Not been for a few years but...

Last time we stayed in Embleton, small village on the coast.

Embleton Bay is amazingly beautiful - and plenty of space for kids/dogs to run about (avoid the nesting birds though).

You can walk south to Dunstanburgh Castle (perched on the cliffs & tumbling into the sea) and onto Craster for the famous crabs and smoked kippers.

Or north to Low Newton to the Ship Inn for beers. It's in a little square of old fisherman's cottages.

Seahouses is like a mini-Hunstanton imho, typical sea-side town with boat trips to the Farne Islands.

Bamburgh has a spectacular castle, the beach behind is brilliant - loads of dunes.

Alnwick has the castle where they filmed Harry Potter films and also has Barter Books - a big old second hand bookshop in an old railway station.

You've got Warkworth castle - some of the castles in the area are English Heritage and if you want to venture to Hadrian's wall then a few of the forts there are NT. Lindisfarne is worth a visit - the castle itself is quite small but you can spend a few hours exploring the island.

Cragside is inland - a massive country house which was the first to be lit by hydro-electricity (owned by an arms dealer I think).

Further afield you've got Berwick Upon Tweed - lovely walk around the walls or even Edinburgh (you can catch a train and see amazing coastline) or it's an easy drive.

We used to go quite regularly, it was alway very quiet, away from the hordes and people were without exception friendly and welcoming. It was a hidden gem and quite cheap but it's got quite popular and even more so with COVID-19 but don't let that put you off - it's so big that you're sure to find your own space - more so if you head inland.

Sorry for waffling on!

Posted By: Wild Edric, Sep 2, 15:20:25