I haven’t been ‘up North’ very much on holiday and was a little sceptical about visiting Northumberland… cold, remote, not much to see… but WOW…. how wrong I was: such a beautiful, unspoilt place – I loved it!

All those wonderful beaches, free of ice-cream kiosks, litter and commercial outfits – I was in heaven. We were staying at Newton-by-the-Sea in one of the beautiful cottages at Link House Farm (http://www.linkhousefarm.co.uk) which was literally a minute’s walk to the beach through the dunes.

The whole area was beautiful – Alnwick Castle and Garden, The Farne Islands, the old ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle, the stunningly imposing Bamburgh Castle….

I almost don’t want to promote it too much in case it gets spoilt by too many visitors!!

See the gallery for images from our trip.

Nice one Northumberland! We’ll be back.