11. May River Breamish , Powburn, Northumberland

May 2011 River Breamish Caravan Club site, Powburn, Northumberland

About an hour’s drive from Newcastle, my hometown, this site is wonderful. It’s got a great ‘away from it all’ feel though I wouldn’t say it was completely peaceful because of all the bird noise. There are low flying geese coming from the old quarries nearby and so many other sorts of birds. (There are also low flying RAF planes too) There’s an abundance of wild life- it’s not every site where you can see a hare calmly lolloping about  and the nature walk by the river Breamish  has pheasants and rabbits and you feel as if you are miles from anywhere when you’re walking there. There’s a pub in Powburn about a mile away but it’s a nice walk and a well-stocked Londis supermarket and garage about half a mile from the site if you need newspapers or shopping. You’re in the National Park there and the scenery is fantastic- I am a bit biased- but you can cycle and walk the Breamish valley, the Cheviots, go to Alnwick and the coast and castles of Northumberland from here. We were lucky with the weather and the sea looked so blue, you could feel like swimming in it (but only if you wanted hypothermia!)  We bought kippers in Craster and had envious looks from other campers as we cooked them outside for breakfast. We had friends staying with us in their caravan so we had trips out with them to Berwick and along the coast. We spent time in Alnwick – a super little place for poking about shops though we didn’t go into the castle or Alnwick gardens….the price was a bit off putting. Alnwick castle is magnificent however and a good view can be had from down by the river. The castles of Northumberland are well worth visiting, even if you don’t go inside them  and we went to Dunstanburgh and  Bamburgh . You can get a boat trip out to the Farne islands from Seahouses but we’ve done that before and also go to Holy Island ( check the tide tables first)
 
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River Breamish

We were so lucky- we saw a lamb being born. The black face ewe is helping the mother clean it.

Where we saw the lamb- and talked to the shepherd

Alnwick Castle

Farne islands from Seahouses

Bamburgh Castle



A well earned rest after cycling and walking to Linhope Spout waterfall



Linhope Spout



Dunstanburgh Castle







Seahouses

                                                    



This is a video of the sheep cleaning the new born lamb- isn't nature wonderful?
 ( apologies for the backgound wind noise)