Five Go On A Flock Holiday In North East England
Published On Sunday 30 Oct 2022 by Sticky Beak
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Well, what a whirlwind week that was!! The Man Bird and I have been to Northumberland many times before, as you know, but Mummy Bird never has, so we rented a cottage in Alnmouth to use as our base and gadded about like our lives depended on it. Nothing will ever compare to my beloved Derbyshire, but I defy anyone not to be beguiled by the beauty of Northumberland!
This county boasts some of the most scenic coastline in Britain and loads of beaches to enjoy, some of which have imposing castles presiding over them. Little towns have quaysides and harbours where boats land the finest of fish and seafood hauls that their restaurants make the most of, as do I actually; pass me some Crab or Kippers and I’ll have the biggest smile on my face! You get a friendly welcome wherever you go, and if you pop into any cafe or tearoom you get drawn in to conversations as you munch away. Yep, there’s a lot to explore and experience in this wonderful part of the world, and His Nibs couldn’t wait to introduce my Mummy Bird to his home county.
After arriving at our gorgeous cottage in Alnmouth, unpacking (ugh!) and taking poocharama out for a good, long walk to stretch his legs out from being sat down in the car we looked at each other and said “shall we go exploring in the village?”. No sooner had the words been uttered than we all got our coats and boots on and headed out of the door! A few metres down, on the same side of the road as LittleCroft (our temporary residence), is the aptly named ‘Village Tea Room’ and it looks very quaint and appealing from the pavement, so we headed in.
Under the sheltered courtyard roof were a few tables that had dogs at them, so you can definitely bring your furry friend with you and be out of the elements if they decide to not play ball. Inside, you can’t bring dogs, but to be honest the old building isn’t the roomiest, so you’d struggle for them to be sat comfortably and be out of the way anyhow.
We bagged a table beside the window and one of the friendly team said that they’d be with us shortly to take our order. Once the large group of walkers that had come in just before us had been sorted out, she did indeed come back and note down what we fancied: 2 black coffees and tea for two, along with a pair of Fruit Scones with Jam and Cream, a slice of Chocolate Cake and a piece of Coffee Cake.
Though His Nibs and Fledge would beg to differ as they sipped their coffees, you just can’t beat a good old cuppa to slake your thirst. Mummy and I sighed happily as we took our first drink, the hot, steeped liquids’ full flavour hitting our taste buds and satisfying our senses.
The Scones were a good size, had plenty of fruit in them, and were a beautiful texture but I would’ve liked a bit more Jam in the bowl that sat between Mummy Bird and I. There was plenty of Cream to spread on the Scones, but not quite enough Strawberry Jam; I don’t know if I’m being fussy or if it’s because I was hungry and it wasn’t quite time for dinner. Anyhow, what we did have was delicious and quelled any hunger pangs that had threatened to gain in strength, so all was ‘good in da hood’, as they say.
Both The Man Bird and Fledge said that their cakes were a generous sized portion, perfect for munchies at any time of day. The Chocolate cake was indeed very Chocolatey and the Coffee Variety had a distinct coffee taste, so no complaints about that; the texture was also spot-on, according to my pair of cake connoisseurs.
The next day saw us all bouncing along Alnmouth beach and then heading out to Warkworth beach, so by the time evening cam around you can imagine that we really didn’t feel like cooking! Hurrah for being bang next door to a gastro pub, The Hope and Anchor, that happens to do takeout Fish and Chips. Geordie Bird is notorious in our Flock for saying “do they do small portions?” – when we visit, it’s the first thing we have to bloody look for on a venue’s menu! Thankfully, they do a small fish (£5) at the Hope and Anchor so that’s what she had (although if they didn’t she’d have been sorting herself out whilst we all scoffed Saturday nights’ iconic British meal); Mummy had a normal sized fish (£8) and the pair of them shared a portion of chips (£3). I know it’s perverse, but I was sniggering when I saw that the small fish was the size of a whale! The regular fish is the size of the ‘Shire, but I knew that Mummy Bird would manage to scoff it (she’d sacrifice the chips if needs be). His Nibs, me and Fledge had regular Fish n Chips (£11) and I just fancied a tub of Aioli (60p). Blooming delicious our fishy feast was, too; so good in fact, that we decided to book a table for later in the week to dine in at the Hope and Anchor. For now though, we polished off the absolutely stunning batter (ridiculously crisp and crunchy), sweet, firm-fleshed fish and superbly flavoursome chips before settling in to watch some TV.
We had a bimble over to the Sunday Market at Amble, partaking of a cheeky Scone and brew at The Old Boat House which we were visiting for dinner on our last evening of the holiday. Again the scones were hitting the spot for us all, though this time we just had them with jam and butter as we were having Sunday Roasts a bit later on and didn’t want to over-indulge(?!). There was plenty of tea in the pot for Mummy and me: two and a half cups each to be precise, and it was a good, strong brew too. We’d booked for Sunday Roast at the Wellwood Arms in Amble as we’d taken GB there before and knew they did small portions! The car park isn’t the largest but we got a spot ok, and headed down the stairs into the venue. Now, I can have a hot flush with the best of them, but it made my blood-rushes seem positively Baltic; the heat hit us in a wave, and I had to chuckle as I spied one table fanning themselves when I paid a visit to the loos! We chomped our way through our laden plates and then headed back to Alnmouth for a relaxed evening playing cards.
Review Of The Wellwood Arms
Seeing as Mummy Bird hadn’t been to Northumberland before we couldn’t leave out a visit to Lindisfarne/ Holy Island, so we headed out in the jalopy with doggo in tow, hoping to have lunch in the Manor Hotel again.
Review Of The Manor House Hotel
Newbiggin-By-The-Sea is GB’s local beach so she went home whilst we took Mummy to see the Sculptures out at sea and then went, with Pooch, to see our friend, Michelle, in her fantastic Café, The Endeavour.
Review Of The Endeavour
Having bidden farewell to Michelle we had another mooch along the beach and had a cheeky coffee at Caffe Bertorelli, then we all jumped in the car and dropped poochy off at GB’s before setting off for a spot of retail therapy at Royal Quays outlet.
Unfortunately it was a short visit; since our last visit the amount of shops has decreased a lot and nothing floated our boat. You can’t keep us down for long though, and the thought of some scrummy food for dinner at Dodgin’s Yard on the Quayside at North Shields soon had us smiling again.
Review Of Dodgins Yard
Bamburgh Castle is stunning but it’s the beach that gets my heart racing! I think this is possibly my favourite beach in the world, because you can huddle down in the dunes amongst the sea grasses or let your toes sink in the soft, golden sand as you walk along the stunning coastline. His royal poochiness was having a right old time ripping up seaweed that had washed ashore and attacking the waves as they broke, which made Mummy giggle. There’s something about sea air that soon makes you hungry and we made our way up into the village, hoping to grab a spot at our usual haunt, The Copper Kettle, but Lady Luck was not on our side. I’m happy to say that The Copper Kettle isn’t the only dog-friendly venue in Bamburgh though, so if you find yourself in the same predicament just head up the road to the Castle Inn. As well as being super welcoming and having a seriously gorgeous venue, Chef produces some seriously scrummy food; sometimes things work out for the good, don’t they?
Review Of The Castle Inn
After such a full-on day we were glad that we’d booked a table at The Hope and Anchor in Alnmouth; we were literally staying in the cottage next door (Little Croft) so at least our little legs didn’t have far to walk!! Another fantastic meal was had by all, not least me because I’d managed to bag a double portion of Moules for my main course None of us took much rocking to sleep that night, I can tell you!!
Review Of The Hope & Anchor
Thankfully we had a calmer day planned after our adventures in Bamburgh, consisting of a leisurely stroll into the Alnmouth Gift Shop for a few bits (including a ‘Geordiemory’ coaster for me). We were in luck, as the ladies were putting out their festive stock, so Mummy bought a pack of RNLI charity cards. Unless you live by the coast, you might not be aware that the Coastguard/Lifeboats are actually our 4th emergency service; you dial 999 as usual for an emergency and state ‘coastguard’ if you need their help. Unlike the other services, the lifeboats are largely funded by public donations and crewed by volunteers, which is why we always try to support them by buying products they profit from – please do the same if you can, you never know when you might need them on holiday.
Having bought some goodies we then took a short hop across the road into the Tea Cosy Tea Room for a cuppa and slice of cake. I’m just grateful that holiday calories don’t count; they don’t, do they?! Before you all judge me, I just want to say that we had elevenses because we were skipping lunch as we’d booked for dinner at The Old Boat House in Amble that evening. Mummy and I had the Toffee and Chocolate cake, His Nibs had the Biscoff morsel; Fledge had piked out on us, preferring to stay home and keep pooch company. The cakes were huge slices and had delightfully light textures that melted in our mouths; both types had generous amount of frosting on their tops and thick filling in the centre, so they were certainly going to keep us going until the evening. And yes, the teapots did come with cosies on their top as the tea room name suggests.
Despite our original intention to take it easy, we found ourselves in the jalopy heading up to Longhoughton beach. This isn’t on the regular tourist route, and you have to navigate through a working farm and down the track to reach it, but it’s a stunning little spot that’s well worth the effort. Wherever you go there’s a bit of quirkiness to be found, and we found our nugget here; there’s an honesty box located in the wall at the side of the farm gate that it’s recommended you put £1 in for using the farms road, and the money goes to the local church and community.
Whilst we’d gadding about I spotted a sign advertising Rapeseed Oil for sale from another farm and His Nibs kindly drove us all out there, to Buston Barn Farm, which turned our to be one of those crazy, magical mystery tours! I’d assumed (yes, I know what assumption is the mother of, thank you!) that the sign would be for a farm in close proximity rather than the good couple of miles down twisty turny tracks that it was – I was not popular, I can tell you. The Rapeseed Oil was worth it though: literally liquid gold. By the time came round for our meal at The Old Boat House in Amble we’d worked up pretty ferocious appetites and thankfully Chef came good with his superb offerings.
Review Of The Old Boathouse
Although our week of gadding about had come and end and all that remained was to pack our suitcases ready to depart in the morning, we were all buoyed up by the bank of great memories we’d made together as a flock. Northumberland, you’d stolen our hearts again and Mummy Bird said that she wished she could go back in time and relive the week!
Find More Places To Eat In North East England
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