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Northumberland


The week before last I spent a few days in lovely Northumberland. I have relatives who live in Ashington {about 18 miles from Newcastle} and although I wish we didn't live at opposite ends of the country it is nice to be able to visit such a beautiful part of the UK to see them.

One of the places I wanted to visit was Seaham in neighbouring County Durham, as it's a beach that's known for its sea glass. It's about half an hour from Ashington and the first thing we saw when we arrived was a beautiful steel sculpture of a WW1 soldier called Tommy on the seafront. It's by Ray Lonsdale and shows the soldier reflecting on the sheer horror of World War One shortly after peace is declared.




The detail and texture is stunning and the rust coloured patina reminds me of the Angel of The North. It was originally meant to be a temporary installation but the residents of Seaham raised money so they could keep it there permanently.

So.......the seaglass. Well I wasn't expecting to leave with a bucket load but I didn't find a lot of seaglass and definitely none of the gorgeous coloured stuff you see if you Google Seaham sea glass!
There are several beaches at Seaham and we tried two of them but I just found a handful of small but still lovely pieces. I managed to find more glass on the beach at Whitley Bay in about 20 minutes than I found at Seaham in a couple of hours. The Seaham glass is more rounded and pebble like compared to the Whitley Bay glass though.


Seaham sea glass. I did find one small yellow piece and some mint and yellow milk glass.


Flatter and less smoothed Whitley Bay sea glass. The pebble with the hole was found at Seaham. The hole is definitely man-made but how old it is I just don't know.

I also found this...



I first thought it was fossilised "worms" but after a bit of investigating on Google I discovered it's fossilised coral.

We also visited the Northumbrian Hedgehog Rescue Trust where my uncle volunteers one morning a week. He helps to clean out the cages and weigh the hedgehogs. I've never been as close up to one before!



Uncle Barry not smiling...I'm sure the hedgehog is though... 

We also visited Durham where we wandered around the shops for a while then went into the cathedral. 


You weren't allowed to take photos inside unfortunately but I noticed some of the columns were made of a black stone full of fossils and were beautiful. I've since found out it's Frosterley Marble, a black limestone similar to this photo.


Photo: Iain Biggs

We also drove up to Kelso in the Scottish borders, ate 99's and a mountain of fish, chips and mushy peas. I'd been looking for some fudge to bring back with me and hadn't managed to find any until we got to Newcastle train station on my way back home where there were a few stalls selling handmade stuff and fudge! It was made by a company called The Northumbrian Fudge Parlour and I tried the Chocolate and Caramel flavour. It was the most delicious fudge I've ever tasted. Sadly they don't seem to sell online or I would have put in a bulk order!





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Comments

  1. Looks like a fun visit. I love the pieces of sea glass you found. The fossilised coral is really interesting. There must be a lot of hedgehogs there for there to be a rescue. They are cuties! Old cathedrals are always amazing. I'm sure it was gorgeous inside.

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  2. Do love beach finds, you've made me want to visit the beach now!
    Heather :)

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    Replies

    1. Thanks Heather! I live by the beach at home but always find more interesting stuff on beaches that are miles away!

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  3. Those sea glass finds are AWESOME!!!

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    Replies

    1. Thanks Kalaya! They're still sat in a bag in my shed waiting for inspiration to strike!

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    2. LOL! That sounds about right. I have a bag of shells to contend with and had them for over a year now!

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