Simonside

Rising above the Coquet Valley, this distinctive sandstone ridge offers some of Northumberland's most atmospheric walking. Stone-flagged paths climb through scented pine forests to a heather-clad summit plateau. Once there, the sharp escarpment drops away to reveal expansive views over the surrounding moorland toward the distant, rounded peaks of the Cheviot Hills.

• •The name is likely derived from the Old English 'Sigemundes-set', meaning 'Sigmund’s seat' or settlement, suggesting the hill was named after a specific Saxon figure who once held the high ground.
• •Local legend warns of the Duergar, a race of malicious, dwarf-like creatures from Northumbrian folklore said to haunt the crags and use flickering lanterns to lure unsuspecting night-time walkers into the surrounding bogs.
• •From the 430-metre summit, the panorama includes the rounded mass of The Cheviot and Hedgehope Hill to the north, the coastline at Druridge Bay to the east, and the Otterburn Ranges to the west.
• •The summit plateau is a significant archaeological site, featuring a prominent Bronze Age burial cairn and several prehistoric 'cup and ring' rock carvings found on the Fell Sandstone boulders scattered across the ridge.
• •The lower slopes are heavily forested with Scots pine and larch, providing a managed habitat that supports one of the few remaining populations of native red squirrels in northern England.
• •While the stone-flagged paths were installed to protect the fragile peat from erosion, they have the secondary effect of making the final ascent feel less like a wild mountain scramble and more like a very long, very steep garden path.