We left Langley Castle wishing we could have stayed for longer, but we had even more castles in the beautiful county of Northumberland to explore. The weather was picture-perfect with blue skies and not a cloud to be seen, most unusual for England.

On leaving Langley it was a quick drive over to Alnwick. Alnwick is a pleasant market town with cobbled streets, narrow laneways, interesting shops and plenty of tea rooms. So of course we stopped for lunch in Greggs. If you haven’t been to England for seven years you do find yourself craving a steak bake from Greggs every now and then. And in case you’re not familiar with Greggs, it’s a British institution selling baked goods, sandwiches and snacks. Most notably sausage rolls and steak bakes.

But getting back to the castles – one thing you need to know about Northumberland is that there is history all around you. There are castles everywhere. In fact there are more castles in Northumberland than any other county in England. It has been at the heart of many conflicts throughout history due to its position on the northeast coast. It was constantly attacked by the Scots and the Vikings which is why there are so many castles built here – they were necessary for fortification and defence. Luckily for us 21st century visitors a lot of these castles are superbly well-preserved. Alnwick Castle in the town of Alnwick is one of these, and its most recent claim to fame is when it stood in as Hogwarts in Harry Potter.

We didn’t go inside Alnwick Castle this time because we had a date with another castle just up the coast – Dunstanburgh.

Now Dunstanburgh Castle is just a ruin and nowhere near as well-preserved as Alnwick. But its setting is unbeatable.

The castle sits right on a remote coastal headland with open countryside all around it. It was built in the 14th century but fell into disrepair after the Wars of the Roses. It’s nowhere near as commercialised as the other larger castles. In fact we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Click here to read my full guide to visiting Dunstanburgh Castle.

We parked in the tiny fishing village of Craster, famous for its kippers. To get to the castle it was a 1.5 mile walk along the coast. You can just about see the castle looming in the distance from the start of the walk, and as you get closer it gets larger and more impressive. The views on this walk are tremendous. In the distance we had the castle getting ever closer, on our left we had sheep grazing in the fields, on our right the sparkling blue sea and in front of us the kids happily frolicking in the open air.

It was a stunningly beautiful walk and we were all feeling happy and content for it.

And then we reached the castle itself, and were even more impressed. The fact that it’s just a ruin was the best thing about it for the kids. They could climb over the walls, wander freely through the rooms and really interact with it in a way they normally can’t. We knew then we had made the right decision to choose Dunstanburgh over Alnwick. In Alnwick we would have constantly been telling the kids not to touch anything. At Dunstanburgh they could be free.

And because of this, they were completely captivated in the history of the castle and their imaginations went wild. Who could have climbed these stairs? Who lived in this room? Could this have been the kitchen? Maybe this was the fireplace? And so on. The whole castle was their playground, and who needs a soft play centre or an ipad when you have a 700 year old castle to play in?

We had such a lovely time walking around the castle, enjoying the glimpses of ocean views through the narrow window slits. We sat for a while on a picnic bench with the castle and sea as our backdrop while the kids played. I really can’t think of many better ways to spend an afternoon.

On our way out we stopped at the tiny gift shop where we became English Heritage members and bought Rose a “Rulers of England” ruler which lists every English king and queen through history. We had great fun using the ruler to quiz Rich, a self-confessed history buff, on who was king in 1487? How many years did Edward III rule for? When did Anne become queen? And so on.

In case you would like the answers, it’s Henry VII, 50 years and 1702 respectively.

The walk back was a slog and our legs were pretty tired by this stage, but no one (apart from me) complained and soon enough we were back at the car and driving to our next destination – Bamburgh.

Bamburgh is a small coastal settlement with a massive medieval castle that dominates the town. The castle sits on a big hill at the edge of town like a constant looming presence watching over the village. In Bamburgh we would stay for 3 nights in an Airbnb that I would describe as spacious but dated. After a quick rest we had a wander into the village for dinner at the Middle Inn pub where Rich finally found a pint of beer he liked (Alnwick Amber, served cold). We had a stroll towards the castle after dinner and on the walk back caught sunset over the local church as the bells were ringing.

What a perfect end to a wonderful day. I know I keep saying this, but I think this was the best day of the whole trip!

Coming up…we explore Bamburgh.

Previously…read about the Lake District and our stay in a medieval castle in Part 9 here.