Not sure where you are from but in fact the weather in that area is warmer - and perhaps drier - than in many areas of the northern US. Certainly there is less snow than in our snow zones.

BUT - it's different touring cities than going for a lot of outdoor things in potentially nasty weather. If you have enough indoor things to do - and proper clothes - esp footwear (mud is not fun) you should be OK.

>>If you have enough indoor things to do - and proper clothes - esp footwear (mud is not fun) you should be OK.<<

The main problem as I see it though . . . in that neck of the woods there are very few indoor things to fill one's time. Thus all the comments about pubs.

it is in Northumberland and there are a few castles w/i day trip distance. But they are mostly closed or only open at weekends at that time of year.

>>Don't be put off by the replies.<<

No one is actively trying to talk them out of this -- but mainly just preparing them for the possibilities.

It isn't as bad as janisj makes out. I do wonder whether she has visited the area and if so whether she has visited in winter. I have, many times.

Housesteads Roman Fort and museum is open all week, although is a short walk uphill from the car park. So is Wallington Hall, a stately home. Cragside admittedly is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Other ideas for places open all week in November/December include:-

Newcastle is only a short drive. There is the castle, Hancock (Great North) Museum, Discovery Museum and Laing Art Gallery - all worth visiting and free. Just across the river is the Baltic Centre for Contempory Art - another worth while visit.

There is Durham with its magnificent cathedral and castle - check the web site as visiting times vary dependng on whether it is term time or university holidays. There is also the Oriental Museum.

Hexham, again just a short drive has a superb abbey and is a nice town to walk round.

Carlisle, a little further to drive has another cathedral and Tullie House Museum...

Many other places are just open weekends, like Corbridge and Chesters Roman sites, Carlisle Castle, Warkworth Castle, Banburgh....

Across the border, about an hours drive brings you to the great Scottish abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose and Dryburgh which are all open everyday. These are ruins so you may not want to visit in torrential rain. Jedburgh and Melrose are both worth visiting. Jedburgh Woollen Mill is a popular stop for the tourists.

With a bit of thought, you can find plenty of things to do, even in winter when the weather is poor...

>>It isn't as bad as janisj makes out. I do wonder whether she has visited the area and if so whether she has visited in winter.<<

Yes and yes . . . And it can be as bad . . . or not.

<i>Not sure where you are from but in fact the weather in that area is warmer - and perhaps drier - than in many areas of the northern US. Certainly there is less snow than in our snow zones.</i>

Drizzle at just above 0C feels much worse than snow at -10C

The OP is commited to being in UK at end of Novemeber/December and was asking for advice and help. I agree this wouldn't be the time of year I'd choose but perhaps there weren't any alternative dates. It is sad that so many of these comments are negative and make little attempt to help the OP. Surely that is the whole point of a forum?

I can only assume janisj that Northumberland didn't work its magic on you...

I live here.

In November I go to South Carolina for as long as possible.

Nuff said.

In all honesty it isn't until we booked to go to Stockholm this August that I realised how totally unpredictable the weather can be in the North of England and Scotland. We just take our weather for granted and it was a shock to realise how much more settled the weather can be in areas of Europe which are on a far more northerly latitude.

We live at the end of the conveyor belt of warm damp air which is the North Atlantic drift. This along with the accompanying jet streams over the Atlantic drive over cyclonic weather systems throughout the year.
Last year we actually had seasons, warm summer with a cold settled winter and the old violent winter storm.

The main and pertinent point is that it rarely rains for more than a few hours, certainly continuous rain for a week is very rare. I should know I own a business which is totally and utterly dominated by the weather.

I personally can't think of a better place to spend in poor weather than on Bamburgh beach or over on Lindesfarne. Would personally stay further north in say Alnwick.

On a less than sunny day try :

National Trust House at Wallington

Tullie House museum in Carlisle, very thorough Roman exhibits, well worth a visit.

Chillingham Castle is a crazy place where the belongings of generations of the family are just strewn about. Very eccentric.

On a sunny day. :

If you are in Carlisle them the Edward 1 monument is a truly eerie place, it sits on the marshes overlooking Scotland. Edward assembled an army of epic proportions to finish the Scots off in total finality. He dropped dead yards away from entering Scotland!

Bamburgh beach

Lindesfarne Priory

Alnwick castle gardens have undergone a huge redevelopment

Farne Islands on a really calm day makes an incredible trip in winter for the migrating sea birds although December is a little late in the season.

One further issue is snow and on the NE coast this can be a real issue particularly inland. As a nation Britain is simply inept at dealing with the stuff. Twice I have been stranded on small roads in Northumbria but later in winter, just keep an eye on the forecasts.

The OP is commited to being in UK at end of Novemeber/December and was asking for advice and help. I agree this wouldn't be the time of year I'd choose but perhaps there weren't any alternative dates. It is sad that so many of these comments are negative and make little attempt to help the OP. Surely that is the whole point of a forum? >>

simply not correct, ESW. No-one has seriously tried to dissuade the OP from coming to the UK at that time of year, but what several of us have said is that a week in Corbridge in December wouldn't be top of our list. The OP has agreed that if the weather is awful they will bail out. you, and others, have come up with great lists of things to do in that area in bad weather or good. IMO everyone has attempted to assist the OP, albeit in their varied ways, which I certainly see as one of the strengths of this forum. After all, the OP is free to accept or disregard whatever she likes, isn't she, and shows no signs herself of having taken the "advice" in anything other than the spirit in which they were offered.

>>I can only assume janisj that Northumberland didn't work its magic on you…<<

Absolute rot. In fact I have visited Northumberland three of my last 4 trips to the UK (over the last two years) and probably 8-10+ times going way back.

My apologies - I maligned you. As you may have gathered, I'm very protective of Northumberland, which really is God's Own Country.

Quite the opposite.

Gods own country has always been and is still pretty much Yorkshire. In Yorkshire, people still queue outside Fish and Chip shops on Fridays to avoid meat.

For many years, the Robsons, Elliot's and Grahams turned North Tynedale into an extremely godless place. Totally without law and ungovernable for 300 years.

Every December, I and a group of friends have a long walking weekend in the North of England and the weather has never got in the way of either walking or enjoyment. Granted, I may have just been extremely lucky.