15 Photos, 1 Location EP.9 - Beadnell Bay

4 Aug

Beadnell Bay was recently crowned North England’s beach of the year (2024), according to the Times and Sunday Times’ annual best beaches guide. Another spot along the coastline I had never visited prior to 15 photos, 1 location.

Once a bustling fishing village, Beadnell Bay retains a charming old-world atmosphere. Most beaches along the Northumberland coast get battered by the North sea, but with Beadnell Bay being protected by a small curving headland and the old harbour, the water stays calm and flat.

This was a flying unprompted visit, a late Sunday drive out after waiting for the weather to cool down all day for the dog. I focused most of my efforts on and around the old harbour walls. While not a huge harbour, something about the direction of the old rustic stonework, in combination with the soft flat ocean was really appealing to the eye.

To the left of the harbour almost like a grand entrance, stands The Beadnell Lime Kilns. Built in 1798, lime was produced here and used as fertiliser in the nearby fields. Now out of use, the kilns are used by local fishermen to store lobster pots and fishing equipment.

I made sure to get a few photos of Lupin as he’s growing fast! Plus it was one of his first few trips to the beach too.

This outing was a great reminder of how fantastic unplanned photo walks can be, no expectations or potential photos to create already stored in the back of my mind.

Photography for me has always mainly been about capturing photos i’ll cherish when I’m too old to walk far. My future kids and grand kids can look back on them and say ‘look how cool mum and dad were’ - Well maybe they won’t say we were cool but, that’s always what crosses my mind when I look back on my dads early family based film photography. These are the images that will always remain special no matter what.

The day started to get quite hazy and breezy as the time passed, the sky had now lost its late evening spring blue colour. So with a handful of photos left to take we wrapped up, had a few chats with the local dog walkers and headed off in search of fish and chips!