Alnmouth

Amanda and I spent a week in Northumberland in February 2007 - it snowed all week and was absolutely freezing, but it didn't stop us getting out and about.  We knew - from that earlier week - that the beach at Alnmouth was stunning - although we didn't hang about much because of the cold - we spent more time in the village tea rooms and the church.  But, because we knew it was a fab, dog-friendly, beach, it was our first port of call this time around to give Finn and Sid a good run on our first day.  

To get to the beach car park, you have to drive through the middle of the golf course and then it's a hop, skip and a jump across the sand dunes onto the beach.  If you turn right, you head towards the estuary and the town, but, if you turn left, you head towards Boulmer - three miles away - and it's much more interesting with all the rock pools for exploring.  Unfortunately, that way led trouble - there was a dead seal on the beach and Finn does love to roll in dead things.   In fact for the first couple of days, my car smelt of Finn's favoured perfume - Eau de Dead Crab - which wasn't very pleasant.  

We went back to Alnmouth three or four times during our holiday and it was definitely best to avoid weekend dog walking and also when the tide was right in - with a huge expanse of beach to walk on, the boys had lots of freedom to roam.  But, when the tide was right in, there were still masses of people and it felt that we had a strip of beach the size of a seaside prom to walk on - much too restricting for us!  

On the first day of our trip, we struck lucky by finding a pub - the Red Lion in Alnmouth High Street - that let dogs into the garden - although what we didn't realise was that they were also holding a beer festival that weekend!   We were really lucky in finding lots of places to eat where dogs were welcome and would definitely recommend Northumberland generally for dog-friendly holidays.   But, blimey, it was cold again for sitting outside!