Embleton Bay Northumberland
Embleton Bay on the Northumberland coast near Alnwick is one of the finest and most dramatically set beaches on the northeast coast of England, a broad arc of sand between the village of Embleton and the low headland of Newton Point that provides the finest view of Dunstanburgh Castle of any point on the coast, the great fourteenth-century ruins rising on their basalt outcrop above the southern end of the bay in a profile of considerable drama against the Northumberland sky. The combination of the beach quality, the castle view and the coastal walking connecting Embleton Bay to the wider Northumberland coastal landscape makes it one of the most rewarding beach and heritage visits in the northeast.
The beach extends for approximately two miles between the golf course dunes at the Embleton end and the rocky foreshore at Newton Point, the sand backed by dunes of considerable height that shelter the beach from the prevailing winds and create the enclosed character that gives the bay its particular appeal. The dune grassland behind the beach provides habitat for characteristic coastal flora and the rock pools at the Newton end provide marine life interest at low tide.
The walk south from Embleton Bay along the coast to Craster via the Dunstanburgh Castle headland is one of the finest short coastal walks in Northumberland, the castle approached from the north providing the most dramatic initial view of the ruins and the coastal scenery of the Low Newton-by-the-Sea coast providing excellent walking before and after the castle.