Alnmouth Beach

Six miles of nearly unbroken sand and dune in three hours, south past Buston and Birling Links to Warkworth beach and inland to the castle. Begin at the Alnmouth dune car park and come back on the X18 bus, which runs hourly between the two villages most of the day. This is the emptiest big beach on the county’s southern coast, unrestricted all year and off-lead the whole way, with burns crossing the sand for a drink; the dune slacks are grazed in places and the last half-mile follows the Coquet through Warkworth on lanes.

Four easy miles in about an hour and three quarters, along the beach below the coloured houses, round the mouth of the Aln and back beside the estuary to the village. Start from the beach car park on the dunes at the north end of Alnmouth, which is pay-and-display and modest in size; the streets themselves are largely residents-only. Alnmouth beach has no seasonal dog restriction and is off-lead sand, but the estuary mudflats are a roost for waders and the sheep-grazed dune bank between beach and river needs a lead.

An eighteenth-century coaching inn on Alnmouth's main street, with a terraced beer garden over the Aln estuary and wood-fired pizzas out there in summer. Dogs are welcome in the bar and beer garden but not in the restaurant, and this is the important part: the bedrooms are not dog-friendly at all. A dog-friendly bar is not the same as a dog-friendly bed.