The Best Breakfasts on the Northumberland Coast

Now this is research we're more than happy to get behind.

Our day, especially at weekends, usually starts with tea in bed, followed by about five miles with Meg to build up an appetite. Then comes the important bit: finding somewhere good for breakfast.

For a while we became terribly predictable. We'd head north or south for a walk and somehow end up back at The Landing in Beadnell for coffee and a bacon and egg roll. Which, when Dan was cooking, was delicious.

But eventually we branched out.

And that turned out to be a very good decision.

We've discovered some wonderful breakfasts along the Northumberland coast and just inland — places we now happily plan a morning around.

What makes a great Northumberland breakfast?

For us, it starts with the ingredients.

Good quality bacon and sausages, locally sourced from Northumberland farms whenever possible. Proper eggs. Good bread. Real butter.

You can taste the difference. You can usually see it too.

But good ingredients still need to be cooked properly.

No pale, floppy bacon here, thank you very much. And sausages resembling a vagabond's fingers aren't going to win us over either.

Keep it simple. Buy good produce. Cook it properly.

That gets us every time.

I'm not sure we have an absolute favourite because everywhere below maintains a similarly high standard. But if you forced me to choose just one...

Actually, yes.

I probably do have a favourite.

The Running Fox — Powburn

The Running Fox has several cafés dotted around Northumberland and they're well known for lovely food, but we're talking specifically about the one at Powburn.

We tend to call in before or after a walk in the surrounding hills. Meg can come too, which immediately earns bonus points.

We're usually there around opening time when it's beautifully quiet, although it can get busy surprisingly quickly once the rest of Northumberland wakes up.

The breakfast ticks all the boxes above — good ingredients, properly cooked — but there are two little things that just about push The Running Fox to the top of my list.

First, little Scottish pancakes instead of the usual hash brown.

We are getting close to the border, after all.

Then there's the toast, made from their own bread baked at the Longhoughton site.

And with it...

Wait for it...

An ample supply of real butter.

No negotiations across the table over who gets the final individually wrapped frozen nugget. No attempting to spread something with the structural integrity of a Lego brick across warm toast.

There is enough butter.

This matters.

The staff have always been lovely too — a mixture of enthusiastic youngsters and the worldly-wise grans of the region who appear capable of running the entire operation without ever looking remotely flustered.

We've seen the occasional review describing the service as a little surly.

That simply hasn't been our experience.

For us, Powburn is consistently excellent.

And yes... those little pancakes probably swing it.

Bertram's — Warkworth

Bertram's is exactly the sort of place you want to find after a walk along the river or a morning on the beach.

Warm, welcoming and wonderfully cosy.

The food is excellent, the atmosphere relaxed, and even when it's busy you never feel as though somebody is hovering nearby waiting for your table.

It can fill up quickly at weekends, but there's also a lovely courtyard if the weather is playing nicely and you fancy breakfast outside.

Dogs are welcome and the baby-changing facilities are good.

These are things we notice now.

Five years ago I could probably have told you what camera somebody at the next table was carrying.

These days Lucy and I can give you a detailed assessment of the baby-changing facilities.

Life moves on.

With Meg settled beside the table, Flynn dealt with and a good breakfast arriving, Bertram's is a very easy place to linger longer than intended.

Carnaby's — Brownieside

We've been to Carnaby's far more often than is probably reasonable.

It's a lovely family-run business with genuinely welcoming staff, excellent food and a completely different feel from somewhere like Bertram's.

Carnaby's is light, open and airy, with some fantastic big tables that look as though they've been fashioned from old builder's planks.

Breakfast time is often surprisingly peaceful, although things usually start getting much busier towards late morning, particularly at weekends.

Again, the ingredients and cooking are excellent. If you want a proper Northumbrian breakfast, you'll struggle to find much wrong here.

The facilities are excellent too, especially when Flynn requires one of those emergency pit stops that parents of small children will understand without further explanation.

There is, however, one black mark in the Heather & Sand notebook.

Dogs are restricted to the courtyard.

That's a definite thumbs down from us, particularly once autumn arrives and eating breakfast outside becomes less charming and more of an endurance event.

Come without Meg, though, and Carnaby's remains one of our favourite breakfast stops.

The Cook & Barker Inn — Newton on the Moor

The Cook & Barker is slightly different from the others on our list.

This is breakfast with the full hotel treatment.

We usually book because breakfast is served in the restaurant, although it's worth checking with them if you're visiting as a non-resident.

Once seated, everything slows down.

A pot of coffee or tea arrives. Then toast, proper butter and jam. There's cereal and yoghurt if you fancy it, followed by a cooked breakfast.

Then perhaps another coffee.

Nobody appears to be in a hurry.

Least of all us.

The ingredients are excellent, everything is beautifully cooked and the staff have always been friendly and relaxed.

Meg doesn't normally join us because dogs aren't allowed in the restaurant, although we regularly eat lunch with her at our feet in the bar. It may therefore be worth asking whether breakfast can be served there if you're visiting with a dog.

The Cook & Barker isn't the place we choose when we want to grab something quickly before a walk.

It's the place we choose when breakfast is the morning.

And sometimes that's exactly what you want.

So, which is best?

That depends slightly on the morning.

Bertram's after a walk around Warkworth is difficult to beat.

Carnaby's is wonderful when we want somewhere bright, relaxed and spacious.

The Cook & Barker turns breakfast into an occasion.

But if it's early, Meg has already had her walk and we're heading towards the hills...

You'll probably find us at The Running Fox in Powburn.

Two coffees.

Two breakfasts.

And absolutely no fighting over the butter.