Doing As Romans Do: Hadrian’s Wall and the Roman Towns of Northumberland

We love visiting Northumberland, just south of the border in England, but our past trips have always been along the coast. In fact, we love that area so much that we almost always stop somewhere as we’re passing through, and I’ve written about it quite extensively here.

Now, it was finally time to head inland to explore the Roman history along Hadrian’s Wall, as well as some of the lovely market towns. This was in total contrast to the castles and beaches, but brought its own charm and beauty which we loved.

With two days, we decided to focus on the towns and the wall, rather than pack in all the Roman forts. The thing with Hadrian’s Wall is that there is a lot of it (after all, it once stretched from Newcastle to Carlisle and beyond, and the full walk is 84 miles) and while there are a handful of honey-pot spots where the best parts of the wall remain, there are also several forts to explore, and quite honestly it’s hard to know where to start.

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We were staying near Chesters Roman Fort, so it made sense to go there. But Vindolanda is probably the best, so maybe we should carve out some time in our schedule for that. And we’re going to delightful Corbridge anyway, so maybe we should check out the Corbridge Roman Town remains? Or we could start our walk at Housesteads Roman Fort which would tie in nicely. Ultimately, we couldn’t decide which to prioritise (at £10+ a pop, we weren’t going to do all 4!) and therefore did none of them. So if you’re looking for a helpful guide on which one to visit, I’m afraid you’ve landed on the wrong post.

Instead, we walked some of the wall, which was the main thing that we wanted to see anyway.

Walking Hadrian’s Wall at Sycamore Gap

There’s nowhere better to do this than the section around Sycamore Gap, with views for miles and the wall distinguished firmly across the landscape. Much of the wall has disappeared, and those who have walked the whole thing will have had long stretches with zero sign of it, so there’s a reason this section is so famous.

The downside of Sycamore Gap? Well, apart from it being the most popular and therefore busiest section… the iconic sycamore tree is no longer there. If you’re from outside the UK, you might not have heard about this national treasure being chopped down in the middle of the night by a pair of reprobate troglodytes back in 2023. I have never been so angry about the loss of something I’d never even seen or had any connection to. A total disregard of nature, and of something that meant a lot to so many people. And for what?

And so I’ll be honest: I didn’t really want to go. To see the tree stump, a mark of mindless vandalism, I knew would break my heart.

But starting at Housesteads would mean a brilliant one-way walk to Sycamore Gap, and then what about getting back? If we were up for a longer walk then that would probably be my choice.

As it was, we settled for Sycamore Gap after all.

💡 Tip: Steel Rigg car park is a popular place to park for the Sycamore Gap section, but there is very limited parking here, and it was full when we went so we parked at The Sill visitor centre down by the main road instead. It’s best to take the path next to the cottage a little further down from Steel Rigg anyway, to save climbing UP to the wall, so walking from the visitor centre doesn’t actually add much time or effort.

Parking at either spot costs £3 for 2 hours, then £1 per extra hour, capped at £6 total.

Starting and ending at the visitor centre is good for several reasons: not limited to but very much including that there are toilets! There’s also a dog-friendly café and a nice exhibition which displays part of the actual sycamore tree.

It only took us around half an hour to reach Sycamore Gap, so it’s very easy to do the walk within the 2 hour parking charge, but we decided we might as well carry on along the wall, past the lake (or lough) and towards Housesteads.

As expected, I got weirdly emotional seeing the stump. It’s fenced off to protect its regrowth, and it’s still a popular place to stop for a break before continuing up the steep hill on either side.

It was when we were coming back that the most incredible thing happened. We could hear helicopters approaching, and I will forever regret not taking my phone out to film this. I know, live in the moment and all that, but seriously.

As one military helicopter appeared along the wall above us, the second suddenly came out of nowhere, flying across the gap where the tree had been. And if I’d missed that, the one behind then followed suit! It was UNBELIEVABLE. They were completely level with us. It made up, almost, for the fact the tree wasn’t there! I am kicking myself for not getting any footage of it whatsoever.

Ten minutes later, the helicopters returned, but they were flying along the other side of the ridge, right over our heads. Check out this video Ash got!

We’ll ignore the fact that military training in these trying times is not necessarily a good thing…

There’s a path parallel to the wall but further down, which saves the big climb up the ridge at the start, so we walked out that way, noting that there were several much flatter paths joining on to the wall path along the way. On the way back, we joined one of them so that we could walk along the wall. One of the visitor centre staff actually recommended doing it that way, to walk in a loop. We did also walk further along the wall, above Crag Lough, which was really nice as we got some shade in the trees.

We decided not to have lunch in either the café or the famous pub next door, the Twice Brewed Inn – I had a plan for a late lunch which I’ll write about below. But before we leave, I need to share a very fun fact about this area, which I was reminded of as we saw interchangeable signs driving there. For some reason, it’s either called Once Brewed or Twice Brewed, depending on the direction from which you arrive!

(Also, there’s an on-site brewery and Ash tried the Twice Brewed IPA at our hotel and really enjoyed it. You could very easily return home with a box of it. I also tried the Twice Brewed rum, which was delicious and very sweet, meaning there are now two Northumberland rums I really like – the other being Alnwick Rum which is one of my favourites!)

Read more: Meres, Tarns & Waters: A Short Stint In The Lake District

Visiting Hexham

We started off our first day with a visit to Hexham, one of the largest towns in Northumberland and home to a beautiful abbey. You may remember in my previous post that the Scottish Borders were home to many impressive abbeys, all of which were destroyed. Similarly, Northumberland’s first ever abbey out at Lindisfarne is also destroyed. You can still visit the ruins, but Hexham is a rare example in this part of the country of a complete abbey.

Like all the other abbeys, it was at one time heavily damaged, not only by Vikings but also by Scots, but it’s the only one (that I know of) that’s been rebuilt to its former glory.

Hexham Abbey may be the piece de resistance of the town, but what we really loved were all the independent shops and cafés. I mentioned this to one of the staff in the abbey, and he admitted that there are far fewer than there were, particularly on the high street. “But isn’t that the same everywhere?” I said. And besides… take a walk down Market Place instead, and you’ll find so many gems.

Luckily, that was where we accidentally began our exploration of Hexham, circling back round the back of the abbey before going in.

And it was there that I found what may be one of my favourite shops ever! TRAM is home to three floors (!) of travel-inspired art and homeware, with prints on lovely recycled paper, and tea towels, one of which is now hanging on our living room wall. Can you guess which one?

I got chatting to owner Amy, and she even let Bonnie come in to meet her lovely rescue dog from Bali.

If you’re a travel lover, I highly recommend popping in to say hello and I challenge you to leave without buying something. There are art prints of cities and landscapes across the world, all inspired by Amy’s own travels.

Along Market Place, you’ll also find a record store, a lovely toy shop, and a geeky pop culture shop called Stranger’s Things, next door to a bakery called The Grateful Bread. Fan-TASTIC.

A detour to beautiful Blanchland

This part of Northumberland is right on the edge of the North Pennines National Park. This could have added an entire day to our trip, but I decided we should stick to Northumberland, which worked out because I’ve had Blanchland on my list for years, which is within the national park but is literally on the edge of County Durham – we walked over the bridge to the sign!

Blanchland is an absolutely gorgeous village that you’d expect to find smack bang in the middle of the Cotswolds in leafy Oxfordshire, not a few miles out of Newcastle.

On a beautiful, sunny day, Blanchland was busy with people walking dogs or sitting outside the Lord Crewe Arms with drinks. I thought maybe we’d be out of luck grabbing some nibbles here, especially when we popped into the packed bar, but the restaurant section at 3pm was only half full.

The Lord Crewe Arms is a proper medieval pub, complete with wonky floors, brick walls, a huge fireplace which apparently once hid Jacobite rebels, and even a crypt bar which is awesome. This is a real “if walls could talk” place!

As well as serving up pub food, they also have what they call “Northumberland tapas”, with small plates on their Bar Bait menu that we were keen to share a few of to tide us over until dinner.

Blanchland is a really interesting village as an entity, because it’s owned and managed by the Lord Crewe estate. It seems to have a nice community, with a very picturesque local shop and post office.

Overall, very much worth a visit; even just a quick one, as long as you make time for a drink in the pub!

Read about another cute English village: Postcards From Haworth, A Yorkshire Gem

A walk around Corbridge

The following morning, before heading back north, we popped down to the tiny town of Corbridge. We drove through Corbridge years ago and immediately said we need to go. Well, it’s taken us, I think, seven years – but we’ve finally done it!

There isn’t as much here as in Hexham, but there are stacks of charm and it’s worth a wander around the town centre along all the lovely streets.

We were there on a Sunday so most places were shut, and everyone was congregated at the popular bakery next to the market cross, Grants. They had the biggest meringues in the window! Had we not just had breakfast at our hotel, we would have been in through that door like a shot.

We did find one lovely alleyway which has some boutique stores, a really awesome bookshop, and a coffee shop/bar inside a church tower.

Picture 1: Bonnie waiting for Ash to come out of the book store. Doesn’t she know I’m trying to get a photo of her?
Picture 2: inside the bookshop – loved this message.
Picture 3: one of the coolest artsy pub boards I’ve ever seen!

We also learned that William Wallace, following the victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, moved south and caused significant damage in Corbridge, and it has remained a village ever since. Before the attack, it was the second largest settlement in the area after Newcastle! It’s surprising, then, that Hexham is now so much bigger.

Naturally, Corbridge also has a lot of Roman history which it’s more famous for, and on a walk along the river with Bonnie, we stumbled across the remains of a Roman bridge.

Where we stayed in Northumberland

Almost every year, we take advantage of Bespoke Hotels’ winter deals. This year, they were running a 2 nights for 1 promotion. Bespoke own Stonefield Castle in Argyll, which is our favourite place to stay in Scotland, and Glenburn Hotel on Bute, which we stayed at last year and really enjoyed.

This year, we decided to try somewhere different, and I spotted this one in Northumberland, which gave us the perfect excuse to explore this area.

The George Hotel… to be honest, is not as good as those. The thing is, it’s a nice hotel. The location is superb, right on the river which is perfect for a quick dog walk, and just a 15 minute walk from Chesters Roman Fort. The gardens take full advantage of this location and are lovely themselves; I can imagine it being a fantastic place in summer for sitting in the sun with a drink and some food. The food was good, and the staff generally friendly. But it was the actual service that let it down.

Dinner service was pretty slow – which was fine, as it was really busy and we whiled away the time chatting to the people next to us. But then they forgot to bring drinks to our neighbouring table altogether, and on one of their orders delivered the wrong drink; booking dinner in the first place took a while as the person I spoke to didn’t know how to use the booking system. On our first morning, we asked someone where we could sit with the dog for breakfast, and the girl didn’t know as it was her first day and everyone else had disappeared! The poor girl training her was ill (but extremely lovely and friendly, and she loved Bonnie and chatted with us for ages once she stopped being rushed off her feet!).

It was probably the time of year, as new people would have been starting for the summer season, but it was just very scatty.

When I checked out, I noticed that our hefty £19.50 *per night* dog fee (the most we have paid anywhere, and the website only let us pay one night so I thought maybe it was a “per stay” fee after all) should have included a doggy welcome pack. I mentioned this, and they went “oh, you didn’t get this?” and nonchalantly handed me the pack. No apology. Bit weird. The pack, by the way, is really good – plenty of doggy treats, biscuits, poo bags, and a rope toy, all inside a tub that acts as a water bowl. Not sure it’s worth the almost £40 fee, but still…

I would absolutely recommend The George for food followed by a walk along the river. The gardens and setting are sublime. Our stay on the promotional deal was great value, even with the dog fee. But I wouldn’t be in a hurry to stay there again at full price.

While we’d normally stay somewhere near the coast in Northumberland, I think my choice for this area would be to stay in or around Hexham, as we could have happily spent more time there and it’s in a great spot for exploring the surrounding area.

I am pleasantly surprised that Northumberland is somewhere we seem to return to again and again. It’s the closest English county to us, and despite having huge draws like Hadrian’s Wall and the coastal castles, it generally feels very underrated compared to so much of England.

Read more below:
⭐ Visiting Northumberland, An Underrated County Of Castles
⭐ Meres, Tarns & Waters: A Short Stint In The Lake District
⭐ A Day Driving Through The Yorkshire Dales: Highlights Of A One Day Road Trip
⭐ Photo Friday: Postcards From Haworth, A Yorkshire Gem
⭐ Where Scotland Begins: A Guide To The Scottish Borders
⭐ What To Do In Liverpool On A Monday