Christmas in Northumberland: Boulmer
As we did when walking to Dunstanburgh, on day three of our Christmas break we left the car at home and walked the coastal path, this time in the opposite direction to Boulmer (pronounced Boomer). Near the beginning of the walk we detoured up a small hill to an Iron Age defended settlement, or hillfort, built between 2000 and 3000 years ago (above). It doesn’t look much but you can make out the circular bowl partially surrounded by the remains of a stone and earth rampart. Roman coins and fragments of iron sword blades were found here in the 19th century.
After the fort there was a succession of pretty bays along the coast, though it was windy and chilly so we didn’t stop for many photographs.
As we neared Boulmer we came across some unusual bird life, I think made by the local farmer out of scrap metal.
Our object in Boulmer was lunch – we had read very good reviews of the Fishing Boat Inn and it did not disappoint. Boulmer was once legendary for its smugglers with the Inn allegedly the centre of the illicit activities. By this time we had very clarty boots so made sure to use the provided boot-scraper before we went in.
There was not much else to look at in Boulmer. I liked the red boat and the row of street furniture, including a Little Free Library. These seemed to be very popular in the area: we came across several.
After lunch we retraced our steps back to Howick, this time stopping to admire the Bathing House, another rental cottage owned by the Howick Estate. Built in the early 19th century by the 2nd Earl Grey it was intended for his 15 children to stay in when bathing in the sea below.
Given that the sea below is known as Rumbling Kern, and looked quite wild, I’m not sure how often I would encourage children to go swimming there!
From here it was a short walk back to our own cottage and another cosy night in. The following day we headed for Newton-by-the-Sea.
Linked to Jo’s Monday Walk.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
The landscape looks cold & gray and the sea looks wild. It is what I would expect for Christmas in Scotland.
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We did get a couple of brighter days, but yes, that time of year can often be grey.
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Beautiful photos. Thank you so much for sharing, and warm greetings from Montreal, Canada ❤️ 😊 🇨🇦
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Thank you Linda! Sending greetings back.
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That’s a very pretty house, but I don’t think that beach looks like a safe place to swim!
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No it doesn’t! Maybe it’s different in summer.
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These little sculptures are very nice. Great photos of the sea as well.
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The bird sculptures are cute!
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The pub sign made me smile but the metal birds are favourite especially the one on the right, he looks quite cute 😊
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The birds cheered us up at a point where the wind was blowing right through us! Although we weren’t far from the pub then so we soon got a warm up.
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Looks beautiful there! Nice to see these lush pictures while snow piles up outside my window.
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Ah well, lush = wet = muddy. But I’d still rather have that than snow!
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Aren’t those metal birds great. Someone’s been having some fun.
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Someone creative! Amazing what you can do with a bit of scrap metal.
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I liked the sign too though at first sight I thought it might have something to do with New Zealand rugby. It is a beautiful stretch of coast.
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You’re funny! And yes, it is a beautiful stretch of coast.
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I had the same thought as you about bathing in that sea below Bathing Cottage! No way. Loved the LFL. I keep saying I’m going to build one for our neighborhood, then never get around to it.
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Yes, you have to wonder about allowing his children to swim there! I have mixed feelings about the LFLs, of which we saw quite a few in Northumberland. Some were obviously repositories for any old tat.
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I find that as well. I donated a bunch of my books to LFLs in target areas. But looking through some I come across reveals stuff that people just can’t bring themselves to toss in the garbage where it belongs!
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I will show one rather like that in a later post.
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Nice hike. (Suzanne)
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Thanks – it was!
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Wonderful photos. Loving that sea 😀 I might have passed Boulmer once on the way to Newcastle. We took the coastal route down one time and it was great. One to visit during the summer holidays 😀
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Thanks. That whole coast is lovely.
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I love those quirky birds. That put. Smile on my face…great folk art. There is so much history here and the moody landscape makes me think there has to be a ghost or 3 roaming around. I would love to get a metal detector and try it out at that ancient site.
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The birds were certainly quirky! There might well be some smugglers’ ghosts in that Inn …
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I love those scrap metal birds! And as to swimming in Rumbling Kern — maybe some days it is calmer? Or he wanted less than 15 children? English pubs have some amazing food these days don’t they. Clarty is a new to me word — muddy? wet?
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The birds brightened up possibly the dullest section of the path! I did wonder if he still had 15 children after sending them into that sea. And yes, pubs have really upped their game. Clarty is muddy, noun clarts.
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Must admit reading that sign left me scratching my head over many of the words!
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I grew up in North East England so I can hear it all in my head.
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Something about a winters walk that makes you feel more alive. I bet your cottage would’ve been an oasis after that walk by the Rumbling Kern. What a name 😉
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A winter walk certainly blows the cobwebs away! And yes, it was nice to get back to a cosy cottage – one of the cosiest we’ve stayed in.
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Like the scrap metal sculptures. Given it was Christmas the weather could have been worse, and fields all white rather than green. It’s a funny old UK at the moment. Widespread flooding in the south east of England and Midlands, Massive flooding in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, Snow falling for several months in the north east and Aberdeenshire and mild and green here in the west all winter so far.. Bob. BSS.
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The weather was not at all bad – dull mostly, but apart from the first day not wet. We do seem to have dodged a lot of bullets here but the climate is definitely awry elsewhere.
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How lovely. We also went there for lunch but had to drive tm as Hugo cant walk far. Missed the metal birds , the bathing house etc. However when we got to the Inn we were told we would have to walk back along the road to access the beach to get to the back of the pub as dogs weren’t allowed inside. We could sit outside the back and enjoy the view whilst eating lunch though, luckily it was a sunny dry day in May.
Clarty boots! What a brilliant phrase. 🙂
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Yes, their dog policy was strict. I wouldn’t have fancied eating my lunch outside in December, but there was a couple with a dog at a small table by the entrance – I think they just had coffee though, so wouldn’t have been lingering long.
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I love that sign! And I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with Margaret.
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Glad you like the sign, I wasn’t sure how well it would be appreciated except by maybe Jo! Blog comments can send you off on all sorts of tangents. I never asked my mother why she used that phrase but Margaret prompted me to find out. I suppose I just took it as one of her many eccentricities!
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The metal birds are wonderful! I like the look of the Bathing House, it’s a lovely cottage but there’s no way I’d go swimming in Rumbling Kern.
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The birds were a surprise! The Bathing House is too big for us (I think it sleeps 6) but it would be lovely to stay there and WATCH the sea. Definitely not go in it …
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Looks a great walk and hope the lunch was good.
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Lunch was excellent! A really nice place.
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The Fishing Boat Inn is just what a coastal pub should be imho! Amd I love the clarty boots sign 😀
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Good food with a sea view! And friendly staff too.
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Nay lass – I thought ‘clarty’ were a right Yorkshire word. ‘Appen not.
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Clarty is definitely a north-east England thing too! Here we’d say clatty.
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Whoever claims it, it’s a good word.
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Clarts – you can just hear the sticky ooziness in the word.
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Certainly can!
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Clarty is definitely a Geordie word, I hear it a lot up there and Chris sometimes uses it 😀
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I’ll go to the foot of our stairs! (Liverpool?)
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My mum (Scottish) used that phrase a lot so I looked it up. It seems one of the people who used it was Liverpudlian comedian Tommy Handley in “It’s That Man Again (ITMA), a BBC radio comedy programme which ran from 1939 to 1949.” Now I know where she got it from!
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That figures. Malcolm’s parents apparently said it a lot (Liverpudlian to the core).
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Mum always said it in a different accent to her own – might have been an attempt at Liverpudlian but I didn’t recognise it as such!
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Loved the instructions to use boot scraper! I’m copying it to stick by my back door!!
Just standing near an Iron Age settlement is enough for me …and my imaginings of all the history that has happened there. I feel more than see when surrounded by history.
I much prefer the sea, beach and coast shown in your header photo to the one at Rumbling Kern!
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The instructions are funny! Not sure what you would be seeing in the header – it changes randomly and I think there are at least two coastal ones, I can’t remember exactly . I see mountains at the moment.
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I had no idea that the headers change! The scene was a beautiful beach and the photo taken from the top of the cliff…. any sunny, seaside scene is welcome at this time of year!
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I think that one is Guernsey.
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I think it would be a major mistake to go swimming at Rumbling Kern.
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I would definitely agree! Even if calm it would be bitterly cold.
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I don’t know Boulmer as well as the rest of that coast, Anabel, so thanks for taking me there. We’ve been known to leave our boots in the passage or on the doorstep of pubs before today. Not lost a pair yet! xx
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Yes, we’ve done that too! But in this case we just followed the instructions and cleaned the clarts off on the boot scraper provided.
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