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A Weeks Walking in Northumberland » The Best Travel Destinations

Being from sunny Sussex it’s not often that I make the journey up to the north of the country and explore the countries highlights, but as we were in Newcastle for an old university friends wedding last month, we decided to extend the weekend and spend a week, walking in the Northumberland countryside. Friends had raved about the area for years saying that the combination of unspoiled coastline, castles and bustling market towns made the area very unique.
As we’d had a long drive up and had planned to be a little hung-over from the wedding we decided to not stay in one of the larger towns and book a pretty little self-catering holiday cottage where we could chill out, spend some time together and explore some of the coastlines. On a friend’s recommendation, we decided to stay in Warkworth, an ancient and picturesque village on the coast, with rugged countryside and in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Although initially, we wanted to just relax and unwind once we were there we wanted to explore the area and all the attractions in the area. We were lucky with the weather and so hired bikes and cycled along the national cycle route, had a trip to the lively town of Alnwick and the Harry Potter castle and had many walks along the coast all the way down to Alnmouth enjoying the amazing views and peaceful surroundings. We forgot to buy a map but found this website really good for some easy circular walks in the area that took us through a lot of the region's highlights and a range of contrasting landscapes. Although most of the days that we were there were sunny, we did have a couple where it was cold and the rain was lashing down. However as cottages in Northumberland are generally built of stone we just spent the days snuggled up on the sofa, cozy with the log fire on getting stuck into a good book. There was a butcher in the village with the most amazing local sausages, so we had a bottle of red and bangers and mash.
We were really surprised how much the region had to offer and it’s one of those places that you really do feel like you’re getting away from it all and appreciating the outdoors. I definitely recommend it for other couples – although if you ’re traveling from as far away as Sussex as we did, I’d recommend looking into traveling by train. Being in the car for over 7 hours and stuck on the M1 doesn’t end the holiday so well.
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