The Old Stables Tea Room

This cosy tea-room near the historic market town of Alnwick remains genuinely charming as its trophy cabinet grows: recent titles include Northumberland's Best Traditional Family Run Tea Room and a North East Tea Room of the Year award. These old, stone-built stables adjoin their small kitchen garden and dog-friendly courtyard - a real suntrap with views of farmland and the distant A1 which can be seen but barely heard. The usual soundtrack here is of the wind in the trees and buzzards calling overhead.

There are delicious cakes on the counter: raspberry and lemon mascarpone Victoria sponge, creamy cheesecake or gluten-free salted caramel brownies. Sandwiches are served in homemade bread alongside quiches, sausage buns and other light bites. The coffee is Pumphrey's, a regional favourite.

Pick up foodie gifts like Northumberland honey before walking over Lion Bridge to visit the Norman edifice of Alnwick Castle. By turns family home and film set, it is the second largest inhabited castle in the UK.