A move from London to a family holiday home in Northumberland

A little over eight years ago, Judith O'Reilly swapped the bright lights of London for the deep, dark night skies of Northumberland. It was a reluctant move for the successful political journalist, and the blog she wrote about the experience, charting the trials of motherhood, the pursuit of friendship and the comedic day-to-day mishaps in her life, led to a book deal in record time.

Northumberland was her husband's spiritual home, not hers, but her soulful and funny anecdotes couldn't disguise her growing affection for the beauty of her surroundings and the county's tourist bosses adopted her as an unofficial pin-up girl for the region, hoping the blog and subsequent best-selling Wife in the North book would encourage more visitors.

Now Judith lives in Durham, but she is still enticing people to visit Northumberland by reinventing the former family home there as a holiday let. Sleeping up to ten, House in the North is perfect for larger groups and families or, indeed, those looking to channel their own inner author. It's also the perfect base for exploring all places she writes about in the book - visiting magnificent Bamburgh with its stunning castle, expanse of sandy beaches and views of the Farne Islands, tucking into pease pudding and ham stotties on a picnic near Craster or browsing the shelves of Europe's largest second-hand book shop, Barter Books in Alnwick.

"This is a true family home, a wonderful place for children as well as adults," she says. "We've created a home that is stylish yet practical, somewhere you can relax and not stand on ceremony and where children can run about and enjoy themselves. There are books to pick up and read, curios and pictures to browse. The upstairs corridor is as long as a cricket crease and the gardens were just made for hide-and-seek.

"House in the North is a place that captures the very essence of this dramatic part of the UK. I hope other people will enjoy and get a real taste of the county that inspired my - at first reluctant - love affair with north Northumberland. There is nowhere else quite like it."

Judith wrote both Wife in the North - which began life as a blog about her move to rural Northumberland from London with her husband and three young children - and A Year of Doing Good (both published by Viking Penguin) while living full-time at the house, a peaceful haven on a traditional Northumberland farm with sweeping coastward views.

Her writings detail the struggles the couple encountered renovating the former farmstead. "We were supposed to buy and then knock through into next door's rural idyll to create a perfect domestic environment - full of living spaces rather than rooms and positively bursting with Agas, en suite bathrooms and underfloor heating. Instead it is a sorry tale of planning delays and overpriced tenders from merciless builders," she wrote in December 2006.

The major renovation involved moving to a rented house and back with two small boys and a baby daughter, while suffering from postnatal depression, making new friends, and coping with elderly parents and a husband who still travelled to work in London. "Those two and a half years were really testing. I genuinely don't think we realised we'd bitten off so much," she says.

But she won through and what were once two adjoining farm cottages have been remodelled into a large property that combines cottage-comfort with country house chic.

Inside, there are plenty of period features including exposed beams, original hemmel - rustic Northumbrian - arches and inglenook stone fireplaces. The custom-built kitchen has an Aga at its heart. A downstairs bedroom with shower-room and adjoining sitting room nearby is handy for elderly relatives, while Judith's artistic heritage is continued throughout the house with a cornucopia of books, vintage photographs and original artworks.

The House in the North is decorated in natural colours that take inspiration from the surrounding countryside, using Zoffany, Annie Sloan and Farrow and Ball paints and fabrics from Roma and Emily Bond. All the beds - including a ginormous super king for the long of limb - have high-quality feather duvets and pillows.

And while it is a fantastic place to escape from the modern world, you won't have to leave your technology at home. There's free Wi-Fi, a landline - in case of intermittent mobile coverage, this is the wilds of Northumberland after all - and if you baulk at the idea of wrestling with an Aga, don't worry - there is also an oven and hob, plus a vast, American-style fridge freezer.

Judith has taken her time in creating a home that is perfect for a family to thrive in - and for adults to indulge in some much-needed refuge from the hustle and bustle of everyday stresses and strains. There is a dedicated playroom for the kids, a private garden with a playboat and sandpit, and communal football area outside while for the adults there's a private sun-terrace and lawned herb garden just made for outdoor dining. And of course, it all comes with views of the sea and the huge skies Northumberland is renowned for.

"We hope that parents will say 'wow' and that kids will make themselves at home," says Judith. "Having children myself I know what it's like to worry that they will damage something or make a mark, but we're not precious."

Nor will her own family be missing out on the fun. The move to Neville's Cross, in Durham, was to be near good schools, but they will still be booking in to the House in the North for holidays. "We didn't want to leave the North-East or give up the house," she says.

Judith went to university in Durham and met husband Alastair there so a move to the cathedral city feels a bit like coming home, she says. She is currently working on her first thriller. A visit to the House in the North, with its sense of isolation and views of the lighthouse winking in the dark, dark Northumberland night sky might be just the thing to inspire her.

• House in the North is available to rent through Coastal Retreats, which is based in Gosforth