site of Lindisfarne, the wildlife-rich Farne Islands and historic Bamburgh Castle. Then there is a turn inland crossing stunning hillside views of Simonside and old market towns like Rothbury. Then it crosses the Pennines before heading up to the Hadrian’s Wall landscape, with its Roman forts, milecastles, temples and other ruins. Finally, it crosses through the Dark Sky region of Kielder and even briefly jumps across the border into Scotland. The route passes through some of the most remote roads in the country, so you will not just have stunning views but every chance of seeing rare birdlife, including the newly introduced golden eagle.
Whilst Northumberland is the perfect destination for outdoor adventure, the county should also be on the ‘must visit’ list for any aspiring art buff. When much of the region’s heavy industry declined, with coal mines and shipyards closing down, it was widely felt that something had to be done to prevent the North East from becoming a deprived wasteland, devoid of hope or civic pride. Various initiatives were set up, part funded by local authorities, part by private investment. Some, such as Northumberlandia, a giant goddess figure made entirely from coal slag, were completely paid for by private firms. As a result, the region now has everything from sculpture trails to concept pieces. Public artworks even embrace the downright bizarre, like the oversized spoon near Cramlington.
At 250 square miles, Kielder is Britain’s largest working forest. Within this great woodland is the largest man-made lake in Northern Europe, which legend has it submerged the old church tower of a flooded village. It is said that during a dry spell the church tower is revealed and the bells will ring out once more across the landscape. Alas, this tale is just myth, as the buildings were demolished before the area was submerged. But that isn’t to say there aren’t some unusual things to see around Kielder.
Deep in the forest, far from the nearest town’s light pollution, the Kielder Observatory sits within one of England’s largest Dark Sky Discovery Sites. On clear nights, the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye – a rarity in modern Britain – and the observatory’s powerful telescopes bring planets, nebulae and distant galaxies into extraordinary focus. Public events run year-round, from family stargazing sessions to specialist astrophotography nights, but booking ahead is essential as places fill quickly. The midwinter aurora-watching events, when conditions sometimes conspire to produce vivid Northern Lights displays, are especially popular.
Northumberlandia
It took over 1.5 million tonnes of coal waste to make the impressive 400m or 1,300 ft long female figure of Northumberlandia, also known as the “Lady of the North”. Designer and landscape architect Charles Jencks is responsible for the piece and he believes it to be the largest representation of a woman anywhere in the world. But this is no static artwork preserved in aspic – you can wander freely around this large female form, whose highest point is her forehead, which sits at an elevation of 34 metres (112 feet). During the summer months, wildflowers grow on her banks and dragonflies flit around the open pools of water below. Four times the size of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbour and more than ten times the size of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer, it is a truly epic piece of public art.
Skyspace
In the tourist hotspot of Kielder Forest Park, you’ll find more of the most unusual artworks in the region. Not far from Kielder village, a stone’s throw from the famous Observatory, you’ll find one of James Turrell’s Skyspaces. This roofless building, with a long entrance and wide open interior, lacks a ceiling, allowing natural light to flood in (along with any passing weather!).
Blakehope Nick
Meanwhile, high on the moors, heading away from Kielder but still officially part of the park, you’ll find the Blakehope Nick. This geometric structure is made from local larch wood which has gently aged over time, turning from a light brown to a more subdued dark grey.
Eat for England, aka ‘Nanna’s Spoon’
In a lonely field between Cramlington and Seaton, a stone’s throw from the giant of Northumberlandia, is an oversized piece of cutlery. At 4.5m or 15ft tall, it’s as if the huge landform herself came to life and tossed away her breakfast spoon! Created by artist Bob Budd, the work is formally known as Eat for England but affectionately entitled “Nana’s Spoon”. Part of a commission about food security, it ties how we eat with where our food comes from – what could be more fitting than a giant spoon found in the midst of a field of wheat?
Amble Boord Waalk
Spelt phonetically, as it sounds in a local North East accent, the Amble Boord Waalk (translation: “Bird Walk”) is a sculpture trail surrounding the town of Amble, featuring a series of twelve different artworks, all relating to birds. There is an oversized puffin, cracked eggs, seagull heads and a pair of oversized wings. My personal favourite artwork on the entire trail is the flock sphere. This metal 3D sphere is a fully immersive piece. Made from stainless steel cut outs welded together to form a perfect ball, there is an opening on one side to allow the viewer to walk in and surround themselves with a flock of birds in mid-flight.
The ancestral seat of the Percy family – Dukes of Northumberland since the fourteenth century – Alnwick Castle is one of the largest inhabited castles in England and among the most filmed. Its medieval battlements have stood in for Hogwarts in the early Harry Potter films and Brancaster Castle in Downton Abbey, but the real draw is the place itself: centuries of history made vivid through state rooms lined with Old Masters, armour collections and guided tours. The grounds, landscaped by Capability Brown, are free to explore, and the nearby Alnwick Garden – centred on a spectacular cascade water feature – is well worth the separate admission fee.
Rising sheer from a volcanic basalt crag above one of the finest beaches in England, Bamburgh Castle is perhaps Northumberland’s defining image. The site has been fortified since the Iron Age, and the Normans raised much of what you see today, though a Victorian restoration by the first Lord Armstrong gave the interior its lived-in grandeur. Inside, the King’s Hall, armoury and collections of fine art reward a thorough visit, while the view from the ramparts – south along the coast towards Seahouses, north-east to the Farne Islands – is about as dramatic as English scenery gets. The village below has a clutch of good pubs and cafés to round off the day.
Perched on the most dramatic section of Hadrian’s Wall – the crags of Whin Sill, with long views north into what was once hostile territory – Housesteads (Vercovicium) is the most complete Roman fort in Britain. The remains of barracks, granaries, a hospital and the famous communal latrines convey a vivid sense of daily life at the very edge of the Roman Empire. A joint English Heritage and National Trust site, it’s managed by the latter and sits within a UNESCO World Heritage corridor. Come early on summer mornings to beat the crowds and catch the low light raking across the stonework.
Just south of Hadrian’s Wall, Vindolanda predates the Wall itself – a series of successive Roman forts built from around AD 85 – and the anaerobic conditions of the site’s deep peat layers have preserved organic material that would normally perish entirely. The Vindolanda Tablets, discovered here and now held in the British Museum, are the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain: personal letters, military reports and a birthday party invitation that somehow make the Romans feel extraordinarily human. Active excavations continue each summer and the on-site museum ranks among the finest Roman collections anywhere in northern Europe.
Holy Island – accessible by tidal causeway only – has been a place of Christian pilgrimage since St Aidan founded a monastery here in AD 635, and the Lindisfarne Heritage Centre tells that story with care and depth. Displays cover the Lindisfarne Gospels (the originals are in the British Library, but high-quality facsimiles are held here), the Viking raids that ultimately drove the monks away in AD 875, and the island’s remarkable wildlife and natural history. The ruined Lindisfarne Priory nearby and the compact sixteenth-century castle – remodelled by Edwin Lutyens – complete a visit that rewards a full day, though tide times must be checked before you set out.
A short boat trip from Seahouses, the Farne Islands are one of the great wildlife spectacles of the British Isles. National Trust-managed and largely inaccessible except by licensed boat, the archipelago hosts enormous seabird colonies – puffins, Arctic terns, guillemots and razorbills among them – along with a large grey seal population that pups on the beaches in autumn. The terns, notoriously territorial during the nesting season, have been known to mob visitors with genuine conviction. Boat trips operate from spring through to early autumn from Seahouses harbour; landing permits are required for Inner Farne and Staple Island, and numbers are controlled to protect the wildlife.
Dunstanburgh is arguably the most romantically sited castle ruin in England. Occupying a headland south of Craster, it can only be reached on foot – a mile or so along the clifftop from either Craster to the south or Embleton to the north – which keeps the crowds thin and the atmosphere appropriately bleak. Built by the Earl of Lancaster in 1313 and later expanded by John of Gaunt, it was already a ruin by Tudor times. Turner painted it twice. The immense gatehouse towers still stand to considerable height, and on grey days with the sea crashing below the basalt cliffs, it’s the kind of scene that makes the walk in feel genuinely worthwhile.
Designed by Robert Stephenson and opened by Queen Victoria in 1850, the Royal Border Bridge carries the East Coast Main Line across the River Tweed on 28 elegant sandstone arches stretching nearly half a mile. It remains one of the finest railway viaducts in Britain, and arriving into Berwick by train – crossing high above the wide tidal Tweed with the town's own medieval walls and the sea beyond – is one of the great understated arrival moments in British rail travel. The best view of the viaduct itself is from the riverbank below, where the full sweep of the arches reflects in the water. Berwick also has a second notable bridge almost directly alongside: the early seventeenth-century Old Bridge, fifteen arches of warm sandstone that carried the Great North Road for over three hundred years before the A1 bypass rendered it redundant.
Designed by Norman Shaw for the first Lord Armstrong – the same industrialist who later restored Bamburgh Castle – Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity, powered by the lakes Armstrong engineered across the surrounding hillside. The National Trust property in the Debdon valley near Rothbury is as much a feat of Victorian engineering as it is a country house, and the grounds are extraordinary: over 40 miles of footpaths thread through one of the largest rock gardens in Europe, planted with rhododendrons that turn the hillsides purple in late spring. The house itself is a riot of ingenuity, filled with gadgetry and invention that reflects its owner's restless mind.
Few experiences in England are as genuinely strange as standing in a Northumberland field watching a herd of cattle that has been completely isolated from human interference since the thirteenth century. The Chillingham Wild Cattle – small, white, feral and entirely undomesticated – are the only such herd in the world, managed at the estate near Wooler under strict conservation protocols. Guided walks with a warden bring you close enough to observe without disturbing them. The castle itself is a separate proposition: a medieval stronghold that has remained in private ownership, run with considerable personality as a visitor attraction and holiday let, and with a reputation for paranormal activity that its owners do little to discourage.
Jumping from pine to pine, the red squirrel can be found hiding amongst the pine forests of Northumberland. Elsewhere in the UK, these sprightly fellows succumbed to the influx of American grey squirrels. Populations only hung on in a handful of more remote places including Northumberland and across the border in Scotland.
Over on the windswept North Sea coast, another survivor clings on in greater numbers than other parts of the country. Here the grey seal population is thriving, alongside Minke whales and white-beaked dolphins.
In the uplands of the county such as in the Cheviot Hills, heather moors dominate the landscape. These northern reaches of the county can be a boggy forsaken place for humans, but they are home to rare alpine plants like the willowherb and foxtail. Then over in Holy Island are some even rarer plants, which it is thought may not exist anywhere else in the UK. Species include the dune hellebore and other specialists surviving on the thin soil like rough clover.
There are coffee shops, tearooms, pubs, inns and restaurants dotted throughout Northumberland, ranging from the popular chain establishments to any number of small, locally-run independents. Here are three personal favourites.
Nestled in the walled garden on Holy Island, Lindisfarne, Pilgrim Coffee House and Roastery is one of the best independent coffee houses in the county. With a rotating seasonal selection of beans, they ensure high living standards and fair wages for their growers and sell their products in sustainable packaging.
For the taste of something healthy, try the Tans Café in Hexham, the only vegetarian and vegan café in the town.
Or for a hearty pub meal, try Battlesteads Hotel and Restaurant in Wark (on Tyne), close to Hexham, followed by a walk along the river.
Where you stay in the county largely depends on your itinerary. Newcastle is of course the best place if you want to take day trips out into the countryside by public transport or road. But those wishing to immerse themselves a little more in the rugged nature of the county would do well to stay in some of the smaller towns such as Hexham, Rothbury or larger villages like Bellingham or Wark. In contrast to the interior, coastal towns and villages are a good base to explore the windswept shoreline, aiming for places in or around Berwick (upon-Tweed) or Bamburgh.
Berwick-upon-Tweed has a range of stays for all tastes and wallet sizes. You could try the Rob Roy Boutique Hotel, just over the bridge in Tweedmouth, offering rooms and suites and funky artworks throughout. Then in the main town itself there are reasonably priced rooms in the Kings Arms Hotel, The Queens Head Hotel and the Premier Inn (0330 128 1617), which all come highly recommended. Not far from all of these establishments there is the good old backpackers’ YHA Berwick.
In Hexham, the Country Hotel and the Beaumont are two of the best places to stay. The YHA The Sill at Hadrian’s Wall is a more wallet-friendly establishment (0345 260 2702).
A night under canvas is one of the best ways to really experience the dark skies of Hexham to their fullest. Tucked away in the heart of the Kielder Forest, close to the homes of real-life loggers, is the Stonehaugh Campsite. For a night out you’ll never forget it’s worth heading to the Club in the village where you’ll meet a host of colourful characters. If you are a fan of the more traditional marked-out pitches of a camping and caravan site, look for one in Kielder village (01434 239237). Or for a bit of glamping near Hexham, Hesleyside Huts have Ewok village-style shepherd’s huts with four-poster beds (01434 220068).
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