Things to do in Northumberland
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walls
Berwick's superb walls were begun in 1558 to reinforce an earlier set built during the reign of Edward II. They represented state-of-the-art military technology of the day and were designed both to house artillery (in arrowhead-shaped bastions) and to withstand it (the walls are low and massively thick, but it's still a long way to fall).
You can walk almost the entire length of the walls, a circuit of about a mile. It's a must, with wonderful, wide-open views. Only a small fragment remains of the once mighty border castle, by the train station. The tourist office has a brochure describing the main sights.
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Cell Block Museum
The original jail cells in the upper floor of the town hall (1750–61) have been preserved as a museum devoted to crime and punishment. Tours take in the public rooms, museum, jail and belfry.
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Berwick Barracks
Designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, the oldest purpose-built barracks (1717) in Britain now house an assortment of museums and art galleries.
The By Beat of Drum exhibition charges through the history of British soldiery from 1660 to 1900, while the Regimental Museum is only really for those with a burning interest in the King's Own Scottish Borderers. The Berwick Museum and Art Gallery romps through the town's history and holds 400 works of art from the Burrell collection (the other 9000 make up Glasgow's famous museum). The Gymnasium Gallery hosts big-name contemporary art exhibitions.
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Barrels Alehouse
Elvis and Muhammad Ali grace the walls of this fine pub, where you'll also find real ale and vintage Space Invaders. There's regular live music in the atmospherically dingy basement bar.
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Magna Tandoori
There's nothing much in this handsome Georgian room to suggest an Indian restaurant, but the huge menu, chock-full of dishes, makes this the best of its kind in town.
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Foxton's
This decent brasserie-style restaurant has Continental dishes to complement the local fare, which means there's something for everyone.
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guided walks
Recommended are the one-hour guided walks starting from the tourist office.
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Pantry
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Farne Islands
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Copper Kettle
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Ye Old Cross
Known as 'Bottles', after the dusty bottles in the window, this is another atmospheric stottie-and-pint halt. Legend has it that 150 years ago the owner collapsed and died while trying to move the bottles and no one's dared attempt it since; the irony is that the old window is now behind plexiglass to stop revellers stealing them!
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St Aidan's Winery
Sample and buy deliciously sweet Lindisfarne Mead, said to be a potent aphrodisiac, at the island's winery housed in a new modern complex.
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RNLI Grace Darling Museum
Born in Bamburgh, Grace Darling was the lighthouse keeper's daughter on Outer Farne who rowed out to the grounded, flailing SS Forfarshire in 1838 and saved its crew in the middle of a dreadful storm. This recently refurbished museum is dedicated to the plucky Victorian heroine and even has the actual coble (rowboat) in which she braved the churning North Sea, as well as a film on the events of that stormy night. Grace was born just three houses down from the museum and is buried in the churchyard opposite, her ornate wrought-iron and sandstone tomb built tall so as to be visible to passing ships.
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Reivers Tryst
From the hearty all-day breakfast through to homemade pies for lunch and the likes of gammon and pineapple in the evening, this place specialises in stodgy English cuisine – nothing fancy, but very good.
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Norham Castle
Once considered the most dangerous place in the country, the pinkish ruins of Norham Castle are quiet these days, but during the border wars it was besieged no less than 13 times, including a year-long siege by Robert the Bruce in 1318. The last attack came just three weeks before the Battle of Flodden and the castle was once again restored to the prince bishops of Durham, for whom it was originally built in 1160 to guard a swerving bend in the River Tweed.
The castle ruins are 6.5 miles southwest of Berwick on a minor road off the A698; bus 67 regularly passes Norham Castle from Berwick train station on its way to Galashiels in Scotland (six daily Monday to Saturday).
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Market Tavern
Near Market Sq, this is the place to go for a traditional giant beef stottie (round loaf) sluiced down with a yard of real ale. B&B available (£30).
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Lowry Trail
Known primarily for populating the northwest's industrial landscapes with matchstick figures, some of LS Lowry's finest works are actually the result of his many visits over 40 years to Berwick. Most of the trail's information boards stand on the walls, but the route also crosses the 17th-century Old Bridge into the aptly grim suburbs of Tweedmouth and Spittal. Ask for a free map from the tourist office.
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Lindisfarne Priory
The skeletal, red and grey ruins of the priory are an eerie sight and give a fleeting impression of the isolated life lead by the Lindisfarne monks. The later 13th-century St Mary the Virgin Church is built on the site of the first church between the Tees and the Firth of Forth and the adjacent museum displays the remains of the first monastery and tells the story of the monastic community before and after the Dissolution.
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Lindisfarne Heritage Centre
Twenty pages of the luminescent Lindisfarne Gospels can be flicked through on touch-screens here, though there's normally a queue for the two terminals. While you wait your turn there are fascinating exhibitions on the Vikings and the sacking of Lindisfarne in 793.
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Lindisfarne Castle
Half a mile from the village stands this tiny, storybook castle, moulded onto a hunk of rock in 1550, and extended and converted by Sir Edwin Lutyens from 1902 to 1910 for Mr Hudson, the owner of Country Life magazine. You can imagine some decadent parties have graced its alluring rooms – Jay Gatsby would have been proud. Its opening times may be extended depending on the tide.
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Dunstanburgh Castle
The dramatic 1.5-mile walk along the coast from Craster (not accessible by car) is the most scenic path to the moody, weather-beaten ruins of yet another atmospheric castle. The haunting sight of the ruins, high on a basalt outcrop famous for its sea birds, can be seen for miles along this exhilarating stretch of tide-thrashed shoreline.
Dunstanburgh was once one of the largest border castles. Its construction began in 1314, it was strengthened during the Wars of the Roses, but then left to crumble. Only parts of the original wall and gatehouse keep are still standing; it was already a ruin by 1550, so it's a tribute to its builders that so much is left today.
You can also …
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Berwick's Walls
Berwick's hefty Elizabethan walls were begun in 1558 to reinforce an earlier set built during the reign of Edward II. They represented state-of-the-art military technology of the day and were designed both to house artillery (in arrowhead-shaped bastions) and to withstand it (the walls are low and massively thick, but it's still a long way to fall).
You can walk almost the entire length of the walls, a circuit of about a mile. It's a must, with wonderful, wide-open views. Only a small fragment remains of the once mighty border castle, most of the building having been replaced by the train station.
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Barter Books
One of the country's largest secondhand bookshops is the magnificent, sprawling Barter Books, housed in a Victorian railway station with coal fires, velvet ottomans and reading (once waiting) rooms. You could spend days in here.
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Barrels Alehouse
Berwick's best watering hole attracts a mixed, laid-back crowd who can be found supping real ales and micro-distilled gins and whiskies at all hours. There's regular live music in the atmospherically dingy basement bar.
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Bamburgh Castle
Northumberland's most dramatic castle was built around a powerful 11th-century Norman keep by Henry II, although its name is a derivative of Bebbanburgh, after the wife of Anglo-Saxon ruler Aedelfrip, whose fortified home occupied this basalt outcrop 500 years earlier. The castle played a key role in the border wars of the 13th and 14th centuries, and in 1464 was the first English castle to fall as the result of a sustained artillery attack, by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, during the Wars of the Roses. It was restored in the 19th century by the great industrialist Lord Armstrong, who died before work was completed. The castle is still home to the Armstrong family.
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