Bamburgh

Situated at the heart of the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Bamburgh is famed for its magnificent castle, which overlooks the sweeping golden sands of Bamburgh Beach. In the village, you will find pubs and restaurants, as well as independent shops and a fascinating museum telling the story of Grace Darling and the birth of the RNLI. With both the castle and museum indoors, Bamburgh is one of the easier places to enjoy in Northumberland if it's raining.

The castle tour gives an excellent potted history of its tumultuous past. Founded by the Anglo Saxons, attacked by the Vikings, seized by the Normans, and destroyed in The War of the Roses, it was used as a pharmacy, a hospital, and a school before being rebuilt as a private home by the Victorian industrialist William Armstrong.

The Armstrong family still owns it today.

Among many fascinating nuggets is that a lifeboat was stationed at the castle in 1785, making it the first-ever lifeboat station.

If you have read Bernard Cornwell's Anglo-Saxon series or watched the Netflix show The Last Kingdom, you will know Bamburgh as the real-life location of Uhtred's castle, Bebbanburg. Though only one battle scene was filmed at Bamburgh, more recently, the castle has been a filming location for Harry Potter and the latest Indiana Jones movie.

At the RNLI Grace Darling Museum, you can learn about North East England's heroine. A lighthouse keeper's daughter, she was born in Bamburgh and rescued nine people from rocks in the North Sea in 1838. Aged only twenty-two, Grace and her father set off from the Farne Islands in a row boat to rescue the shipwreck survivors. She became a national celebrity.

The museum tells her incredible story. Inside, you will find the boat she and her father used. Nearby, you can see the house where Grace was born and visit a memorial to her in the graveyard where she is buried (NE69 7AE).

Bamburgh has a longstanding connection with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Not only was the castle the first ever lifeboat station, but there is always an RNLI lifeboat called Grace Starling stationed at nearby Seahouses.

Through the dunes next to the cricket ground below Bamburgh Castle is one and a half miles of sandy beach, offering some of the best beach walks in the North East, perhaps in England. On a clear day, you can see Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands.

You have two options - both provide ever-changing vistas of the castle across water, sand, and dunes with ample opportunities for bird spotting.

Either head south to the bustling fishing port of Seahouses. It's a three-mile walk along the sand, with a chance to grab fish and chips at Neptunes Fish Restaurant or a pint overlooking the harbour at the nautically themed Olde Ship Inn. If retracing your steps is a bit much, you can catch a bus back from outside the pub, but be sure to check the times.

Alternatively, head north, past Blackrocks Point lighthouse, for expansive views across the breathtaking Budle Bay. Famous for birdwatching, you might also catch a glimpse of otters, dolphins and seals.

Eating in Bamburgh

The Copper Kettle is great for a light bite after a walk. Freshly baked cakes, toasties, jacket potatoes etc - proper home-cooked fayre. It gets deservedly busy at peak times, but there is a charming courtyard out back (weather permitting), so it's bigger than it looks.

Locally sourced, fresh seafood is simply prepared and served in a suitably coastal-themed interior. The Potted Lobster is perfect for lunch or a relaxed dinner. Though they serve lobster and oysters, this is the place to come for classy fish and chips in Bamburgh. They are also have a sister restaurant in another of our favourite seaside villages - Abersoch on the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales.

We stopped at The Olde Ship Inn in Seahouses on our visit, so we can't recommend a pub in Bamburgh. However, when we asked around, the consensus seemed to be what for years was known as The Castle Inn (NE69 7BW), but has recently changed its name to The Middle Inn. It has a beer garden and is dog-friendly inside and out.

Featured video

If you are still trying to decide if the Northumberland coast should be your next short break destination, we have collected our favourite photos from around the web to give you a flavour of what you can see during your visit. You can view them here…