Alnmouth

I mentioned in my last post that we'd just come back from a week away in beautiful Northumberland. Well, it's actually three weeks ago now and I'm only just getting around to writing about it.  I have several posts to share of the things we saw, though not necessarily in the order we saw them!

After our holiday last year I couldn't wait to go back as I'd loved Northumberland so much: all that rolling countryside and spectacular coastline. We chose to stay in exactly the same cottage in Alnwick and the weather gods blessed us again with bright, sunny conditions for most of the week.

First up is Alnmouth which is only a 15 minute drive from Alnwick and with plenty of parking for only £1.50 next to the beach.

John Wesley is reported to have described it as a 'small seaport town, famous for all kinds of wickedness'! Thankfully, none of that was in evidence on the day of our visit! Instead, it's a picturesque little place bordered by the sea and the estuary of the river Aln.

After a walk on the beach, we headed up to the main street to explore.

Lots of lovely, old stone buildings dating mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries.

This is a former school and is now home to an art gallery.

Time for some lunch at the Village Tearooms and I couldn't resist trying a ham stottie which turned out to be a large bread roll. Here in Lancashire, the nearest equivalent is what we would call an oven bottom.

Back outside and we headed down towards the harbour. The small hill is known as Church Hill and was once the site of the village church, now marked only with a cross. Originally the hill was part of the village but a violent storm in 1806 changed the course of the river, cutting it off.

We were mesmerised by the masses of poppies, the most I'd ever seen up to that point, though we were to see more later in the week.

There used to be fishing boats here but now it's mainly pleasure boats.

The Ferry Hut is actually a small heritage centre and gallery! It's about 100 years old.

The beach was calling so we headed back down, passing the golf course on the way which, as you can see, claims to be the oldest nine hole links course in England. Golf, yawn.

Beautiful beach.

In the distance is Coquet Island which is an RSPB reserve and home to thousands of nesting birds, mostly puffins, terns and eider ducks.

I loved all the patterns on this pebble though I've no idea what creature caused them. Is it bird poo or something more interesting? In any case, it came home with me, as did the crab claw.

This one, which reminded me of an alien, stayed behind.

We really loved Alnmouth with its pretty buildings and gorgeous coastline. So much so that, desperate to see the sea before we headed back to our landlocked home, we drove out on our final evening as the sun was starting to go down.

The tide was out this time.

Sigh, I wish I was standing on that beach today. Alnmouth was definitely one of our favouite places and somewhere I'd go back to in a heartbeat.

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Hope you're enjoying the glorious weather this weekend in the UK. Yesterday we met up with some friends in Wrenbury, a small village in Cheshire. This farm was opposite the pub where we had lunch.

My favourite thing though was this book swap in an old telephone box!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x