Rothbury View

Rothbury as viewed from Cragside formal garden.

Rothbury is a small market town which straddles the River Coquet. The town has a pleasing mix of old stone and newer brick-built properties. Although technically a town with a proposal a year or so back to install a town mayor (defeated) everyone still tends to call it a village and it has a village feel about it. Shops, hotels and houses are clustered on the sloping banks of the river which bisects the village with the majority of the commercial properties situated on the north side. From all sides the views are magnificent – Cragside, Blaeberry Hill, Simonside, and in the far distance, the Cheviots.

Rothbury has something to offer throughout the year: In spring clear fresh air, fast flowing streams and crystal clear river. In summer a sheltered and warm central area,with a variety of small specialist shops.

Rothbury has had a turbulent and bloody history. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Coquet Valley was a pillaging ground for bands of Reivers who attacked and burned the town with terrifying frequency. Near the town’s impressive All Saints’ Parish Church stands the doorway and site of the seventeenth century Three Half Moons Inn. Follow the Heritage Trail for a deeper feeling for its history.

A mile to the east of the town lies Cragside, the first house in the world to be lit by hydro electricity. To the west you pass through some of the most exquisite and peaceful countryside in Northumberland. To the south is Simonside, the Sacred Mountain and to the north lie the bleak Alnwick moors.

Dahlias and Rothbury

12 Comments CherryPie on Feb 11th 2014

12 Responses to “Views Towards Rothbury”

  1. Ginnie says:

    A “small market town.” I’d go for that description alone, Cherry. :)

  2. ubermouth says:

    No one can beat an English garden!

  3. james higham says:

    Lovely name for a river.

  4. JD says:

    I used to work in Rothbury..
    …… way back in the last century :)

  5. Is there a Market Cross in this little town?

  6. J_on_tour says:

    The location and view is not something I’ve appreciated due to admiring the things in the garden. I remember climbing up Simonside once, a forest walk followed by a clamber up rocks to the summit.