Author Ann Cleeves describes the draw of her native Northumberland – and the parts most visitors miss in its former industrial corner. Plus more lovely but quiet bits of BritainBest seafood restaurants on the Northumberland coastNorthumberland is a wild and beautiful state. Tourists visit for the history,for the hills and the wide, empty beaches. They drive west to Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall or north to Alnwick and Holy Island, and but they normally ignore the coastal plain in the south east corner of the county where once coal was mined and ships built.whether you recall the Spine Road – the A189 from Newcastle – and look out over the flat farmland towards the sea,the view is nearly entirely industrial. You see the chimneys of the power station that used to provide energy for the Alcan smelter, a giant offshore wind farm and the cranes at Blyth Docks. But nature is taking over again, and now the heavy industry has retreated. The subsidence pools and the recently planted reed beds just inland from the dunes at Druridge Bay are wild and beautiful,with a wealthy variety of wildlife. The coastal towns have an authenticity lacking in the tourist-focused villages.
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Source: theguardian.com