About Northumberland

While Newcastle is one of the best known student cities, the delights of Northumberland are certainly one of the country's best kept secrets.

North of Newcastle, the county of Northumberland, for centuries the scene of bitter border conflicts, has  more castles and peel towers (fortified buildings) than any other English county. Alnwick and Bamburgh castles are particular 'stars', both have featured in countless films. The World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall and the Roman settlements along its length, are a reminder of earlier strife. It straddles the region from the Tyne to the Solway and like the University of Northumbria links the people of the east and the west.

Northumberland is a county for outdoor pursuits, from skiing to cycling, from hang-gliding to hiking, from riding to rock climbing. Europe's largest man-made lake, Kielder Water, is the setting for watersports, while those of you who have watched the thrills and spills of the 'killer Kielder' stages of the RAC rally, will already know the charms of Kielder Forest. Northumbria University is just a short distance from Northumberland's most beautiful beaches.

The Farne Islands, with their bird reserve and colony of grey seals, and Holy Island, Lindisfarne, where St Aidan first brought Christianity to Northumbria, are just off the coast. The historic market town has a sports centre, including a swimming pool, a two screen cinema, and plenty of pubs and restaurants, shops and parks.

Northumberland is the only English county with its own musical instrument, the Northumbrian small pipes, and in Morpeth a unique collection of small pipes and other bagpipes is housed in the Chantry Bagpipe Museum. The town also has a splendid eighteenth century belltower, one of only eight of its kind in Great Britain. It still rings the curfew.