Coast Cottage Northumberland - self catering accommodation

Best beaches you can visit

While staying at Coast Cottage for a luxury self catering holiday near the coast, why not explore some of Northumberland's finest beaches?

The coastline in Northumberland is some of the most spectacular in the UK. Unlike many parts of Britain, there are still uncrowded, room-to-breathe and unspoilt beaches in Northumbria - often stretching for mile after mile, with hardly a soul in sight.

Sugar Sands

Sandy cove set in extensive rocks that skirt the headland and are exposed at half-tide.

Access to the cove is by road from Low Stead Farm. This is a private little beach great for kids.

Second cove to the left of the end of the lane is the best beach.

30 minutes walk/ 2 mins by car. Plenty parking.

Embleton bay and Dunstanburgh castle

One of England's most breathtaking beaches and only three miles from your cottage, this is undoubtable one of the finest beaches in the country.

With apricot-coloured sand, towering dunes and views to the dramatic medieval ruin of Dunstanburgh Castle, you will rarely find such a dramatic setting.

Its giant dune system shelters some quaint thirties summer houses; indeed Embleton seems lost in a time warp, and is still totally uncommercialised thanks to the protection of the National Trust. It's magical!

There's also an intriguing collection of wartime pillboxes, which remain only because access across the adjacent golf course was denied to the demolition gang.

A great golf course where visitors are welcome for food and drinks at the golf club, just off the beach. Great for kids.

Holy Island Sands and South Fenham Flats (Ross Sands)

Holy Isalnd Together these offer about 10 square kilometres of beach. They are wonderful areas for wildfowl, bounded on the north by the coastal dunes of Holy island. Six species of birds that spend the winter here are of international significance: pale-belied brent geese, redshank, bar tailed godwit, and greylag gees. And in the sheltered areas of fine sand around the southern end of Holy Island, look out for fawn, heart-shaped urchins densely covered in yellow spines and pink, stripy, translucent sea cucumbers. (This is the beach called Ross Sands in the file.) Huge empty stunning beach.

Holy Island
This low-lying island, whose ancient name was Lindisfarne, was the cradle of Christianity in England. St Aidan founded the first English diocese here in AD 635. The castle, on a knoll near the foreshore, was built c.1550 and restored as a private dwelling in 1900. Owned by the National Trust, it is open between 10.30am and 4.30pm, subject to tides (except Fridays) from April to October (Wed only in June) and on certain other days indicated by a flag hoisted above the castle. The ruined 11th-century Lindisfarne Priory is open daily.

The village is on the south-west point of the island. Below it is a sheltered bay where a tiny pier protects the small fleet of fishing boats. Swimming is safe, but the beach is pebbly at low tide. The grassy shore of the bay is dotted with the upturned hulks of herring boats which have been cut in half, propped up, covered with black tar, and turned into fishermen's huts. (Be warned the island is usually very busy during the summer months.) Causeway crossing times to Holy island.

Boulmer Haven, Northumberland

Arm yourself with a tide time-table to plan the best time to visit this small sandy beach sheltered by about three kilometres of rocky reef running parallel to the shore, which is exposed at low tide. It has deep gullies and pools and many overhangs, and is thickly grown with all the most familiar inter-tidal seaweeds and rich in every kind of marine invertebrate - especially animals that are permanently attached to the rocks, such as sponges, bryozoans, sea firs and the soft coral, dead-man's fingers, aconitum digitatum.

From the cottage you can walk down the lane and along the coastal path to the Fishing Boat Inn (approx ³/₄ hour walk) or 3 minutes by car along the Boulmer road. Have lunch or dinner before 9pm. Not open Monday except Bank Holidays.

Bamburgh Castle

The sight of red-sandstone Bamburgh Castle, standing on a rocky outcrop above a magnificent beach of clean white sand, is breathtaking. The walls and rocks below form a 150-foot precipice. Most of the visible parts of the castle were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was used as a boarding school to train servant girls. The first fortification was built in AD 547 by King Ida and was rebuilt by the Normans. The castle is open daily, Easter to September. North of the castle a cliff-top lane leads to a small lighthouse. The sandy beach, stretching southward to Seahouses, is studded with rocky reefs, but there is safe swimming away from the rocks.

The village of unpretentious and charming sandstone houses is best known for its heroine, Grace Darling, who was born in 1815 in a house opposite the church and died of tuberculosis at the age of 26 in a house that is now a gift shop. At the height of a storm in 1838 Grace rowed an open boat to the rescue of shipwrecked sailors. The 21-foot boat in which (with her father, a lighthouse keeper in the Farne Islands) she saved five people from the wreck of the steamer Forfarshire is displayed in the Grace Darling Museum, which is open daily from Easter to the end of September.

Farne Islands

A fantastic experience in the nesting season. This trip has made a big impact on some visitors. The National Trust allows visitors to land on Inner Farne and Staple Island between April and September. This is a world-famous seabird sanctuary and has the largest grey seal colony in England.

Warkworth

Bounded on three sides by a loop of the attractive River Coquet, and centred on the ruins of the 12th / 14th century castle mentioned by Shakespeare in Henry IV, this quiet town of grey stone houses is one of the most attractive in the North East. Half a mile up-river from the castle (open daily) is a 14th century hermitage and chapel cut into the cliff; it can be reached by hired boat. A boat trip on a warm day is great fun and very attractive. The old bridge in Warkworth, built in the 14th century, is one of the few remaining fortified bridges in the country. Beautiful walk along the river and past castle, rowing boats on the river beside the Hermitage.

Not to be missed – Morwick ice cream parlour. Fantastic after a visit to Walkworth.

Craster

Craster
The tiny harbour of this historic, unspoilt village was built in 1906 to export whinstone, a hard rock used for road-metal. It used to accommodate a herring fleet, and Craster kippers, smoked in curing sheds, are a speciality. The few cobles still using the harbour now land lobster and crab. Good crab sandwiches in the Jolly Fisherman pub. From the village a lovely walk along to Dunstanburgh Castle.