Seahouses

Seahouses
Northumberland
Seahouses
Location
Grid reference:	NU217322
Location:	55°34’59"N, 1°39’18"W
Data
Population:	1,803
Post town:	Seahouses
Postcode:	NE68
Dialling code:	01665
Local Government
Council:	Northumberland
Parliamentary constituency:	Berwick-upon-Tweed

Seahouses is a seaside resort village on the coast of northern Northumberland. It is about 14 miles north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The village attracts many visitors, mainly from Northumberland and the big towns on the Tyne, but from visitors come to Seahouses from across the nation and beyond whilst visiting the Northumberland National Park, Northumberland Coast and the Farne Islands.

Seahouses is the embarkation point for visits to the Farne Islands. From shops in the town and booths along the harbour, several boat companies operate, offering various packages which may include inter alia landing on at least one Farne, seeing seals and seabirds, and hearing a commentary on the islands and the Grace Darling story or scuba diving on the many Farnes Islands wrecks. Grace Darling's brother is buried in the cemetery at North Sunderland. He died in 1903, aged 84. The current Seahouses lifeboat bears the name Grace Darling.

The village also has a working fishing port, which also serves the tourist trade, being

The Seahouses Festival is an annual cultural event which began in 1999 as a small Sea Shanty festival. After a significant European Funding grant from the Leader+ programme, in 2005, it has grown into a more broadly based cultural celebration.

Between 1898 and 1951, Seahouses was the north-eastern terminus of the North Sunderland Railway. Independent until its final closure, it formed a standard gauge rail link between the village and Chathill Station on the East Coast Main Line (Wright, 1988). The site of Seahouses station is now the town car park and the trackbed between village and North Sunderland is a public footpath.

Gallery

• 
  Seahouses Harbour, 1972
• 
  The fog horn, Seahouses Harbour
• 
  Tourist information centre
• 
  Main Street in Seahouses

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Seahouses)

• farne.co.uk Local information on Seahouses, North Sunderland and the Farne Islands
• Seahouses community website
• Seahouses.org
• Visit Northumberland
• Northumberland Communities
• Tide times for North Sunderland from the BBC.

References

• Wright, A., (1988), The North Sunderland Railway, The Oakwood Press, Locomotion Papers No. 36, ISBN 0-85361-335-4