Dog friendly day out at Bamburgh Castle

Bamburgh Castle sits impressively on the Northumberland coastline and is a magnificent sight, sitting proudly 150ft above the ground for 1,400 years, with sand dunes, a golden beach and a shimmering sea sitting at its feet. Spanning nine acres of land on its rocky plateau, it is one of the largest inhabited castles in the country. It has stood the test of time, massively thanks to William George Armstrong who bought Bamburgh Castle in 1894, and set about transforming it into his vision of the archetypal castle. He is also connected to Cragside that we visited in Northumberland, who, as well as being a visionary inventor, industrialist and philanthropist, was also the first international arms dealer.

Bamburgh Castle prides itself on its dog friendliness and is very welcoming to four legged friends. Dogs are welcome inside the castle grounds, Armstrong & Aviation Museum, Tack Room Café and Victorian Stables Bar, but not the State Rooms.

We arrived in the morning and paid to park at the car park near the castle, which was £3 for the whole day. We made our way into the castle, greeted by friendly staff. We wandered around the grounds first, eager to see the beach from the castle walls, which still have some cannons stationed, pointed into the distance, making it easy to imagine what an impregnable fortress Bamburgh Castle once was.

We were delighted that we could take Bella into the Armstrong and Aviation Museum with us, so we could take our time reading and looking at the artefacts instead of the usual routine, where we have to take it in turns to look inside whilst the other stands outside with Bella!

The museum was fascinating and packed full of intriguing objects like old cars, aeroplanes engines and swords. There were only a few rooms to look around, which I think Bella was pleased about as she could smell the beach calling to her!

After, we did take turns looking after Bella whilst the other toured the State Rooms. As you journey through the State Rooms, they tell the story of the castle and what the rooms used to be, going from quite plain rooms to grand halls with impressively wood crafted ceilings and walls adorned with majestic paintings. I particularly loved the billard room and would imagine it to be the perfect place to spend an evening.

Upon completing our walk around the castle, we were itching to go onto the beach as it looked so glorious from the castle and the weather was beautiful. Bella was in her element as we made our way through the sand dunes to the enormous beach. I was in awe of Bamburgh Beach and couldn’t believe how pretty it was. Despite sharing the beach with quite a few people, it was incredibly peaceful and the views were spectacular with the castle rising behind us. Bella loved finding sticks, running in the sea and digging holes in the sand.

We would definitely recommend Bamburgh Castle for dogs and their owners! It’s amazing to find a tourist spot that is so dog friendly with an all year round dog friendly beach, meaning you could easily spend most of the day here.