Northumberland National Park runs from Hadrian's Wall in the south to the Scottish border in the north, and it is the least visited and least populated national park in England. Most of it is open moorland and rounded hills, with sheep, curlews and very few people. The Cheviot Hills fill the north; the Simonside Hills above Rothbury and the valleys of the Coquet and the Rede lie in the middle.
Walking is the main reason to come. The Harthope Valley near Wooler is the way up The Cheviot. Upper Coquetdale, reached by a single-track road from Alwinton, has Roman camps and the remote Border Ridge. The Pennine Way ends its 268 miles at Kirk Yetholm, just over the border.
Together with Kielder, the park forms the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, the largest area of protected night sky in Europe. The southern edge of the park takes in the central section of Hadrian's Wall.
