Rothbury is a small stone town on the River Coquet, with a long sloping green and the Simonside Hills rising to the south. It is the main gateway to the middle of Northumberland National Park, and to Upper Coquetdale beyond.
Just outside the town is Cragside, the house of the Victorian industrialist Lord Armstrong and the first house in the world lit by hydroelectricity. A few miles east, the Norman church of Brinkburn Priory stands alone in a loop of the river. The Simonside Hills make a good half-day walk, with views from the crags over the whole of Coquetdale to the Cheviots.