Northumberland is one of the least populated counties in the UK
Things To Do
Watch the skies in an alternative way at Skyspace, a circular room that is illuminated by a combination of natural and artificial light to provide a constantly changing display of tone and colour. Close to the Kielder Observatory, Skyspace is an art and architecture installation to see during holidays near Kielder Water and Forest Park in Northumberland.
Visit Ashington and go to Woodhorn Museum, a celebration of Northumberland’s mining heritage, on your caravan holidays. Here, you can explore the Grade II listed colliery buildings and learn about life underground in this former mining community.
Take in the sights along Hadrian’s Wall when you visit Northumberland, either walking the National Trail, cycling along the designated cycle route, or by rail, using the Hadrian’s Wall Country Line that links Newcastle and Carlisle. Chesters Roman Fort and Museum, Carrawburgh, Housesteads Fort and Vindolanda are all worthy Roman attractions along the way.
If walking the length of Hadrian’s Wall feels just too much, try the Lakeside Way multi-user trail. The 26-mile path encircles Kielder Water’s shoreline and is suitable for mobility scooters, wheelchairs and pushchairs in addition to walkers, cyclists and horseriders. Naturally, the route provides fantastic views of the water.
Enjoy a boat ride from Seahouses to the nearby Farne Islands and Longstone Lighthouse, where the father of Victorian heroine Grace Darling was the lighthouse keeper. There in 1838, at the age of 22 years, she rescued survivors from the stricken paddle steamer, SS Forfarshire. The RNLI Grace Darling Museum in nearby Bamburgh is dedicated to her.
Getting There
If you’re heading to Northumberland for your caravan holidays, what’s the best route to take when towing? The M1 motorway is one of the quickest routes from the south, which runs as far as Leeds. From there on, the A1(M) picks up direct to Newcastle and the predominantly single carriageway A1 thereafter to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Travelling east-west, the A69 between Carlisle and Newcastle-upon-Tyne provides scenic cross-country touring to reach the southern areas of Northumberland, while the A68 gets right into the heart of the county, crossing the Cheviot Hills. Consideration should be taken of weather conditions for both these exposed routes during winter and when blustery.
You’ll find rural country lanes to be considerably quieter than in other parts of the country, particularly in the more remote areas of the Pennines, so be mindful of this if you choose to visit Northumberland on your caravan holidays.
There are plenty of good campsites in Northumberland.
