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6 Best Castles In Northumberland
Each of these six castles stands on a piece of terrain that explains it. Bamburgh Castle sits on a hard outcrop above the dunes. Dunstanburgh Castle occupies a headland you reach on foot along the shore. Lindisfarne Castle - National Trust is out on a tidal island. Warkworth Castle is wrapped inside a loop of river. Inland, Alnwick Castle commands a crossing and Chillingham Castle sits back in the hills. Four of the six carry an indoor flag and all six are outdoor, so this is a coast-and-crag category where the walking is part of the deal.
Top castles in Northumberland
Showing 1–6 of 6
CastlesBamburgh Castle
CastlesWarkworth Castle
CastlesDunstanburgh Castle
CastlesLindisfarne Castle - National Trust
SightseeingAlnwick Castle
CastlesChillingham Castle
Access varies far more here than the castles themselves do. One is on an island reached by a causeway where the crossing depends on the tide, so check before you travel rather than after. Another is reached only on foot, which rules it out with a pushchair and rules it in for a child who likes earning the ruin at the end. The two inland sites are the straightforward ones. Match the choice to the smallest pair of legs in the group and the day tends to work.
Castles in Northumberland: FAQs
Ruin or furnished castle — which does a child actually prefer?
It depends on whether they want to climb or to look. Warkworth Castle and Dunstanburgh Castle are flagged outdoor without an indoor space, which fits a ruin you wander through with the sky above you — good for children who treat a castle as a climbing frame with history attached. Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle and Chillingham Castle carry indoor flags and rooms to walk through, which asks for a quieter sort of child and gives you shelter in return.
What does being on the coast do to a castle visit?
It puts the weather in charge. These sites stand on dunes, headlands and cliffs with the North Sea straight in front of them and nothing in the way, so a still day inland can be genuinely cold and loud out here. Ruins offer almost no shelter once you are inside the walls. Take more layers than the temperature suggests, keep hats on small heads, and treat a rough forecast as a reason to pick an inland site instead.
Is there anything here for a child bored by history?
Quite a lot, because on this coast the setting does the work. Dunes to run down, sand at the bottom, rock to scramble over and a walk out to a ruin that looks like something from a story — none of that requires the slightest interest in dates or kings. Pitch the visit as the walk and the view with a castle at the end of it, and the history tends to arrive by itself once they are standing in it.
How firm a plan can we make around Lindisfarne Castle - National Trust?
Less firm than you would like. It sits on an island reached by a causeway and the crossing is governed by the tide rather than by anyone's timetable, which means the window is fixed for you and getting it wrong is serious rather than inconvenient. Check the crossing information from an official source on the day, build in far more margin than feels necessary, and have a mainland alternative ready in case the timings do not suit.