Bamburgh is a small stone village with one of the most dramatic settings in England. Its castle stands on a basalt outcrop high above the sea, and below it a broad beach and high dunes run for miles, looking out to the Farne Islands and north to Holy Island. In the seventh century this rock was the royal seat of the kingdom of Northumbria, which at its height stretched from the Humber to the Forth.
The village is a green, a church and a few streets of cottages, pubs and tearooms. St Aidan's Church stands on the site where Aidan died in 651. The RNLI Grace Darling Museum tells the story of the lighthouse keeper's daughter who rowed out to a wreck on the Farnes in 1838; she is buried in the churchyard.
The beach is the reason to stay longer. Walk north to the lighthouse at Stag Rock and Budle Bay, or south along the sands to Seahouses, where boats leave for the Farne Islands.