Northumberland

Centuries before the cowboy and the pioneer pushed westwards towards the Pacific Ocean spurred by the dreams of gold, Britain had its own wild side that stood between civilization and the untamed bad lands to the North. As you may have realised, I have come to love a part of the United States of America and have indeed written several reviews of my travels to Central and South West Florida. I live in an area of England about the same size as that of my vacation land - the ancient land of Northumbria - which is completely off the tourist trail. I thought it could be interesting to consider the sights, food and landmarks that might attract a more discerning adventurer to ...  Read the complete review

The majority of you will know Northumbria as a place “up there somewhere” in the far off North East of England where we talk funny, and are always wrapped up warm. It is a place that you drive through on your way to Scotland and never give a second thought to. If you are on a train, possibly you may wonder for a moment at the sight of all the wide unpopulated beaches, then drop your nose once again into your book and forget all about it. Let me introduce you to the secret kingdom of Northumbria, and for centuries it was indeed a kingdom in its own right, it was in fact two kingdoms, those of Benicia and Deria and formed in the 7th century. ...  Read the complete review

I couldn’t possibly sum up the whole of Northumberland in a short opinion, but it is one of the most beautiful and rugged counties in the country. It ‘s the final county before Scotland and although it never gets hugely hot and never has the weather ‘typical’ holidaymakers want, but the weather adds to the rugged and picturesque scenery. I want primarily to talk about Hadrians Wall running across Northumberland through to Cumbria, where the Romans kept the Scots out of their newly conquered England. However there is more in Northumberland than this. There are many castles and house, and if you’re a member of both English Heritage ...  Read the complete review

On the boarder with Scotland on the North East side of England Northumberland is a great place to visit. It is a national park, for obvious reasons, there is superb scenery of both country and coast, in fact when driving along many roads you have the sea to one side of you and unspoilt countryside to the other, quite an unusual view. Due to its national park status it is quite underdeveloped and there are lots of towns and small villages, there are very few large areas on inhabitation. One of the large towns that springs to mind is Alnwick, pronounced Anick. Alnwick has a very nice castle which is still inhabited and is open to the public. One thing which ...  Read the complete review