Christmas in Northumberland: Alnmouth

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Busy beach on Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we thought we’d have a quiet beach walk in Alnmouth, but it seems many other people had the same idea. I thought they’d all be at home cooking their turkeys! However, as is often the case, once we got away from the main beach we lost almost everybody.

We started by looking at the tiny museum in an old fisherman’s hut, said to be one of the smallest in the country. Next to it was the ubiquitous Little Free Library – the choice here was fairly decent. Directly opposite was Church Hill, a grassy knoll with a cross and a ruined Victorian Chapel. Our guidebook said this was an unbeatable vantage point and so we made it the aim of our walk.

Now you might think, looking at the gallery above, that it was an easy hop, skip and a jump to get over there, and at one time it would have been. However, in 1806 a huge storm destroyed the church which then existed and diverted the course of the River Aln which now lay between us and the hill. This gave us a round trip of six miles – some of the things we saw along the way are shown in the gallery below.

At the base of the hill we found the ruined chapel with some fine carving.

Then we had a brief climb to the top of the hill which, we agreed with our guidebook, was an unbeatable vantage point with views over Alnmouth and out to sea.

From the hill we retraced our steps back to Alnmouth with its festive phone box and an open pub – which we resisted because now we had to get back to the cottage to start cooking our Christmas dinner.

The next day was the last of our break and we went to Warkworth.

Linked to Jo’s Monday Walk.

England, UK , ,

54 Comments »

  4. Nice little walk Anabel. We visited Alnmouth during our holiday in Northumberland but it rained a lot of day so we only managed a short walk and we saw the fishermen hut.

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  5. Six miles is a long detour for a walk! You have more energy than I do. At least you got in some good exercise and beautiful views before your Christmas dinner. As for me, Christmas day is always a lazy day, and I never seem to work off any of the calories I consume.

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  6. It’s certainly not a boa constrictor on that beach, but I failed to figure out what was in the foreground in that photo. The thought of a boa constrictor somewhat coloured my reading of your walk about Alnmouth.

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  7. Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : Culatra, again! | Still Restlessjo

  9. For wet feet you could have been there way sooner!! Perhaps in the summer. Those ruins are beautiful with that carving and someone outdid themselves on the phone box. We were just explaining to our 9 and 7 year old grandchildren what phone boxes were today! Bernie

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  10. Someone was creative in decorating the phone box. You looked well-dressed to enjoy the walk. Even in the cold, it looked well worth the effort. Independent museums have more local depth than the huge city museums. We have a few here dotted around the countryside.

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  13. That hill and cross made it into one of my posts. We decided against trying to reach it though. I do recollect having a nice pie in a pub there, not the Sun Inn, one further into the town. We also visited Warkworth and the castle.

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    • It was worth it for the view at the end but not the most interesting of walks. I hadn’t been to Alnmouth since I was a teenager probably, early twenties at most, and I had forgotten how pretty it was. I wouldn’t have been up the hill though – definitely not the sort of thing mum and dad would do!

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  16. I’ve noticed that with Scottish beaches. It’s very hard to get any beach alone, unless it’s very well hidden, without the public on it nowadays. It’s very much in fashion as something to do. 20 years ago you could walk beach after beach all over the country and get most empty. Which is the way I enjoy them more admittedly… when there’s only a few other folk on it… in the far, far distance! Perfection :o). Bob. BSS

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  19. 35 years ago we stayed in the Sun Inn with our then 6 month old son. It was bitter cold in those dunes but I have very fond memories of the place. We’ve only been back once, and were staying at Seahouses at the time, but Warkworth is my absolute favourite destination on that coast, so I’ll enjoy next week. Many thanks for the link, Anabel xx only

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  20. My word you certainly had a lovely Christmas Day filled with all those sights and views. It all looks so interesting with your great photos telling the stories. Love those carvings on the chapel.

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  21. Hi Anabel – brought back some memories … of a hot, hot stay in ??? year – long, long ago! Warkworth – I featured in my A -Z of Castles … it was known as a feeble castle in the 1100s … I’m sure you enjoyed. This looks to be a wonderful Christmas Day walk around Alnmouth – cheers Hilary

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  22. Shortly before Lockdown we stayed in Alnmouth, and pretty near that little museum. But the Little Free Library wasn’t there then. I’d have noticed it for sure if it were, as I can never pass one without a good rummage.

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  23. That viewpoint is definitely worth the effort. There’s a framed article from 2008 in the Ferryman’s Hut that refers to the mortuary chapel:

    “The roof has been deliberately removed because the deserted building was being used for most undesirable practices.”

    I can only imagine. 😂

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  24. Alnmouth was one of the places I liked best when I camped in that area, I was very impressed especially where the river flows out to the sea. Those colourful houses overlooking the estuary were the main reason for going there as I’d seen a picture of them somewhere, however I found they were located down a private alleyway with no public access but a lovely elderly gentleman watering the flowers in his end garden very kindly opened the gate so I could go in and take some photos. The houses were lovely with very pretty gardens and a great view over the river.

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