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Photo: Tim Simpson, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Dramatic ruin of a 14th century castle on the cliffs north of Craster.
Dunstanburgh Castle is a 14th-century fortification on the coast of Northumberland in northern England, between the villages of Craster and Embleton. The castle was built by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster between 1313 and 1322, taking advantage of the site's natural defences and the existing earthworks of an Iron Age fort. Thomas was a leader of a baronial faction opposed to King Edward II, and probably intended Dunstanburgh to act as a secure refuge, should the political situation in southern England deteriorate. The castle also served as a statement of the Earl's wealth and influence and would have invited comparisons with the neighbouring royal castle of Bamburgh. Thomas probably only visited his new castle once, before being captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 as he attempted to flee royal forces for the safety of Dunstanburgh. Thomas was executed, and the castle became the property of the Crown before passing into the Duchy of Lancaster.
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Arboretum and gardens, and you also visit the ground floor of the Hall.
A stout defensive castle built from 1096 that transitioned into a stately home in the 15th century, but in the 19th century the Duke of Northumberland "re-medievalised" it, for the look of the thing not defence. It's still the ducal home, with interiors of plush Victorian Italianate. Many films and TV series have used it as a location.
A standard-gauge branch line connected Alnwick to the main line at Alnmouth until axed in 1968 as part of the Beeching cuts. A heritage railway now runs along 1.5 miles of it east of the A1.
Mansion of the inventor and industrialist Lord Armstrong (1810-1900), founder of the Armstrong Whitworth works on Tyneside. It's in Victorian Tudor Revival style, with all sorts of domestic gadgets he invented, and extensive gardens.
12th century monastery on a tight bend in the River Coquet. As it was the parish church, it survived the Dissolution and was restored in the 19th century. It's now managed by English Heritage.