Thursday 30 July 2015

North East Staycation: Bamburgh and Seahouses

If there's one place that has been recommended to me time and time again, it's Bamburgh on the North East coast of Northumberland.   If I ever mention to anyone that I haven't been living here too long and that I like to go adventuring they always ask if I've made it to Bamburgh yet.

I knew a place with that many recommendations would be pretty special so on our Staycation we decided to finally make the drive up to the coast to see what all the fuss was about.

As we approached the little town we got our first glimpse of Bamburgh Castle and our mouths dropped to the floor. Bamburgh looked absolutely stunning in the sunshine and we hurriedly parked the car so we could head out for an explore.



My friend Lisa had recommended us a perfect little spot to eat our lunch, a lone picnic bench sitting on top of a hill. 

As we picked our way through ridiculously long grass, carefully lifting our bare legs up to avoid the stingy nettles and thistles, I began to think maybe Lisa was having a laugh!



But as we made it safely to the other side and got to the bench I forgave all the scratches, the view was something else!



The view wasn't just perfect, it was award winning!   Voted one of the UK'S Top 10 Lunch Spots by Kingsmill and Visit England (anyone else feeling like they may want to look up the rest of the list and work their way round to all of them?)



This little bench offers the prettiest views across Bamburgh beach and it was a great place to tuck into our sandwiches.   Something tells me that next time Lisa and her hubbie climb up to their bench they may well find Simon and I already up there hogging it!



We could have happily sat up there all day enjoying the beautiful sunshine and indulging in a spot of people watching.



How lovely are Simon's brand new Converse?  I did try to convince him we should shoe swap, those red beauties would match my stripy dress perfectly, am I right? 



Fortunately for him I had something new of my own to occupy myself with.  After debating it for a while I finally bought myself a backpack for adventuring and it's love!  

This little guy came from Primark, was only £10.00 and we've been inseparable ever since.  He's perfect for taking out on day trips leaving me hands free to take photographs (and eat cake).  You know you love your bag when you've given it a gender, that and I spent the entire day saying to Simon "I love my new bag!"

Having spent our lunch watching people on the beach we quite fancied a walk ourselves so made our way back down the hill and to the sand.



Week day adventuring meant a pretty quiet beach and we had a beautiful stroll with clear sands as far as the eye could see.  With views of the Farne Islands to our left and the magnificent Bamburgh Castle towering above us to the right, it was the prettiest beach walk we'd ever been on.


Scrabbling back up the dunes, we made our way to the high street.  Bamburgh is a holidaymaker's dream - brightly coloured flowers, stone buildings and beautiful bunting swaying in the breeze, it is picture perfect Britain at its very best.




As we made our way along the street, admiring the cute little shops and independent businesses, we decided that there are two types of people - those that enjoy a drink in the beer garden and those that prefer to eat cake in a tea room.  Maybe we're old before our time, but we will always pick a nice slice of cake over alcohol so despite walking past many sunny pubs we were on a mission to find the Copper Kettle Tearooms.

The tearooms offer a lovely menu full of afternoon treats.  Simon ordered himself a scone served with jam and cream.   We were slightly disappointed that the cream arrived in a little pre packaged pot, but this was forgotten about when he tucked in and realised the scone was hot, straight from the oven.



I was very tempted to order some warm pie but decided eating hot desserts is more of a Winter time activity so instead I chose a slice of Victoria Sponge.  It was delicious.



After indulging in cake we always like to take a walk so we finished our trip to Bamburgh with one last look round the town. 





We returned to the car and took a quick 3 mile trip up the road to the neighbouring town of Seahouses.   Larger and louder than Bamburgh after such an idyllic start to our day we decided a game of very competitive Crazy Golf was in order.  Simon usually beats me and I sulk, but for some reason on this day I was the Master of Crazy Golf and actually won, something I went on and on about for the rest of the week.

Conveniently forgetting the tearoom visit in Bamburgh it wasn't long before we had ice-creams in our hands.  Such a hot and sunny day called for some epic cones and after scouting round the whole of Seahouses we decided to visit Coxons, home of the twisted ice-creams.



Forget plain old vanilla, these ice-creams come in a wide variety of flavours and are best served in a waffle cone. 



We enjoyed our ice-creams sitting by the harbour watching the boats coming in and out and making sure that the greedy seagulls didn't pinch our cones.



So that's it, I'm in love with Bamburgh!  I completely get it and my only regret is that we didn't visit sooner!

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4 comments

  1. I LOVE today's post-it's been my favourite so far. I've never walked around Bamburgh, we've only ever been to the beach or caste. Stunning photographs!

    I think you are right about two types of people- we would NEVER search for the perfect piece of cake but will always search for a decent beer garden when we are out and about!

    I wish there were more free days in my diary as I'd love to spend a care free day exploring Bamburgh and Seahouses x

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  2. The ice cream and the cakes look delicious, a really nice treat after a lovely walk. I had to look on google maps, Bamburgh is almost 4 hours from us, it's such a shame, I would love to visit it.

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  3. Bamburgh is beautiful and I'm with you all the scratches are worth it for that view breathtaking. The new bag was a great purchase looks lovely on and will last for ages. I love multiple flavoured ice creams perfect way to end a day Lucy x

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  4. Stunning place, and quite jealous of your ice creams
    I have a love for both old pubs and cute tea rooms - - if only more pubs did decent cake!

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