Northumberland beach in Canada ad

A snapshot of the Northumberland beach used in Alberta's campaign

A Northumberland beach has been mistakenly used in a promotional advert for a landlocked Canadian province.

The brief clip for Alberta, in Canada, shows a young boy and girl laughing as they run along a beach later confirmed to be either Bamburgh or Beadnell.

A spokeswoman for Northumberland Tourism said she hoped the "happy accident" would help increase the profile of "neglected" Northumberland.

The Alberta government has issued an apology, saying it "screwed up".

A statement from the Alberta Public Affairs Bureau said: "At one point in the narrative we mentioned our regard for people in other places, and in that place we used the only image that did not come from Alberta.

A comparison of Alberta and Northumberland Alberta has no maritime coast Northumberland has spectacular stretches of unspoiled coastline Alberta has a population of 3.6m Northumberland has a population of 310,000 Northumberland's traditions include clog dancing Alberta's include rodeo festivals featuring calf roping Alberta contains most of Canada's oil refinery capacity Northumberland's main industries are tourism and agriculture

"We all knew that every single image we put out to represent Alberta had to be of Alberta, or we would be roasted."

The clip is being used in a promotional advert which is part of a £14m rebranding campaign by Alberta's public affairs bureau.

Sheelagh Caygill, marketing executive at Northumberland Tourism, said she found the situation "amusing".

"Canada has a lot of beautiful lakes and scenery so to use a photo of one of our beaches seems odd.

"But if it inadvertently promotes Northumbria's many beauty spots then we're very happy about it."

The Canadian government said: "Northumberland, you are beautiful too."