Baywatch

Newbiggin by-the-sea is a fishing village on the south coast of Northumberland.  As a youngster I remember coming here to play on the beach and it seemed to my young eyes to be massive.  In just a few years the beach was all but gone, washed away by the sea.  There are just a handful of fishermen now who still regularly launch their cobles into the bay.

A large regeneration effort led to the man made recreation of the beach, and the village is all the better for it.  It helps bring the day trippers in and the museum on the bay explains Newbiggin's fishing heritage.

I took these pictures on an extremely windy, very cold February.

Saint Bartholomew's church sits at the northern end of the bay in what is not surprisingly called Church Point. From there you get an excellent views across the bay and down the coast towards Blyth and the off shore wind farm.

The large length of giant grey rocks stretching into the bay form part of the sea defence and it was popular with all of the local kids to climb across and do a little crab fishing.

Another aspect of the regeneration was the creation of a new break water as well as an art installation known as "The Couple", a giant sculpture of a man and a woman looking out into the North Sea.