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Your Guide to Druridge Bay
Your Guide to Druridge Bay
Druridge Bay on the Northumberland Coast is a beautiful living landscape, with miles of golden sandy beaches and a haven for wildlife. The bay is a stunning seven mile stretch of sand running from Amble to Cresswell and is a popular place for outdoor activities including cycling, walking, paddling and surfing. This beach has a fascinating and varied past, in the 1800's coal was mined nearby and during World War II Druridge Bay was thought to be a possible landing place for a German invasion. You can still see evidence of the anti-tank concrete blocks that were constructed to defend our shores right through our coastline. Within Druridge Bay Country Park there are a number of smaller nature reserves with wildlife ranging from swans around the reservoir to the rare golden snipe. This makes it an excellent spot for ornithologists or just the casual bird spotter.
Getting There
The easiest way to visit Druridge Bay is to visit by car. There is a large car park close to the visitor centre and from here is it just a short walk to the beach. The 518 bus service between Morpeth and Alnwick stops at Hadston, but there is a 10 minute walk to Druridge Bay Country Park from Hadston Village.
Postcode for your SatNav: NE61 5BX.
Druridge Bay Country Park has all the amenities you expect to enjoy a day at the coast with toilets, cafe, children's play area and picnic benches. The park is centred on a lake with surrounding land that has been regenerated from an opencast coal mine and is maturing into a very pleasant landscape for walks and picnics. The star of the show though is the bay's 3 miles of high-quality beach and sand-dunes. It's an excellent place to get away from it all.
The Good Beach Guide gives Druridge Bay a water quality of 'Recommended' (the highest UK standard for bathing water quality) and describes it as:
"A long wide sandy bay stretching from Amble to Cresswell. Privately owned, and includes a noted though unofficial nudist beach. This section between the Northumberland Coast Country Park and the National Trust property." Although personally i have never seen a nudist in my many visits to this beach!
WatersportsDruridge Bay and the Country park are perfectly geared up to host all kinds of watersports activities. The lake provides a good, safe location for sailing (you can launch your own boat from the park's lake) and for windsurfing and canoeing. While the beach lends itself well to surfing and kitesurfing. A local charitable organisation that runs courses in all sorts of watersports, with many activities for the kids in the summer holidays is Coquet Shorebase Trust. They offer Sailing, kayaking, canoeing, windsurfing, powerboating and raft building courses at a very reasonable price.
Northside Surf School offer beach surf lessons on several beaches along the Northumberland Coast including Warkworth Bay. Courses start at 2 hours and go up to 5 days and are run by Jon Nolan, a British Surfing Association Coach and an RLSS Beach Lifeguard so you know you're in safe hands. They operate 7 days a week and 12 months of the year and cater for all needs.
Events
The Mighty Dub Fest is held each year over three days in June at Druridge Bay. This exciting family event is to celebrate everything 'VW' and ticket prices cover a weekend of camping and all the entertainment of the Festival. There is loads going off over the weekend festivities including some of the best kept VW cars and campers in the country, craft stands, music and BBQ's. Visit the Might Dub Fest website for more information.
Places and Attractions Nearby
Amble, Amble's Attractions, Warkworth, Warkworth's Attractions, Alnwick, Alnwick's Attractions, Alnmouth, Alnmouth's Attractions, Boulmer, Warkworth Castle, Howick Hall & Gardens, A-Z of All Guides
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