Northumberland National Park – a natural border between England and Scotland
Northumberland National Park in northeast England can be found between the rivers Tweed and Thyne. Northumberland actually forms a natural border between England and Scotland.
National Park is bounded by the Pennine mountains and the North Sea, covers an area of 1000 km2 and extends from the border with Scotland to Hadrian’s Wall. Along the sea winds beautiful strip of coast with sandy beaches and fishing villages.
Northumberland National Park
Visitors find here a quiet, unique and unspoilt countryside with distant views. The landscape of national park is dotted with castles, forts and watchtowers, that just energizes its romantic and mysterious character.
Through the park flow the rivers Rede and Coquet, featuring a huge amount of salmon, which is the main local food source for otters.
At the beginning of boundaries with Scotland is rising a vast mountain range formed by ancient volcanoes – Cheviot Hills. Cheviot is its highest peak reaching a height of 815 meters above sea level. Despite the remoteness of these mountains there are still people who live and work here.
Cheviot Hills | Northumberland
There are mainly sheep farmers, who live in harmony with nature and help to maintain this unique landscape. They respect the wild animals and protect heathland swamps.
Further south, the mountains fall into the low upland valleys of the rivers Coquet, Rede and North Tyne. The local hills are covered with thick grass. Outside the National Park there is also the largest man-planted forest in Europe – Kielder Forest.
Between 15th and 16th century, the territory of today’s national park was a subject of contention and struggle between the kingdoms of Scotland and England. Today, fortunately it is just a quiet countryside.
Therefore, it is possible to protect the nature in the forests as well as, at the same time, benefit from small logging. It is a refuge of rare red squirrel, which can be seen in England very rarely.
Hadrian’s Wall
Northumberland National Park is a haven and home to many species of fauna and flora that adapted to local unusual environmental conditions. Therefore, there are number of animals, which can hardly be seen in other parts of England.
A great rarity is particularly old growth forests which once covered almost the entire United Kingdom. Today, however, those old forests cover only about 1% of the territory of the national park.
In the National Park are situated important marshy areas of Europe which are inaccessible to humans.
In the Northumberland National Park you can visit one of the most important Roman sites in England, called Hadrian’s Wall. The wall was built in 122 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian and was intended to protect the Roman province against barbarian invasions from the north. Now also serves as a guide for walking tours. Hadrian’s Wall is 118 km long and stretches from the Solway Firth bay to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
