Northumberland 250

wildebus

wildebus

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Came across this route earlier today and looks interesting.
northumberland250.com

Northumberland 250 - A Northumberland Road Trip

A 250-mile adventure road trip across the land of dark skies, rolling hills and exquisite coastline.
northumberland250.com northumberland250.com

I want to use my Motorhome more but find I need some kind of destination or route to aim for rather than just "heading off" (I know loads of people are exactly the opposite, but takes all sorts :D ). This N250 Route is virtually on my doorstep so might give it a run after the new year as a first little run out of 2025 :)
 
We are hoping to do Northumberland next year, working our way up to Druridge Bay in time to meet up with the others. This looks interesting but the wild camping prices look steep 75 quid a night
 
TissyD said:
We are hoping to do Northumberland next year, working our way up to Druridge Bay in time to meet up with the others. This looks interesting but the wild camping prices look steep 75 quid a night
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Where do get £75 a night from? And when wild camping??
 
Crikey the prices on the ‘wild by consent scheme’ link are staggeringly expensive.
It’s not clear on the web page if this is an official tourist board or council scheme with brown road signs, community buy in etc, the many links to buy stuff suggests it might be private enterprise.

An interesting idea, worth checking out but I would stick to finding my own parkups we’ve used wild and Brit stops up there in recent years.
 
Copying the NC 500 idea. :rolleyes:😜

It was bound to come eventually - and very sadly, imo.

There are quite a few wealthy (a fair amount of landed gentry) landowners and farmers in Northumberland, not least the Duke of Northumberland, the Sutherland estates etc. etc.

I note the "wild by consent scheme" is pretty exclusive though, only one campervan allowed per night, so there you go. Hence the steep prices I guess. You're paying for that solitude and exclusion.

I feel very protective about the county. It used to be an undiscovered part of the UK, hardly anyone there when I was a kid, even in the height of summer. Now it's overrun by hoards of folk in all the places where we used to be there on our wonderful ownsome 99% of the time. The magic of being "far from the madding crowds" is no longer there in the same way.

Nothing stays the same forever. 🤷‍♀️

Just glad and appreciative that I was lucky enough to experience a lot of that county when I was growing up. It didn't have the invasion of filthy modern hordes who have no respect for their surroundings or nature and throw their mountains of rubbish everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a beautiful county and worth visiting. It's just getting crowded and "monetised" like everything and everywhere else these days, so you'll have to suck it up folks :cautious:
 
mariesnowgoose said:
Copying the NC 500 idea. :rolleyes:😜

It was bound to come eventually - and very sadly, imo.

There are quite a few wealthy (a fair amount of landed gentry) landowners and farmers in Northumberland, not least the Duke of Northumberland, the Sutherland estates etc. etc.

I note the "wild by consent scheme" is pretty exclusive though, only one campervan allowed per night, so there you go. Hence the steep prices I guess. You're paying for that solitude and exclusion.
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I had not seen any reference to this "wild by consent" and TBH I would take no notice of it. It is 250 miles of roads, and all- or at least the vast majority will be public roads where you don't need 'consent' of landowners or farmers to drive on it.

Now the statement " In Northumberland it’s effectively illegal to park anywhere overnight other than in a designated campsite" could easily and just as accurately say "In ENGLAND it's .....". Same difference.
If someone is happy stopping over at say a layby in Yorkshire, then they should be equally happy doing the same in Northumberland, or Durham, or Cumbria or whatever. And in fact this "wildwithconsent" is NOTHING to do with the Northumberland 250, so why people are linking the two together and thinking it is a collaboration I don't know. Go to https://wildwithconsent.com/locations and you see countrywide locations across the whole of the UK.

mariesnowgoose said:
I feel very protective about the county. It used to be an undiscovered part of the UK, hardly anyone there when I was a kid, even in the height of summer. Now it's overrun by hoards of folk in all the places where we used to be there on our wonderful ownsome 99% of the time. The magic of being "far from the madding crowds" is no longer there in the same way.

Nothing stays the same forever. 🤷‍♀️

Just glad and appreciative that I was lucky enough to experience a lot of that county when I was growing up. It didn't have the invasion of filthy modern hordes who have no respect for their surroundings or nature and throw their mountains of rubbish everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a beautiful county and worth visiting. It's just getting crowded and "monetised" like everything and everywhere else these days, so you'll have to suck it up folks :cautious:
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TissyD said:
If you look in the menu on the right it gives a list of links.
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It is no more obligitory to use one of those noted "wild camping" sites listed in wildwithconsent in Northumberland than anywhere else in the UK. it's a choice.

I am not defending the N250 website at all, but picking on one link providing an OPTIONAL place to stop and kind of claiming you have to use it is daft and misleading from you.

Give you another option rather then £75 as an example .... Stay overnight at the Council Car Park by Bamburgh ... limited spaces, but if available that is £12 for an overnight if you want to stop somewhere without facilities "wild camping" but "by consent" :)
 
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Having said that, it certainly seems that the main (only?) option highlighted on where to park your camper/motorhome on that particular website (other than normal campsites) is "wild with consent" 🤷‍♀️

"In Northumberland it’s effectively illegal to park anywhere overnight other than in a designated campsite. This does make it difficult for those wanting to find one-off, tranquil locations without any neighbours or noise.

That’s why Northumberland 250 have teamed up with a new eco-tourism concept Wild With Consent to give visitors in campervans and motorhomes on the hunt for a unique adventure the opportunity to stay in wild, secluded places with full landowner consent."
 
I did say I "HAD" not seen that (past tense ;) ). I have now, hence my later comments.

mariesnowgoose said:
Having said that, it certainly seems that the main (only?) option highlighted on where to park your camper/motorhome on that particular website (other than normal campsites) is "wild with consent" 🤷‍♀️

"In Northumberland it’s effectively illegal to park anywhere overnight other than in a designated campsite. This does make it difficult for those wanting to find one-off, tranquil locations without any neighbours or noise.

That’s why Northumberland 250 have teamed up with a new eco-tourism concept Wild With Consent to give visitors in campervans and motorhomes on the hunt for a unique adventure the opportunity to stay in wild, secluded places with full landowner consent."
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They are marketing and selling it. So what. Called advertising, but you don't have to pick up what they are putting down, do you!
Northumberland is no different to any other county in that respect.

What I hoped also in that Northumberand 250 would include, but doesn't, is a note of VERA filming locations :) I guess I will have to search further for this.
 
I was only passing comment on the prices shown, with it saying "Wild Camping" I imagined it to be more like pull ins or laybyes etc.
 
It isn't illegal to park overnight in Northumberland or anywhere else in England as David says. Depends where you want to park. I stop at lay-bys in Northumberland usually but have done an odd sea view small car park (complete with no overnight signs) on occasion
 
As I mentioned earlier because there no info on the site as whose behind it, it could simply be that a group of campsite owners have decided to promote the county and their own albeit rather expensive camp sites hence the scare tactics about other options being ill eagle etc.
 
Here you go, 2 mins googling and bingo 👍

https://northern-insight.co.uk/media/bringing-northumberlands-adventure-to-life

I know you can’t stop the rising tides of progress, David, and I’m just being nostalgic for a past that no longer exists. 🤷‍♀️🙂

Plus one of my recent forays up there tells a very different, and not very enjoyable, story. The landscapes may be just as beautiful, but the human and social side of it definitely not so much.

P.S. it is a collaboration, btw 😉😎
 
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mariesnowgoose said:
Here you go, 2 mins googling and bingo 👍

https://northern-insight.co.uk/media/bringing-northumberlands-adventure-to-life

I know you can’t stop the rising tides of progress, David, and I’m just being nostalgic for a past that no longer exists. 🤷‍♀️🙂

Plus one of my recent forays up there tells a very different, and not very enjoyable, story. The landscapes may be just as beautiful, but the human and social side of it definitely not so much.

P.S. it is a collaboration, btw 😉😎
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what is a collaboration? between whom?

I wonder why I bothered posting the link. It is a scenic route that has been created just like the NC500, the Borderlands 320, etc, etc. People can "do it", go on some of it, ignore it, or do whatever they like. Who said it was a charity? who said it was a government mandated trail? Someone has 'created' this route as part of a business model. so what. Does it make it less of a suitable trip to undertake?
next time I notice an interesting thing to do, guess what? you will never know about it as I can't be bothered with this crap ;)
 
wildebus said:
what is a collaboration? between whom?

I wonder why I bothered posting the link. It is a scenic route that has been created just like the NC500, the Borderlands 320, etc, etc. People can "do it", go on some of it, ignore it, or do whatever they like. Who said it was a charity? who said it was a government mandated trail? Someone has 'created' this route as part of a business model. so what. Does it make it less of a suitable trip to undertake?
next time I notice an interesting thing to do, guess what? you will never know about it as I can't be bothered with this crap ;)
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My reply was also a response to Criftins Campers post above 😉

The link I gave was simply information on who was behind the idea and the website, seemed reasonable as posters were speculating or guessing about it so made sense to provide some facts instead 🤷‍♀️🙂

P.S. there’s nothing sinister about it, it’s as you said; a business idea by someone who lives in Northumberland.

Maybe I’m just more curious about these things than most 🙃
 
Thanks for the link @mariesnowgoose I kind of suspected it was a private business venture rather anything official
I was rather hoping it was the former because the over publicised nc500 really has backfired!

The digital version of the map is interesting. Over 1.3 million views so far and there’s a lot of stuff on it, more than enough for @wildebus to have an interesting trip.
 
The Northumberland 250 is also gaining a higher profile, I think.

Have a feeling it might be the same business (couple) who have produced some quite slick YouTube videos this year covering this “tour” or “trip”? They were gaining quite a bit of traction, which can be expected when you do a good job of executing a business plan, and they certainly seem to be doing just that.

If memory serves me right (that’ll be a first these days! 🤣 ) the tour covered County Durham, a bit of North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear as well, so the moniker “Northumberland 250” is a bit of a stretch. “Northumbria 250” would have been way more accurate (and appropriate) for the areas they’ve included.

Either way, I still wish they hadn’t bothered! 🤨🙃😜😂
 
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