Why not leave the car in the car park?
Going out without getting in
Going on holiday can be a time to see new places, and try new things, do things in a different way. So here are some ideas for you to plan a 'no-car' day whist you're at St Cuthbert's House. Hopefully they might inspire you to get you out into the fresh Northumbrian air and let you travel a bit more slowly than usual - and perhaps rediscover some things you'd forgotten about. Slow down, take time, dawdle aimlessly - it's good for your soul.
Go for a walk. Just go.
We have lots of routes we can tell you about, or show you on the map – it depends how far you want to walk. Why not try to incorporate a tea-shop or a pub along the way.
We can also help you to plan a linear walk – so you could take the bus to Beadnell, Embleton, High Newton, or Craster for example, and then dawdle home along the magnificent beaches. The Northumberland Coast Path stretches over 60 miles along the coast, and you can walk any part of it from here.
There’s a really nice circular walk to Bamburgh and back, which is about 7 miles. You can go one way along the beach, and the other through the countryside. And there’s a tea shop and several pubs in the middle.
Ride a bike.
If you haven’t brought yours, then we can help you hire one in the village for a couple of hours, or for a whole day.
This is ideal cycling countryside, especially along this coastal strip, which is almost completely flat. The jewel in Sustrans’ national catalogue of waymarked Cycle Routes is the ‘Coast and Castles’ route – which goes past the front door of St Cuthbert’s House! Every village has a watering hole of one sort or another… Again we can help you with circular or linear routes. We have gpx files for some routes, which you can download to your gps device.
Take a ride on a bus.
Why not enjoy the countryside without having to drive? Enjoy the novelty. A bus will take you to Alnwick fairly easily, so you can visit the Alnwick Garden, or the Castle, Barter Books, and everything else quaint about Alnwick. (You could even take a ride on another bus in Alnwick - the open-top bus! It's great fun.) Berwick is easy too. See our bus page.
Go for a boat trip.
Visitors travel from all over the world specifically to do this. See our Farne Islands page.
Go play with your camera.
Don’t just point it at the castle. Go focus on a flower, follow some grains of sand, find some moss or lichen… go get creative! Zoom in on some intricate detail, or capture the wide sweep. And then – give us your best shots for our Guests’ Gallery.
Go sketch something.
Find a view, find a perch, and start drawing. We can give you some paper, and a pencil, and we won’t ask you to show us what you draw (but we’d love to see it.)
Build a sandcastle.
Go redscover the inner child. The beach is so big and quiet that no-one need see what you're building.
Play Crazy Golf.
While we're on that 'child-like' theme, how about a round of Crazy Golf in the village? Traditional seaside fun.
Borrow our binoculars.
See what you can see, and look at it carefully. Go ‘wildlife and species-spotting’ and come back to write them all in the Wildlife Diary.
Go on a wildlife safari.
with Martin Kitching of Northern Experience Wildlife Tours, who provides exclusive natural history excursions and birdwatching tours. He's an enthusiastic, experienced and friendly leader with an intimate knowledge of Northern Britain. This counts as a no-car day, because he will take you out in his people-carrier, to see all kinds of interesting things. Otters are even possible! We can fix this up for you.
Stay in, curl up…
… and read a book, write a letter, jot down your thoughts and reflections, share your heart with someone, have a nap, have a glass of wine, treat yourself to a full body massage or reflexology treatment from our friend Jean Watson… how many ways are there to chill out and recharge your batteries?
Take time to think.
When did you last make time to do nothing but ‘think’? Recapture your hopes and dreams, and put everything back in perspective.
Explore some local history.
Why not explore the story of Aidan and Cuthbert who lived here, or the fishing heritage, or the Grace Darling story. There are lots of ways to explore what gives this part of Northumberland that special ‘something’.
Go explore the village.
You can make a visit to the smokehouse to see the kippers being smoked, with just a phone call to arrange it with Patrick. Then you could wander to the harbour, and probably find a boatman to chat to. Go talk to Phil the harbourmaster about his little kingdom, or wander into the lifeboat station to see if any of the guys are there. Ask questions – they’ll love to talk!
Make a pilgrimage to a castle.
Pick a castle. Any castle. Then set out to get there without the car (you can walk to most of them!) and learn something about its story.
Go explore the Parish church across the road.
The building itself is quite interesting, and there are some really old headstones in the graveyard.
Go learn about Bamburgh.
Walk along the most amazing beach to Bamburgh. You can visit Bamburgh Castle - be sure to take a voucher which will give you a discount on the admission ticket. There are four pubs in the village, and the very decadent Copper Kettle tearooms. And don't miss the RNLI's Grace Darling Museum, which is very interesting - and free. And at 6pm every Sunday, our friend Derek Sharman,who is an entertaining historian, leads a fantastic walk around Bamburgh. It takes about 2 hours, and is absolutely compelling. Booking is essential.
Take in some city life…
... by taking a bus or a train, to Newcastle, or Edinburgh – or to Durham to visit the cathedral, where Cuthbert is laid.
Stay in. Have a drink.
We have some very good wines, and we also indulge two of our passions – Real Ale and Malt Whisky. Why would you go out? See our Bar page.
Go out. Have a drink.
We have two pubs in the village which serve really good real ales - the Ship is a geat pub, and whilst the Bamburgh Castle Inn doesn't have the same atmosphere, it does have a good pint and a good place to sit upstairs looking out over the harbour and the Farnes - a lovely thing to do especially when the weather is wild! There are decent pubs in both Bamburgh and Beadnell along the coast too, less than 3 miles in each direction. So, have a walk with a reward.
Rock-pooling.
There's a whole other-world in every rock pool, when you look closely enough. We heard a really fascinating talk recently on the subject!
Surfing - in the sea or on the beach!
You can hire a board and have a lesson with these Boards and Bikes.
Go ride a horse.
You can have a hack out or a lesson at the stables in the village.
Play Tennis, or Bowls.
The Seahouses Sports Centre has tennis courts to hire, and also a thriving bowling club.
Snookered.
Seahouses Social Club just 5 mins down the road has a snooker table, if you fancy a game.
Well, if you do, you're spoiled for choice, with so many delicious Northumbrian craft beers, and good quality wines available. We have our own House Beer too. Check out 
Our Awards are your reassurance that you're not 'taking a chance' when you stay at St Cuthbert's House. We've been rigorously assessed by experienced judges, and come out on top many times - including being awarded 'Best in England 2014'. Check out our awards 
