Monday 11 August 2014

A trip to Dunstaburgh Castle & Craster

We decided to take a family day out to Dunstaburgh Castle during our trip to Northumberland.

The castle is north of the village of Craster.  We parked in a car park in the village (£2 to park all day) and took a lovely walk to the castle.  It was a glorious day so put lots of sun cream on Baby M, put him in his pushchair and got walking.  We went with my mum, dad and their dog Maddie too.  A true family day out.

The walk to the castle is lovely, through fields along the coast line.  The fields had sheep and cows in, they didn't seem bothered by people walking by.  Dogs must be kept on their leads






Dunstaburgh Castle was the focus of fighting during the War of the Roses.  It was build in 1313 by Earl Thomas of Lancaster.

You don't have to go into the castle grounds to admire its wonder however as English Hertiage members we got in for free.  Adult tickets cost £4.30, Child £2.60 and under 5's are free.




There were nesting sea birds (which were creating one hell of a racket) but it was great watching them flying to their nests.

It takes about 35 minutes to walk around the ruins of the castle and the views into the sea are amazing

You can also walk up into the 2 turrets of the keep.  The steps are spiral and get tighter as you go up so I only went about half way as heights aren't my thing






We then decided to walk to the beach.

If you do go to the castle and then the beach don't do what we did and forget the baby carrier.  It was really difficult along parts of the path with the pushchair and my dad and Mr M ended up lifting it over rocky parts.  We then got to the point where Mr M just carried Baby M and we folded up the pushchair.

It was worth it though as the beach was lovely.  Plus saying it was the school holidays and a glorious day it wasn't that busy either.  We had a lovely picnic.

This was the first time Baby M had been on a proper sandy beach.  It was also the first time he stood in the sea.  My parent's dog loved it too





We walked back to Craster and had a lovely cup of tea and cake in the Shoreline cafe, whilst we were in the cafe the local Sea King flew by and the crew gave us all a wave.

I would definitely recommend this as a day out for the family.  There is so much to see and do.  We walked 10 miles, according to my Fitbit.

We had a great time


This post has been added to Coombe Mill's #CountryKids link and Red Rose Mummy's #WHWH.  Go check what other families have been up to for great ideas for days out.







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