Northumberland National Park

'The Cheviot Hills felt like the heathered roof of the world'

The Telegraph

Home to the Cheviot Hills and considered by many to be England's finest national park, Northumberland National Park is certainly the most tranquil. Northumbrians are justifiably proud of this magnificent border country where Reiver clans once fought bloody battles for settlement rights. Today, the National Park is a landscape of serene rolling purple moorlands and undulating golden grassland. Flower-rich hay meadows abound with colour in June and July, whilst some of the cleanest rivers in Britain burst with salmon and trout. The park is also an important site of ancient woodlands, home to deer and red squirrel.

This great outdoors of open spaces and beautiful scenery stretches 60 miles from the Cheviot Hills bordering Scotland in the north to Hadrian's Wall Country in the south, with pretty towns and villages to explore in between. The gorse covered hills of the Breamish Valley near Ingram are the site of ancient Neolithic and Bronze Age hill forts and home to the picturesque Linhope Spout waterfall, whilst the beautiful cycling trails through Rothbury and Coquetdale and the long distance routes of the Pennine Cycleway and Reivers Cycle Route provide cycling experiences for all.

The wild Redesdale valley runs from the Scottish borders to Otterburn, a busy market town surrounded by fantastic walking and cycling country of uplands and expansive plains. Nearby, some of the best rock climbing in the country can be found at the spectacular Simonside Crags, whilst the wooded valleys of the North Tyne provide fantastic salmon fishing.

Useful Links

Northumberland National Park Website

Sustrans - The Pennine Cycleway

Reivers Cycle Route Guide