Northumberland

Last checked November 2026.

Northumberland is England’s northernmost county, on the border with Scotland. Its coast, from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Amble, is a National Landscape of long sandy beaches, harbours and castles, with Lindisfarne on Holy Island at the end of a tidal causeway. Inland are Hadrian’s Wall, the Northumberland National Park, the Cheviot Hills and Kielder, England’s largest forest. For a campervan there are a few official places to stop the night: bookable bays in three of the council’s coastal car parks, and paid overnight parking at Kielder. Everywhere else the council bans sleeping in its car parks, and most of the National Park’s car parks along the Wall have no overnight parking, so plan most nights on a campsite.

Where you can and can’t stay overnight

There’s no general law in England against sleeping in a van that’s legally parked on a public road, but local rules are common, so read the signs. A council can direct anyone living in a vehicle on a roadside or other land to leave, and ignoring the direction, or coming back within three months, can mean a fine of up to £1,000. There’s no right to wild camp in a vehicle anywhere in England, the National Park included: you need the landowner’s permission. The National Trust doesn’t allow overnight parking at any of its places. More in wild camping and free camping.

• Council car parks: Northumberland County Council doesn’t allow sleeping in any vehicle in its car parks, except in bookable motorhome bays at Amble Braid (bays 1 to 3), Bamburgh Village (bays 1 to 5) and the Beadnell overflow car park (bays 1 to 4). A permit costs £15, sold online only, for one night from 6pm to 8am, and you can’t book consecutive nights at the same car park. Your van must be self-contained, with a toilet, sink and waste storage, and nothing goes outside it: no cooking, camping or chairs. Break the rules, or stay the night in any other council car park, and you can get a penalty charge notice.
• Kielder: Kielder Water and Forest Park lets motorhomes and campervans stay the night in six car parks: Kielder Castle, Tower Knowe (upper and lower), Hawkhope, Elf Kirk, Lower Skyspace and Blakehopeburnhaugh. It’s £15 a night at the machine, with no booking, and the ticket is valid in all of them. Park up after 5pm and stay no more than two nights in a row. No tents, caravans or cars, no fires or barbecues, and take all your waste away. Forestry England’s summer 2026 campervan trial, which included Kielder, ended on 14 September, and Forestry England doesn’t allow overnight stays in its other car parks.
• Northumberland National Park: Housesteads, Steel Rigg, Cawfields Quarry, Brocolitia and Alwinton have no overnight parking. At The Sill at Once Brewed and at Walltown Quarry you can leave a car or motorhome overnight for £10, but you can’t sleep in it.
• Druridge Bay: a council PSPO, in force from 29 June 2026 for three years, bans camping overnight between 7pm and 9am in any vehicle, caravan or tent across the country park and the dunes and beach of the bay without written consent, and bans fires, barbecues and firepits.

Breaking a PSPO is a criminal offence. Since 26 October 2026 councils can set the fixed penalty at up to £500, and in court the fine can be up to £1,000.

As for the old free spots: near the Roman Army Museum, the National Park’s Walltown Quarry car park doesn’t allow sleeping, the car park on Holy Island is the council’s, and Alnmouth isn’t one of the council’s overnight sites. On the coast at Cocklawburn, as anywhere off the road, you need the landowner’s permission.

Campsites

Many campsites close from November to March; Ord House, South Meadows, Herding Hill Farm and Clear Sky are open all year. Seasons are for 2026, or 2027 where the 2026 dates are no longer shown.

Area	Campsite	Details
Berwick	Berwick Seaview Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Billendean Road, Spittal, TD15 1QU	Tel: 01289 305198. 19 March to 1 November 2027, non-members welcome. Don’t use satnav from the A1 or come in by Cow Road
Berwick	Ord House Country Park, East Ord, TD15 2NS	Tel: 0330 005 0121 (Maguires Country Parks). Open all year
Belford	South Meadows, NE70 7DP	Tel: 01668 213326. Fully serviced pitches, all year
Bamburgh	Waren Caravan and Camping Park, Waren Mill, NE70 7EE	Tel: 01668 214366. Grass and hardstanding pitches, motorhome waste point. Ring for dates
Seahouses	Seafield Park, Seafield Road, NE68 7SP	Tel: 01665 720628. Serviced hardstanding pitches, vans up to 10 m. No drive-over waste point
Beadnell	Beadnell Bay Camping and Caravanning Club Site, NE67 5BX	Tel: 01665 720586. 22 March to 25 October 2027. Across the road from the beach. Bring a 25 m hook-up lead
Embleton	Dunstan Hill Camping and Caravanning Club Site, NE66 3TQ	Tel: 01665 576310. 22 March to 25 October 2027. A 20-minute walk from Embleton Bay
Craster	Proctor’s Stead, NE66 3TF	Tel: 01665 576613. 11 March to 1 November 2027. Caravans and motorhomes only. Arrive 1pm to 7pm
Warkworth	Walkmill Camping and Caravan Site, Guyzance, NE65 9AJ	Tel: 07929 882472. Grass pitches by the River Coquet; closes at the end of September
Druridge Bay	Druridge Bay Country Park campsite, Red Row, NE61 5BX	Tel: 01670 760968. March to October 2026. 20 hardstanding pitches; book online only
Haltwhistle	Haltwhistle Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Burnfoot Park Village, NE49 0JP	Tel: 01434 320106. 22 March to 25 October 2027. Narrow, steep approach: don’t follow satnav or arrive before 1pm
Haltwhistle	Hadrian’s Wall Campsite, Melkridge, NE49 9PG	Tel: 01434 320495. One-night stopovers welcome; arrive by 8pm
Haltwhistle	Herding Hill Farm, Shield Hill, NE49 9NW	Tel: 01434 320175. Open all year
Hexham	Hexham Racecourse Caravan Site	Tel: 01434 606847. April to October
Kielder	Kielder Campsite, NE48 1EJ	Tel: 01434 239257. 25 hardstandings, no mobile signal, no fires. Closes in late October; 2027 bookings open on 1 February
Kielder	Clear Sky Caravan Motorhome Park, near Kielder Castle, NE48 1ER	Adults only. Seven pitches with hook-up and water, open all year; book online
Cheviots	River Breamish Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Powburn, NE66 4HY	Tel: 01665 578320. 19 March to 1 November 2027, non-members welcome. All hardstanding, up to 9.3 m
Wooler	Highburn House, NE71 6EE	Tel: 01668 281344. Grass and hardstanding pitches, a short walk from the town

There are also many small Certificated Locations (Caravan and Motorhome Club) and Certificated Sites (Camping and Caravanning Club) on farms around the county. They’re for club members only and take up to five vans. In England, pop-up campsites can now open for up to 60 days a year and take campervans and motorhomes as well as tents. Brit Stops members can also stay a night at some pubs and farm shops that host self-contained vans.

Getting there and driving

Main roads. The A1 runs north from Newcastle past Morpeth, Alnwick and Belford to Berwick and Scotland. There are still stretches of single carriageway between Morpeth and Ellingham: the plan to dual them was cancelled in October 2024. The A697 leaves the A1 north of Morpeth for Powburn, Wooler and Coldstream. The A69 runs west from Newcastle up the Tyne valley past Hexham and Haltwhistle, and the B6318, the Military Road, runs west from Heddon-on-the-Wall along the line of Hadrian’s Wall. Kielder is signposted from Bellingham and from Newcastleton in Scotland.

Clean air zone. There’s none in Northumberland. If you come through Newcastle, the Newcastle and Gateshead clean air zone charges vans that don’t meet the emissions standard £12.50 a day, motor caravans included, though owners can apply for an exemption; private cars don’t pay. Check your van on the gov.uk checker. See Britain by campervan.

Speed limits. A motorhome or campervan up to 3.05 tonnes unladen can do the same as a car. Over 3.05 tonnes, it’s 50 mph on single carriageways and 60 on dual carriageways, and 70 on motorways.

The Holy Island causeway

The causeway starts at Beal, off the A1 south of Berwick. The council publishes the safe crossing times, years ahead, on its Holy Island crossing times website. High winds can change them, so allow an extra 30 minutes, and never cross outside the safe times; there are refuge boxes on the causeway. The times don’t apply to the walking route over the sands, the Pilgrims’ Way.

Kielder Forest Drive

A 12-mile unsealed forest road from Kielder Castle to Blakehopeburnhaugh on the A68 near Byrness, climbing to over 1,500 feet. It’s a toll road, open from May to December: £5, by card only, at the machine at the Kielder Castle end, where you also pay if you come in from the A68. Keep to the 15 mph limit, as parts are covered in loose stone. Forestry England doesn’t publish a size limit, but says it isn’t suitable for vehicles with very low ground clearance, and there’s no mobile signal.

Berwick-upon-Tweed and Spittal

The walled town at the mouth of the Tweed, with its Elizabethan ramparts. The council’s Castlegate long stay and overflow car parks have free motorhome parking for up to 24 hours, though you can’t sleep there. Spittal, across the river, has a sandy beach and a Victorian promenade.

Scremerston and Cocklawburn

A good spot in the north-east is on the coast near Scremerston, south of Berwick. Turn off the A1, go through Scremerston and cross the railway, then follow the coast south: there are several good spots overlooking the sea before the road peters out. At Cocklawburn the rocks are folded into gullies and rock pools, with fossils in the limestone. It’s a stop for the day; the nearest campsites are at Berwick.

Holy Island (Lindisfarne)

The causeway to Holy Island, also known as Lindisfarne, is closed twice a day as the tide covers it, so check the crossing times first. St Aidan founded a monastery here in 635, and you can visit Lindisfarne Priory and St Mary’s church, and Lindisfarne Castle on its rock above the harbour.

Park in the council’s Chare Ends car park, where motorhomes pay £10.50 for the day. There’s no staying overnight on the island: the council’s ban on sleeping in vehicles covers the car park.

Bamburgh, Seahouses and Beadnell

Bamburgh Castle looks out over miles of sand, and the RNLI’s Grace Darling Museum is in the village. In the council’s Bamburgh Village car park a motorhome can park across two bays by day, with a £10.50 ticket for each.

Seahouses is a busy harbour, and the boats to the Farne Islands leave from here. The islands are a National Nature Reserve, with grey seals, puffins and other seabirds. The council’s Station Yard car park has motorhome bays at £10.50 for the day. Beadnell, just south, has a long sandy bay.

Craster and Dunstanburgh

Craster is a small harbour village known for its oak-smoked kippers. From the council car park, where motorhomes pay £9.50 for the day, it’s a mile and a half’s walk north along the coast path to the 14th-century ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle.

Alnmouth and Alnwick

Alnmouth is a peaceful village at the mouth of the River Aln, with sandy beaches, dunes and two golf courses. It isn’t one of the council’s overnight sites, so stay at Walkmill or Proctor’s Stead. Inland, Alnwick has its castle and garden, and the council’s Dispensary Street and Roxburgh Place car parks have free motorhome bays all day.

Warkworth, Amble and Druridge Bay

Warkworth, with its castle, is on the River Coquet, and Amble, at the river mouth, is the southern end of the National Landscape. Amble Dunes, Amble Links, Beacon Hill and Togston Links car parks have free motorhome parking by day. Druridge Bay, three miles south of Amble, is a long sweep of dunes and beach with a country park, a lake and the council’s campsite, which is where to spend the night.

Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian’s Wall ran 73 miles from coast to coast. Along the Military Road the National Park runs the car parks at Brocolitia, Housesteads, Steel Rigg, Cawfields and Walltown Quarry, and at The Sill visitor centre at Once Brewed; a £10 day pass from The Sill covers them all. The 122 bus runs along the Wall past Chesters and Housesteads Roman forts and meets the HW1 from Carlisle at Greenhead, so you can leave the van at your campsite. In Hexham, the market town on the Tyne, the council’s Tyne Green car park has free motorhome parking all day.

Gilsland and Birdoswald

Try Gilsland, near Haltwhistle, where there’s a Roman fort enclosed in a farm: at Birdoswald a fortified farmhouse was built inside the fort’s walls in the 16th century. It’s just over the border in Cumbria and run by English Heritage, with the longest continuous stretch of the Wall still visible outside. See Cumbria.

Greenhead, Walltown and Haltwhistle

The Roman Army Museum at Greenhead is run by the Vindolanda Trust. Vans used to stay overnight in the car park across the road from the museum, which had toilets (locked at night) and was one of the few in the area without a “no overnight parking” sign. Today the National Park’s Walltown Quarry car park, by the museum, lets you leave a van overnight for £10, but you can’t sleep in it. Haltwhistle, a few miles east, has three campsites close by.

Kielder

England’s largest forest surrounds Kielder Water, with ospreys in summer, red squirrels and some of the darkest skies in the country. The 26-mile Lakeside Way goes right round the water. Day parking is £6.50, valid across the park and until 3am for stargazing. Kielder Castle has been closed for refurbishment since 2020, but the trails, bike hire, toilets and car park are open.

The Cheviots, Wooler and Rothbury

The Cheviot Hills, on the Scottish border, are the northern part of the National Park, with the A697 along their eastern edge. From Powburn a lane leads up the Breamish Valley to Ingram, where the National Park has free car parks at Ingram Bridge and Bulby’s Wood. Wooler’s council car park at the bus station only takes motorhomes for two hours. Rothbury, on the River Coquet, is close to the National Trust’s Cragside, and its Beggars Rigg and Cowhaugh car parks have free motorhome parking all day.

More on England

• England by campervan
• Cumbria, the next county west
• County Durham, to the south
• North Yorkshire
• Scotland, over the border
• Campsites
• UK campervan hire

Sources: Northumberland County Council motorhome parking page and terms (2026), car park pages, Parks and Green Spaces public spaces protection order (2026), Druridge Bay Country Park byelaws and campsite page, and Holy Island safe crossing times; Northumberland National Park Authority; Northumberland Coast National Landscape; Forestry England; Kielder Water and Forest Park Development Trust; English Heritage; the Vindolanda Trust; National Highways; Visit Northumberland; National Trust; Newcastle and Gateshead clean air zone; gov.uk (speed limits, clean air zones); Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014; Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the Camping and Caravanning Club and campsite websites; checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.