Northumberland National Park Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

The park is bisected by A68 and this page describes facilities west of that highway.

55.145-2.2541 Bellingham is the main village in this part. Kielder Water is the large reservoir to its northwest.

Cheviot Hills describes the terrain along A68, where Otterburn is the main village, and points northeast of there.

When Northumberland National Park was designated in 1956 it covered the tract east of A68. The land on both sides had been mostly open heath until the 1920s, used for sheep grazing and grouse shooting. There was then a national programme of forestry planting, and Kielder Forest was created northwest of Bellingham.

In the 1960s the Tyne-Tees conurbation needed more water, chiefly to supply its heavy industries of steel, glass, metal-bashing and chemicals. A huge reservoir was therefore planned for Kielder Forest, but it took until 1974 to get Parliamentary approval. The reservoir was completed in 1981 and took another two years to fill, displacing almost 100 residents, and nicely in time to be surplus to requirements as all that heavy industry had collapsed. They'd built a white elephant.

There was however growing demand for leisure facilities for the cities, and people had cars so they could transport kayaks and bouncy dogs up distant valleys, so the area re-focused on recreation. There was also a switch away from conifer monoculture as demand dwindled for paper products such as newspapers. More diverse forest and upland vegetation supports a broader range of wildlife and is better at carbon capture. The park has red and roe deer, foxes, badgers and small prey. Birds include black grouse, curlew, merlin, and red grouse. Along the valleys are heron and kingfisher. There's always a debate about how far the primordial habitat can be recreated: what about lynx, wolves and bears? But even this large park is too small for those wide-ranging beasts, and they'd conflict with leisure and agriculture.

Meanwhile the "white elephant" has proved vital, as Newcastle has adequate water for the foreseeable future, while southern cities teeter on drought. Electricity from Kielder HEP power station is fed via the National Grid to wherever it's wanted, thanks to the magic trick of high-tension transformation of alternating current. We need a 21st century Nikola Tesla to invent the equivalent process for shifting water.

Climate is mostly wet and windy. Kielder Water is at an altitude of 184 m / 604 ft, no great height but you need to dress for the weather.

Northumberland National Park website posts visitor information. There are no fees or permits needed for the park, but activities, parking, camping and so on are charged for.

55°9′0″N 2°24′0″W

Map of Northumberland National Park

By road from the south, leave A69 at Acomb near Hexham, and follow B6320 to Bellingham. Here a lane branches northwest to Kielder Water and across into Scotland.

From the north, simplest is to follow A68 through Jedburgh and across the border, turning onto B6320. But for Kielder Water take B6357 from Jedburgh via Bonchester Bridge to pick up the lane across the border.

The nearest railway station is Hexham, with trains every 30 min on the Newcastle-Carlisle line.

Tynelinks Bus 680 runs M-Sa every two hours from Hexham to Acomb, Wall, Humshaugh, Wark and Bellingham (50 min).

Telford's Bus 693 runs Saturday only from Bellingham every two hours to Stannersburn and Kielder.

Much of the Park is designated "Access Land" - you can walk freely without having to stay on rights-of-way.

You need wheels to reach the scattered sights, amenities and trailheads.

Bellingham Taxis are on +44 1434 220570.

• The Heritage Centre is a small museum within the former Bellingham railway station. It's open April - mid-Oct Tu-Su 10AM-4PM, donation.
• St Cuthbert's Church (Anglican) in Bellingham village centre is 13th century, rebuilt in the 17th. The nave has an unusual barrel vault.
• Bellingham Castle survives only as an earthwork across the road from the Heritage Centre, and was probably never much more than that. It was erected in the 12th century but all structures had disappeared by the 13th.
• 55.0756-2.1861 Chipchase Castle, Wark NE48 3NT, ☏ +44 1434 230203. Gardens mid-June to mid-July daily 1-5PM. Jacobean mansion of 1641, incorporating the pele-tower of its 14th century predecessor. The gardens are open for a month in midsummer, the castle is occasionally an events venue but not routinely open to the public. Adult £12. (updated Jul 2025)
• 55.1533-2.35492 Dally Castle is the scraps of a motte-and-bailey fortress of 1237. Most of its stone has gone into the adjacent farm house.

• 55.1871-2.47983 Wave Chamber resembles a medieval "beehive" monastic cell, but it's modern. It was intended as a camera obscura reflecting the ripples on the lake, but the mirror has been broken for years.
• 55.2339-2.58044 Kielder Castle has been made-over into upscale holiday cottages. Most visitors just use the car park as a start point for hiking trails.
• Kershope Castle may well be Northumberland's most utterly ruined castle. It's a mile north of Kielder village engulfed by the forest, and best left there.
• 55.2276-2.61015 Skyspace is a James Tyrell installation: the plain chamber focuses your attention on the ever-changing sky above.
• Hadrian's Wall is beyond the south edge of the park. It runs coast-to-coast, but the best of it is the 20 mile stretch north of Hexham to Greenhead. Elsewhere the masonry has been recycled into farmhouses, leaving only an earthwork.
• Dark skies: on any cloud-free night, walk 100 yards from any light source and give your eyes 10 min to adjust, and the Milky Way and other celestial sights will swim into view. But in summer the sky is never totally dark, and you need to come Nov-March for the Northern Lights to be visible.
• See Cheviot Hills for the National Park east of A68.

Maps: best for hiking and cycling is OS Landranger 80 "Cheviot Hills", at 1:50,000 scale.

• Pennine Way hiking trail follows Hadrian's Wall from Greenhead to Housesteads Roman Fort then strikes north to Bellingham and Byrness. It's mostly on forestry tracks, firm going but not particularly scenic. See Cheviot Hills for the path onward from Byrness, ascending the spine of hills before a final descent to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland.
• Osprey Ferry makes a one-hour tour of the east end of Kielder Water. It sails Apr-Sep twice a day W Sa Su, adult £13, child £9. It's not a point-to-point ferry.
• Golf: Bellingham GC is north side of the village. White tees 6093 yards, par 70, visitor round £40.
• Baafest is an acoustic music festival by Brown Rigg Lodges in Bellingham, with the next on 4-7 Sep 2025.

Co-op Food in Bellingham is open daily 7AM-10PM.

• Black Bull Hotel, Pennine Way, Bellingham NE48 2JP, ☏ +44 7927 395543. Serving hearty trad fare, and they have rooms. B&B double £100. (updated Jul 2025)
• Cheviot Hotel, Main St, Bellingham NE48 2AU, ☏ +44 7927 211130. Cosy dog-friendly pub in an 18th century coaching inn, with rooms. B&B double £100. (updated Jul 2025)
• Tea on the Train is a cafe in a railway carriage next to the Heritage Centre. The carriage is modern and never served this line, which closed to passengers in 1956. The cafe is open daily 10AM-4PM.

Black Bull and Cheviot Hotel are the public bars in Bellingham

Local breweries are in the Tyne Valley, with "First & Last" near Otterburn.

• Fountain Cottage, Main St, Bellingham NE48 2DE, ☏ +44 1434 239224. Smart dog-friendly B&B with popular cafe. B&B double £120. (updated Jul 2025)
• Riverdale Hall Hotel, Riverdale Close, Bellingham NE48 2JT, ☏ +44 1434 220254. Comfy friendly hotel in a converted mansion of 1886. Good grub. B&B double £160. (updated Jul 2025)
• Demesne Farm Campsite, Pennine Way, Bellingham NE48 2BS, ☏ +44 1434 220258. Well-equipped camping and caravan site east side of village, open May-Sep. Camping £12 ppn, caravan £25. (updated Jul 2025)
• Hareshaw Linn Caravan Park has static units for sale or let but doesn't accept tourers or campers.
• The Barn B&B, The Croft, Bellingham NE48 2JY, ☏ +44 7850 795762. Great reviews for this comfy guest house south across the river from the village. B&B double £90. (updated Jul 2025)
• Brown Rigg Lodges are self-catering prefab cabins 200 yards south of The Barn.
• Bellingham Camping & Caravanning Club Site is half a mile south of the village past Brown Rigg.
• 55.1728-2.43791 Pheasant Inn, Stannersburn NE48 1DD, ☏ +44 1434 240382. Smart pub with rooms near Kielder Water. B&B double £170. (updated Jul 2025)
• 55.1832-2.53462 Kielder Waterside, Kielder NE48 1BT, ☏ +44 1434 251000. Cabins and activities around Kielder Water. (updated Jul 2025)
• 55.2374-2.59093 Kielder Campsite, Kielder NE48 1EJ, ☏ +44 1434 239257. Friendly well-run site above Kielder Water. Camping £8 ppn. (updated Jul 2025)

As of July 2025, Bellingham and its approach roads have a patchy basic mobile signal from all UK carriers. 5G has not reached this area.

• Hexham has an ancient abbey and is a good base for exploring the pastoral Tyne valley.
• Otterburn is the main village in the Cheviot Hills.
• Jedburgh is the first town encountered in Scotland. Mary Queen of Scots slept here, and everywhere else.