The case for walking a little further

Northumberland's coastline runs for more than 60 miles between the Scottish border and the edge of Tyneside, and a good deal of it is protected landscape. That protection has kept the big caravan parks, amusement arcades and neon signs away. What it hasn't done is keep the crowds away entirely — on a sunny August Saturday, the car parks at the most famous spots fill by mid-morning, and the first half-mile of sand can feel busier than you'd expect.

The solution is neither complicated nor secret. Park where everyone else parks, then keep walking. Fifteen or twenty minutes along the sand, or over a low dune ridge on a marked footpath, is usually enough to leave the bucket-and-spade brigade behind. Half an hour and you can often find a stretch of beach where the only footprints are your own.

Which stretches reward the extra mile

The best quiet beaches are rarely the ones with the biggest car parks. They are the ones you reach on foot, often from a small village or a lay-by at the end of a single-track lane. A few worth knowing:

• Ross Back Sands — a wide, flat expanse of sand backed by dunes, reached by walking from the lanes near Fenham or along the shore from Budle Bay. No facilities, no lifeguards, and often almost nobody.
• Cheswick Sands — north of Berwick, a long sweep of sand that absorbs visitors easily. The walk from the small parking area near the links is short but enough to thin the numbers.
• Cocklawburn — rocky at one end, sandy at the other, and usually far quieter than its neighbour to the south.
• Druridge Bay — seven miles of beach, which means the further north or south you walk from the main access points, the emptier it gets.
• Beadnell to Newton-by-the-Sea — a lovely low-level walk along the sand and around the headland, with the crowds concentrated at the village end.

Park considerately in villages and at the marked car parks. Farm tracks and passing places are not parking spaces, and blocking them causes real problems for people who live and work there.

Read the tide before you set out

Northumberland has some of the biggest tidal ranges in the UK, and the sand here is flat. That combination is wonderful at low water — you can walk for what feels like miles on firm, damp sand — and genuinely dangerous when the tide turns. The sea doesn't rush at you in a dramatic wall; it simply creeps across a vast, shallow gradient, and it can cut off routes around headlands faster than people expect.

Check a tide table before you go, know when high water falls, and give yourself a generous margin. If a headland looks passable, ask yourself what it will look like in an hour. Carry a paper tide table if you're walking a long stretch, because mobile signal is patchy in places.

Go self-sufficient — facilities are thin on the ground

This is the trade-off for the quiet. Once you're away from the villages, there is usually no café, no toilet, no bin and no shop. Plan as though you'll be out for longer than you think.

• Take more water than you need, especially with children and dogs.
• Pack food and a flask; a windbreak and a warm layer are worth their weight even in July.
• Take everything home with you. Bins are scarce, and beach litter is a serious problem for wildlife.
• Wear shoes you can walk in — some access paths are sandy, uneven or muddy.
• Tell someone where you're going and roughly when you'll be back.

Sun cream matters more than people expect on the coast. The breeze off the sea keeps you cool while the sun does its work, and the reflection off wet sand adds to it.

Give the upper shore back to the birds

The top of the beach and the front of the dunes are not empty ground. Between roughly April and August, they are nesting habitat for ringed plover, oystercatcher and little tern, among others. These birds lay eggs directly on sand and shingle, perfectly camouflaged, and they are easily disturbed by people, dogs and kites.

Where you see roped-off areas, signs or wardens, treat them as absolute boundaries. Keep dogs on a short lead in these zones even if they are usually well-behaved, and keep children from chasing birds or running through the nesting areas. If birds start alarm-calling, mobbing or feigning a broken wing, you are too close — move away steadily and quietly. Staying on the wet sand at low tide, rather than walking along the upper shore, is an easy way to avoid the issue altogether.

Time it right and you'll have the sand to yourself

Quiet is as much about timing as location. Early mornings are reliably peaceful, and the light is beautiful. Weekdays outside school holidays are dramatically emptier than weekends. The shoulder seasons — late spring and September — often bring settled weather, fewer people and a coast that feels like it belongs to you.

Winter walking here is superb if you're dressed for it, with vast skies, dramatic light and hardly a soul about. Whatever the season, remember that these beaches are working landscapes and wildlife habitats as well as places to enjoy. Walk lightly, take your litter home, give the birds their space, and Northumberland will keep rewarding you with the kind of empty, wind-scoured shoreline that's increasingly hard to find anywhere else in England.