Homeward Bound :: At the Seaside 🌊

Hi there everyone 😀

A trip to the seaside was very much NOT on the agenda for our journey home from Durham.

The plan was to call in at Mount Grace Priory, the National Trust property that we would have visited on the way up … had it not been quite so hot.

On the day we were heading home we just happened to be up and ready for the off pretty early. In fact … had we driven straight to the priory we would have arrived an hour before it opened.

It was a very easy decision to call in at Seaham on the way … it barely took us out of our way at all … and I’ve long wanted to see the ‘Tommy’ sculpture on the seafront.

Driving in along the coast it was this view that made us decide we wanted to stay awhile, rather than just have a fleeting visit …

I just had to walk along that promenade … so that’s exactly what we did. We put a couple of hours on the car park and headed for the prom, with this the view looking back up the coast …

… and this looking back up to the car park. I mean … how often do you see a car park wall as beautiful as that …

It was another glorious day … not too hot … and the views out to sea were fabulous. It was so lovely to be beside the sea on such a lovely day …

We could see the lighthouse in the distance and wondered if we would have the time and the energy to walk that far … we both do love a lighthouse …

Towards the end of the promenade we headed up and away from the beach … stopping to take in the view through the wildflowers and across the bay …

We stopped to admire the Howitzer …

… before stumbling across ‘Tommy’ … or Eleven ‘O’ one, to give him his proper title …

Having wanted to see the sculpture for so long, I was not disappointed …

It was lovely and quiet, the weather was perfect, so it was a great opportunity to take plenty of photos …

The memorial fence was pretty poignant too … covered with hundreds of personalised memorial plaques, poppies, and tributes to commemorate Seaham's fallen servicemen and women …

It was a really lovely spot, with fabulous views out to sea and of the lighthouse … which still seemed a fair way off …

As time was getting on, and we were conscious that we had a good walk back, we decided that we would walk down to the harbour, but leave the lighthouse for another visit …

Down at the harbour we found another fabulous sculpture … The Coxwain …

It serves as a dedicated tribute to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and specifically remembers the George Elmy lifeboat disaster of 17 November 1962. On that day, the lifeboat capsized just yards from the harbour entrance, claiming the lives of five volunteer crew members, three rescued fishermen, and a nine-year-old boy.

We also found a very nice spot for breakfast … The Lookout … and managed to find the perfect spot to sit for a while …

There was plenty of colourful yarn bombing to be seen …

… as well as the lifeboat station and a few little shops which were good for a mooch.

It was soon time to head back to the car … we didn’t want to end up with a parking ticket. We opted to walk back along the road, rather than going back down to the promenade.

We got a totally different perspective of ‘Tommy’ …

There were certainly plenty of lovely looking benches for a bit of a sit down along the way …

… and more interesting art to stop and look at …

Just before we were back at the car park, on the opposite side of the road, we spotted some more steel sculptures and we couldn’t resist having a closer look. These were the Jewels of the Sea sculptures … 34 pieces of enlarged micro marine life made from weathered Corten steel and you can read all about them here …

We would have loved to have had time to look at them all but our time was running out so we only saw the few that were close to the road.

We just made it back to the wiggly wall of the car park in time …

We were sat in the car with about 10 minutes to spare … as the parking warden wandered past 😅

We both absolutely loved Seaham and will definitely go back. We love outdoor sculpture and Seaham certainly had an abundance to see in such a small area … and it is just an absolutely beautiful spot. I’m so glad we got to call in 😀

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