The Boatside Inn

Northumberland is a great place to walk. Plenty of paths, fabulous scenery and historic sites to check out en-route. And you can choose the length and difficulty of the walk to match your legs.

Two walks can start right from the front door of the Boatside Inn: Follow the traffic free path alongside the railway line from the Boatside Inn to Tyne Green. Alternatively if not too muddy, cross the bridge across the South Tyne and follow the South Tyne to the confluence with the North Tyne. Either turn round and come back, (about 2 miles round trip), or continue on down to Tyne Green in Hexham - about 2½ miles one way. You can either walk straight back, or why not have a look round Hexham and then take the bus back - it stops right outside the Boatside.

A second walk starting at the Boatside takes you to the top of Warden Hill, where you get excellent views of the Tyne.

This and other walks are described in detail in John Harris' Walking in Northumberland website. Walks titled Chollerford, Fourstones, Hexham, Newbrough and Wark are all locally based.

Another place to find interesting walks in the area is the Visit Hardians' Wall Country site. The walk based on Chesters is closest to the Boatside. Walking on or beside Hadrian's wall is always interesting, and the area near Housesteads is a favourite location.

The Northumbrian Walks site shows some excellent walks, most of them based near Kielder reservoir. The coastal path in North Northumberland is also very attractive in good weather, as is the Simonside walk near Rothbury.

Sustrans' cycle route 72 from South Shields, Tyne & Wear to Silloth in Cumbria, taking in Hadrians' Wall en-route, and specifically the section from Hexham to Haltwhistle passes right by the door of the Boatside Inn. Why not make the Boatside Inn a stopover point for the night, its approximately 40 miles from South Shields.

Check out the Sustrans web site for other appropriate routes in Northumberland, such as the "Coasts and Castles" route from Tynemouth to Berwick, or the "Reivers Cycle Route" from Tynemouth to Whitehaven.

For those who want to bring their bikes just for a potter around, you can follow the section of route 72 down the path beside the railway line to Tyne Green Hexham, roughly following the river.

For mountain bike enthusiasts, Kielder Forest is probably the best place to go, and you can even hire a bike there normally.

Birders are in for a treat in Northumberland. Near Warden you could hope to see goldfinch, oystercatcher, heron, merganser, kingfisher, dipper, kestrel, tawny owl, redstart, long-tailed and coal tits, even a buzzard as well as the more common garden birds.

On the coast, Coquet Island is renowned for being a breeding colony for Roseate Terns and Puffins. Wading birds can be found in most of the estuaries of the Northumberland shore. The Farne Islands are one of the most important breeding sites for Puffins, Terns and Guillemots, and there are boat trips to the Farne Islands leaving from Seahouses if you want to get up close (only some are allowed to go ashore).
On the moors of Co. Durham you should hope to see Black Grouse as well as other game birds.
For further information, check out the RSPB or Visit Northumberland sites

The river Tyne is regarded by many as England's premier Salmon fishing river. You can book fishing through WWW.Wardenfishing.co.uk.  Details of tariffs and beats can be found on this site. You will of course need your own rod licence, obtainable from the Post Office to fish.

Please contact 01434 602233 if you are interested in either combining a stay in the B & B or Self Catering accommodation together with your fishing

Note: The season for salmon on the English rivers is 1 February to 31 October but a "catch and release" byelaw obliges the return of any salmon caught before 16 June. There is no "catch and release" for sea trout and the season is from 3 April to 31 October.

Other well know rivers in the area include the Tweed (classed as a Scottish river), which is under two hours away, and the Coquet a little over an hour way.

There are also excellent lakes and reservoirs to fish in the area, including Kielder (recent site for the National Fly Fishing Championship) being only 30 minutes away, and Derwent a very similar distance in the other direction.

Useful links

Fishing in Northumberland

Fishpal

The North East of England has many wonderful sights to see.
Perhaps the most famous of them is Hadrians' Wall and the other Roman remains associated with the wall.
From the Boatside Inn you are only 3 miles from the Chesters Roman Fort, the best visible remains of a cavalry fort in Britain.
Not too far along the wall is Housesteads, and Vindolanda these offer excellent museums as well as Roman Remains.

Owner description The Kielder Observatory is a centre for public outreach in the science of astronomy and physics. It serves to promote the universe to our guests, enabling people from all walks of life and levels of interest to access the visual splendour of the cosmos. With a superb array of telescopes and instrumentation to explore the depths of space. Expert tuition awaits the visitors who come along and take part in our featured events, sit in complete comfort in our classroom next to the log burning fire and let us take you on a tour of the universe.  The Observatory is approximately 37 miles away from The Boatside Inn

Observatory Website is WWW.kielderobservatory.org