One of the UK’s best seaside walks includes stunning beaches, fascinating castles, and great village pubs along the way. The route starts in Beadnell, Northumberland, going south along the coast path past Newton-by-the-Sea to Craster. It takes around three hours to walk the eight miles.
Beadnell is a tiny village, beloved by watersports fanatics for its sheltered beach. Here you can kite surf, kayak, wakeboard and more. It is also the only west-facing harbour on the east coast where wild salmon and sea trout can still be caught. Continuing south, the area is part of the Northumberland Coast National Landscape, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covering 40 miles of coastline from Berwick-Upon-Tweed to the River Coquet estuary. Next is Newton-by-the-Sea, a small village split into two, with: A pub, The Ship Inn; a beach, Football Hole; and a National Trust wildlife reserve, Embleton and Newton Links.
The pub is the perfect place to stop halfway through the walk. It has a stunning view of the beach and sea, and serves lobster straight from the Bay in the summer.
South of the village is Dunstanburgh Castle, a 14th-century fortification on the coast between the villages of Craster and Embleton. It was built between 1313 and 1322, taking advantage of the site’s natural defences and the existing earthworks of an Iron Age fort.
The castle also served as a statement of the 2nd Earl of Lancaster’s wealth and influence. He probably only visited his finished castle once, before being captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 and executed.
Not far away is the village of Craster. It is famous for its kippers, which are still smoked locally by L. Robson & Sons and reportedly popular with the Royal Family.
Craster is a quiet village with the former smuggling cove of Rumbling Kern, bird spotting at the Arnold Memorial Nature Reserve, and local art at The Mick Oxley Gallery to keep visitors busy.
The walk ends at The Jolly Fisherman in Craster, a “world-famous” seafood restaurant on the Northumberland coast serving fresh catches from the area.
Most of the seafood is from North Shields, but lobster is brought by fishermen straight from the village harbour to the pub, when available, totalling about 70 lobsters across the summer.