NORTHUMBERLAND has often been described as England’s best-kept secret.
It is one of the few places where you can enjoy a gloriously sandy beach with only a puffin for company, trudge over deserted moorland, where the only noise is the explosion of a clutch of grouse from a patch of purple heather, or drink in the gold-stoned ambience of a historic market town which had embraced Christianity when much of the rest of the country was daubed in woad.
With its matchless coastline, rugged mountains, glittering rivers teeming with trout and salmon and bustling towns and villages where the Romans once trod, Northumberland has something to offer for everyone.
But there’s more to Northumberland than superb scenery, friendly people and ancient history - it is rapidly being recognised as one of the best places in the country to enjoy a tasty bite to eat.
Some of the country’s top chefs regularly pay visits to England’s most northerly county to lay on meals to remember in plush hotels, converted castles or up-market eateries.
And if that is a little rich for your tastes, why not visit one of the hundreds of pubs, restaurants and other eateries tucked away in towns and villages scattered the length of the county?
You can be sure of a meal to remember, more often than not locally sourced, whether it is Northumbrian beef, pork or lamb, kippers fresh from the smokehouse, game birds from the moor or salmon from a crystal clear river.
Even the bread is probably still hot from the baker’s oven, and the ice cream may well have been conjured up from the farm down the road. There’s so much to see and do in Northumberland, there’s not always time for a full meal, so pop into a tea-room, cafe or a farm shop, for home-made scones, pies, quiches and other delights.
You don’t even have to eat out; there are specialist providers who will deliver their delights to you home for that special occasion.
And to accompany the meal, there are the delights of any of the award-winning micro-breweries springing up across the district.
This special publication by Northumberland’s leading weekly newspaper, the Hexham Courant, highlights the pick of what the county has to offer.
