Over the last few months, what was the Bamburgh Castle Hotel has been transformed into the Bamburgh Castle Inn, a coaching-style country pub.
The new-look inn, which sits on top of the lime kilns with stunning views of the Farne Islands, now boasts a new bar and dining area on the ground floor, an elevated pavilion with coffee shop and eating area overlooking the harbour and 10 of the inn's 30 bedrooms.
It was closed for six months for the work to be carried out and opened a few weeks ago following the first phase of the £1.65million revamp.
And what a transformation.
The inn is stylish, spacious and most of all welcoming. Its decor is high-quality and wouldn't be out of place in a larger town.
However, the best part of the place for me is the large window overlooking the harbour – there's no substitute for a great location.
My boyfriend and I took the trip on a Sunday night and although not heaving, there were still plenty of people eating – a few families, couples and groups of friends.
I would hazard a guess that a fair few were either holidaymakers or daytrippers and I'm sure the inn will benefit from Seahouses' appeal as a tourist destination.
And locals too should be glad at this addition to the food offering in Seahouses. Of course there will be people who won't see further than fish and chips on a trip to the seaside, but as my boyfriend and I aren't the biggest lovers of fish and chips, we're pleased!
We were greeted by a pleasant waitress and offered a table for two away from the window. I asked if we could sit next to the window to take advantage of the view but the waitress said they were expecting to be busy and they were trying to leave the bigger tables for bigger parties.
Fair point but a shame for us. However, I did have a view, albeit obstructed, of the waves crashing against the harbour walls.
Moments after we'd been seated another waitress came up to tell us there would be a half-hour wait for food due to the volume of orders taken.
That was fine for us as we weren't in any hurry. However, the food was with us in what only could have been 20 minutes after we ordered.
We were also told that the lite-bites menu – a selection of open-style sandwiches – was also finished.
The Bamburgh Castle Inn operates a system of diners ordering and paying for food at the bar, stating their table number.
We decided to pass on starters having seen the list of mains but diners can chose from fresh home-made soup of the day (£3.95), chicken liver parfait (£5.50), melon and prawn gateau (£6.50), baked mushrooms (£5.95), country salad (£5.75) and local mussels (£6.95).
We were impressed by the main courses on offer – nothing flash but good down-to-earth pub grub.
I went for the cured gammon steak (£9.95) which was served with a slice of fresh pineapple, a cooked half of a large tomato and a reasonable amount of golden chips. Sauces were in sachets on the table.
It was delicious, with plenty of well-cooked meat. My only criticism was that it could have come with a salad garnish but then that wasn't mentioned on the menu.
My boyfriend opted for the chef's Angus burger – an Aberdeen Angus burger served in a bap with salad garnish and chips (£8.95). The menu gave customers the chance of adding cheese, crispy bacon and coleslaw at no extra cost. He went for the cheese and bacon which added to the flavour but the salad was more than a garnish in the bun, a good thing.
He said it was very nice and tasty.
Other main courses on the menu were whole-tail breaded scampi – served with garnish and chipped potatoes (£8.95), fish and chips – catch of the day served with chipped potatoes, mushy peas and bread and butter (£9.50), Bamburgh Castle bangers – prime sausage set on a buttered mash with onion gravy (£8.95), home-made beef lasagne – with house garnish and garlic bread (£8.95), vegetable curry – stir-fry of crispy vegetables in a korma-style sauce served with rice and naan bread (£7.95) and rib-eye steak – with chipped potatoes and garnish (£12.95).
A range of side orders is also available.
The menu states that the chalk boards offer frequently-changing specials. To be honest, we didn't even look as we were happy with what was on the main menu.
The desserts are displayed on a chalk board and on this visit these included lemon citrus tart with vanilla ice cream, vanilla cheesecake with soft fruits and syrup sponge with custard. Doddington ice cream is always on the menu.
I fancied the syrup sponge but wasn't keen on the custard but when the waitress at the till said it could come with vanilla ice cream I was on to a winner. The sponge was lovely – moist and warm (£4.95).
My boyfriend went for three scoops of Doddington ice cream – two of strawberry and one of chocolate (£3.95).
We couldn't fault the meal, it was tasty, wholesome and well-presented and the syrup sponge was the icing on the cake for me. The food bill came to £28.15 with drinks on top.
A walk along the pier to have a closer look at those big waves rounded off a pleasant night.
We vowed to return to sample a couple more of those main courses.
Children are well catered for with their own separate menu and the inn offers a carvey menu – featuring chef's daily trio of meats – on Fridays and Saturdays from 5.30pm to 8pm and Sundays from noon to 4pm.