NORTHUMBERLAND

As the tide retreats from the Northumberland coast, and sandbanks begin to appear, listen as the seals start to sing. A keening wail, like the wind whistling through an empty hall, it’s a chorus both strange and beautiful; a perfect soundtrack to this wild stretch of coastline.

Running for 40 miles between Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Amble, and designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1958, the Northumberland coast is a wild-lifelover’s paradise, where puffins skim the waters of the North Sea for sand eels, roe deer pick their way through wildflower meadows on Holy Island and dolphins swim off Embleton Bay. Onshore, ringed plovers and sand lizards build nests in Northumberland’s dune-backed beaches, loomed over by castles such as Bamburgh and Alnwick: fortresses that speak of more turbulent times, when the area was of huge strategic importance to both England and Scotland — from 1400 to almost 1700, Northumberland was a battleground.

With the annals of history explored, head to a pub for hearty fare and lively conversation, where menus typically revolve around regional fish and you’ll likely taste the