Northern sights

SOLITUDE is a precious commodity on the crowded British Isles.

But I found it on a beautiful stretch of the Northumberland coast between mighty Bamburgh Castle and the holy island of Lindisfarne.

Welcome to Ross Sands, three miles of golden beaches that would attract thousands of people if they were on the south coast.

Our holiday home for the week was a well-appointed former coastguard cottage with a secluded garden at the end of a private road and surrounded by fields.

Magnificent dunes were a leisurely stroll away and, beyond them, waves lapped on to a wide expanse of sand.

The sun shone brightly during our holiday, giving the North Sea a beautiful turquoise colour. Skylarks soared above the dunes, riding the sea breeze to sing their delightful songs. Slightly further inland wild deer grazed alongside sheep.

The nearby Lindisfarne nature reserve offered a haven to nesting seabirds; above them towered two massive concrete obelisks, constructed to guide mariners into Holy Island's harbour.

The navigation beacons are a stark reminder that this stretch of coast, and the nearby Farne Islands (home of the Victorian heroine Grace Darling), has witnessed many a shipwreck.

A visit to Holy Island, one of the cradles of Christianity in Britain, is a must with its priory ruins, its National Trust castle and its nature trail. The famous Lindisfarne mead is well worth a taste, but always check the tide times to avoid getting cut off from the mainland.

A short drive north from Ross Sands takes you to the estuary town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, once a Scottish seaport, but now firmly part of England. Its impressive fortifications offer an eloquent testament to the town's bloody past as a Border stronghold.

Berwick is a quirky place; it certainly appealed to the famous English artist and Manchester rent collector L S Lowry. He regularly visited the town, staying at the Castle Hotel.

In 1947 he seriously considered buying a derelict house known as The Lions, which enjoyed superb views of the North Sea. To his dismay an architect friend found the house was "rampant with damp" and Lowry did not proceed with the purchase.

Berwick boasts a fine military museum housed inside the town's historic barracks. One of the prize exhibits is the original hand-written draft of Field Marshal Haig's famous "backs to the wall" message to his troops striving to halt the German army's powerful offensive in the spring of 1918, which nearly won the First World War.

A short drive to the west of Ross Sands is the town of Wooler - gateway to the majestic Cheviot Hills in the Northumberland National Park.

This is fabulous walking country, a land of far horizons and rare tranquillity with vast areas of rounded hills and heather moors. Away from the hills, rivers meander through quiet countryside and neat villages.

The landscape shows signs of occupation since the Stone Age and, of course, in these Debatable Lands, you will never be far from an ancient castle or fortified house.

Chillingham Castle is well worth a visit. Since the early-1980s, Sir Humphry Wakefield has been restoring it as a family home open to the public.

He writes in the guide book: "Forgive any disorder by thinking and knowing that I rescued a roofless, floorless wreck of a castle, with jungle having taken over the garden and grounds."

A visit to the castle's dimly-lit torture chamber is not for the faint-hearted, while the dark and dank dungeon features a glimpse of a skeleton unearthed after being hidden in the bowels of the stronghold for hundreds of years.

Sir Humphry has furnished one of the rooms in honour of Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots.

The king, according to the guide book, was based at Chillingham Castle in 1298 on his way to vanquish William Wallace, who had burned woman and children to death and wore the skin of an English general as a belt. Hollywood superstar Mel Gibson did not portray that gruesome side of Wallace's character in his film Braveheart.

The restoration of Chillingham Castle is a labour of love by a remarkable individual whose eccentricity is displayed in every room.

The lake in the castle grounds is simply sublime and the restored topiary garden is now home to a statue of Jesus Christ by Mark Wallinger. The figure, called Ecce Homo (Behold The Man), is cast in synthetic resin mixed with white marble dust and once graced a plinth in Trafalgar Square, London.

Fact file

I was a guest of Outchester and Ross Farm Cottages. Tel: 01668 213336. Email: enquiry@rosscottages.co.uk Website: www.rosscottages.co.uk

Chillingham Castle: Open until September 30. Grounds, noon to

5pm; castle, 1pm to 5pm.

Berwick-upon-Tweed: Tourist Information Centre, 106 Marygate. Tel: 01289 330733.

Email: tourism@berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk

Websites: berwickonline.org.uk www.northnorthumberland.com

Updated: 08:54 Saturday, September 04, 2004