What's on inNorthumberland

Often described as Englands last frontier, Northumberland is a wild and open landscape that is almost indescribably beautiful.

Completely unspoiled apart from the odd ancient ruin or fortified castle and serving up endless picture postcard beaches, rugged windswept bays, and miles and miles of panoramic open skies, it is often surprising to chance upon a village or evidence of other human beings!

Much of the county is a national park and throughout the county there are stunning ancient or historic sites worth visiting.

Consequently it has more castles than any other county in England. Some of the best, and worth a visit, are Warkworth, Dunstanburgh, Bamburgh and Alnwick Castles.

In addition, the majority of the intact sections of Hadrians Wall World Heritage Site are located in Northumberland as are its five excavated forts looking out over the countys dramatic vistas.

Most famous of all, however, is Lindisfarne Castle, on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne was where the UKs early Christian heritage was formed and from here it was distributed out to the rest of Pagan Northumberland.

Lindisfarne Priory was the home of St Cuthbert and produced the famous Lindisfarne Gospels which can be seen (in an electronic version) in the heritage center there.

Home to 405 acres of protected landscape, Northumberland National Park runs down through the gorgeous valleys of the rivers Beamish, Coquet, Rede and North Tyne, to the splendid Cheviot Hills and Otterburn.

No trip north is complete without a visit to the beautiful county of Northumberland.