The Northumberland Coast National Landscape runs for about forty miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed to the Coquet estuary at Amble. It is a coast of long, empty beaches backed by dunes, small fishing harbours, and castles on almost every headland: Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Lindisfarne and Warkworth.
Offshore are two of the great sights of northern England: the tidal Holy Island, and the Farne Islands with their puffins and seals, reached by boat from Seahouses. At the southern end, boats from Amble circle the puffin colony on Coquet Island. The walk from Craster along the cliffs to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle, then onto the sands of Embleton Bay, is one of the best short coastal walks in Britain.
The Northumberland Coast Path follows the whole stretch in six days. Buses run along the coast road from Alnwick and Berwick, but many of the best beaches are a walk from the nearest stop. In winter the mudflats and bays fill with geese and wading birds, and you may have the beaches to yourself.
