Amble
Amble is still a working port and retains a small fishing fleet, ship building and an RNLI station. The town is increasingly catering for visitors with many independent shops, a good marina and new 'harbour village' which opened in 2015.
What can I do?
- Take a boat trip around the Coquet Island bird reserve and see the 80ft high lighthouse. Its first keeper was Grace Darling’s elder brother.
- Visit the Harbour Village - a newly opened development of 15 retails pods selling a range of art, crafts, gifts, food and drink. There is also the Northumberland Seafood Centre where fresh locally caught fish and seafood is available and which hosts cooking demonstrations.
- Explore the marina, once a busy coal-mining port and still an important fishing centre.
- Picnic on the open grassland of Amble Braid and watch wading birds and waterfowl in the Coquet Estuary.
- Visit Amble Lifeboat Station, part of the local community since 1842.
- Walk or cycle along the River Coquet to Warkworth.
- Explore Amble Dunes nature reserve to the south of town.
- Surf on Amble Beach or learn a range of watersports at the Coquet Shorebase Trust.
What do I need to know?
- Coquet Island holds 90% of the UK’s Roseate Tern population (the UK’s rarest seabird). No boat landing is possible on Coquet Island but there are boat trips around the reserve in the summer months.
- The Amble Tourist Information Centre is open from Easter to the end of Summer.
- The Amble Lifeboat Station is usually open during summer but groups and school parties must book in advance.
- Druridge Bay, one of the most impressive stretches of beach backed by sand dunes on Britain’s east coast, is three miles south of Amble.
Links
Further information
RSPB Reserve Coquet Island
Coquet Island is an RSPB reserve about one mile off Amble, Northumberland. It is home to a large colony of nesting seabirds and is specially protected under European Law for birds such as the roseate tern, one of our rarest nesting seabirds. Coquet now holds 90 per cent of the UK's roseate tern population
The public are not allowed to land on Coquet because of its importance to wildlife, but you can also enjoy close-up views of the birds by taking a boat trip round the island on a charter boat.
Grid Reference: NU293045
Castle Mania Soft Play
An indoor adventure play centre with rope bridges, outdoor go-kart track and cafe.