Bamburgh Beach
Bamburgh is one of the most spectacular and well-known beaches in the whole of Britain, a long sweep of pale sand on the Northumberland coast that is dominated by the enormous silhouette of Bamburgh Castle rising from its basalt outcrop at the northern end of the bay. The castle, one of the most imposing coastal fortifications in England, and the beach below it together create a scene of extraordinary visual drama that has made Bamburgh one of the most photographed locations in northern England. The beach extends for several kilometres to the south of the castle and provides wide, uncrowded sands even in the height of summer, when the relative remoteness of the Northumberland coast keeps visitor numbers well below those of the more accessible resorts further south.
The beach is backed by dunes and coastal grassland within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the views offshore to the Farne Islands provide constant interest. The Farnes, a cluster of low rocky islands lying just offshore, support one of the most important seabird colonies in Britain, with tens of thousands of puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and Arctic terns breeding on the islands each summer. The National Trust operates boat trips from the nearby harbour at Seahouses that allow visitors to land on Inner Farne and observe the seabirds at very close quarters, and the grey seal colony that hauls out on several of the islands is among the largest in Europe.
The village of Bamburgh is one of the most attractive on the Northumberland coast, its quiet streets of stone cottages clustering around the castle mound with a church that contains the tomb of Grace Darling, the lighthouse keeper's daughter who became a Victorian national heroine for her role in rescuing survivors from the wrecked Forfarshire steamer in 1838. The Grace Darling Museum in the village tells her story in full.
The wider Northumberland coast provides miles of additional walking and beach exploration, with Holy Island (Lindisfarne) accessible by causeway to the north and the dunes and nature reserves of Druridge Bay extending to the south.