Northumberland

Thanks for the update, and I'm sure your friend will have a lovely time up North. Northumbrians are very hospitable, wish I was there too.

Well my friend is here in London and we've had a great time the past two days, and been blessed with bright sunshine

Yesterday was spent doing a looooong walk taking in the usual sights .... Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, Millennium Wheel, etc. Tonight off to see War Horse.

On Sunday she's heading to Northumberland (unfortunately because of work I'm unable to go) staying in a lovely B&B on a farm for a few days, then meeting some US friends in Newcastle city centre. I've collated all the suggestions everyone kindly gave - I'm sure she'll have a great time.

As for the train fares: I managed to book tickets for £27.95 London to Newcastle, and £38.70 for her return from Edinburgh to London - so much cheaper than originally feared!

So far so good

Grand central are useful but go to Sunderland so you'd have to change .

I'm not yet eligible for a senior railcard and my friend is American so don't know if she'd get any sort of senior discount - I'm investigating!

Senior rail cards give about a third off rail prices, so with a long journey it might be worth the £30ish or so your local authority or other provider might charge.

You really can't miss Newcastle River all the trains cross over the Tyne and the view of the magnificent bridges is your cue to get up !

Thank you gilly - as long as she remembers to get off!

Yes I think so River well at least the East Coast ones do anyway.

I've been checking the ticket prices again and it seems there are bargains to be had.

My friend also wants to visit Edinburgh so I was thinking of booking a return from London to Edinburgh then she can get off at Newcastle, do her thing for a few days; buy a single ticket to Edinburgh as I presume you can't break your journey; then return to London direct from Edinburgh.

Navigating around the various train sites I can't work it out - do all/most Edinburgh trains stop at Newcastle?

If train is expensive, how about coach ?

I always use redspottedhanky site for train bookings.Just checked London -Newcastle avge Standard return £132.(less if you have Senior Railcard). Prices can often be reduced by booking 2 singles or split journeys.

Does anyone up there know Budle Bay Had a lovely caravan holiday there in 1963. when children were 4,3 and 1.
Filming was taking place on Bamburgh sands at the time for 'Beckett'. Richard Burton and Eliz.Taylor were around but we didn't see them!!

DH was asking for suggestions as to where to take the caravan this year. Now he knows!

Just spent yesterday at Beamish Museum, a fantastic place to go if you like old world stuff. Lots of trams and old buses to ride on. A pit village, a farm, with animals, an Edwardian town, complete with sweet shop and now a 100 year old bakery, lots of other shops, even a dentist with old fashioned drill, and a pub and cafe. There are a couple of railway lines with working trains for short journeys.
You can catch a bus to Beamish from the Newcastle bus station. It's called the Red Kite line, and takes you through red kite country, obviously.
www.beamish.org.uk to find out what's going on.

Register with east coast on line and train line for early train fare deals and an independent one called Chesterletrack based in Chester-le-street station which are NEand therefore canny. I have just bought two returns to kings cross from Durham @£30 each.

That's good to know Elegran because it means that they do have special deals - I just have to keep a look out.

Tricia yes I think car-hire could be cheaper but the train is so much easier and quicker.

Just checked - It was book by 9 January for travel between 17 January and 28 March 2014,( excluding 14-23 February) so would be out on two counts.

Try East coast. I am sure they were cheaper than that. There was a special offer recently of £15 each way Edinburgh to London - if that is still on you could buy it and get on-off wherever suits! It may be finished now, though.

It might be cheaper to hire a car. There used to be some cheap carhire places in Newcastle.
Can't remember the name of the one we used now.

Yes Gilly they were the prices I came up with, which seemed a bit steep, and if you vary the dates it was even higher.

It's probably 14-20 April - when I have definite dates maybe I'll be able to get a deal, the type where you have to get a certain train with no flexibility.

My sister recently went to Liverpool and back for £24! Think she booked about 6 weeks in advance. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for such a bargain to Newcastle!

I'll have a look at that site Granniepam, thank you. (I'm too young for a railcard )

Good morning Riverwalk I have just done a quick price check on thetrainline.com . I obviously had to guess at dates etc. but chose 11th April from London kings Cross up to Newcastle and a return on 18th April . The price I got was £252 for 2 people return (on any off peak train for a period of 1 month) making it £126 each. I know you can sometimes get better deals than this at around the 3 month mark.

I've found Red Spotted Hanky very useful- if you have any Tesco vouchers you can exchange them on this site too. Also, you may find it worth your while to buy a senior rail card. Hope this helps.

Thank you everybody for all the very useful advice.

I've been checking GNER and Trainline for an idea of train times and tickets for travel in April - I nearly fell off my chair at the prices!

They are quoting prices between £199 - £300 return, with no 'special deals' in sight. Maybe it's too early to book deals.

Does anyone have any experience of the timeline for cheaper tickets between Newcastle and London?

If you are visiting Newcastle check out the Newcastle Gateshead Initiative website for tourist advice about almost anything. www. newcastlegateshead.com Newcastle itself has so much to offer with museums, art galleries etc you might not want to leave! But if you do there is the Roman Wall and all the forts to visit. Durham for the castle and the cathedral - go by train the view from the station is described as one of the best in the world. All the coast of course. Alnwick Castle and the Gardens for Harry Potter fans and anyone who loves plants and water features. Your problem won't be what to do but how to decide what to miss out and at the end of the week you will want to come back again to see all the rest. Newcastle and Northumberland are well kept secrets but once you've been here you'll want to come back. Sorry about the weather though-wrap up warm and bring waterproofs April isn't always spring like!

Hi Gillie, thanks for your good wishes -we started our journey on the Florida Gulf Coast, where we're about to buy a boat <excited face>. The plan is to do something called the Great Loop, and possibly a few detours , spread over several years, in 3 - 4 month stretches. As DS lives in Virginia it will be a good way to see the family too.
I'm writing a blog - if you want to look at it, it's www.talesfromtheamericanwaterways.com
Hope that's ok GNHQ it is just an account of our doings for friends and family.
Now back to Northumberland