I cannot believe we have made it to week three of the school holidays, it’s going so fast. Although waiting for my holiday from work this last week has dragged a bit! Roll on the August holidays! The amazing hot weather of 2018 has been fantastic and I’ll be sad when it comes to an end. Even the odd thunderstorm is bearable when it’s boiling hot.
Our new Lay-z spa has certainly taken a hammering this summer (literally we have had to repair a puncture!) Although kids just want to be in it all weekend we convinced them to take a trip to the beach the other night for a spot of sea glass hunting. They are in danger of turning into prunes before the summer is over.
Coastal Fun
Abigail and Imogen have been down at my parents for most of the holidays but as they live on the South Shields coast it’s been like a permanent summer seaside holiday. Before we dropped them off for the week we decided to head a bit further down to the County Durham coast for a couple of hours. Alan’s Auntie Helen lived in Seaham many years ago so he knew all about the sea glass treasures that could be found on Tempest Vane beach. The kids love any kind of hunt and it was great to make the most of another hot summer night.
Visiting Seaham
Located just 6 miles of Sunderland, Seaham is really accessible from the A19 and only took around 30 minutes from our home in Newcastle. We passed the entrance to Seaham Hall which I have only visited once on my 30th birthday, six years ago. Time really does go too fast! Must be time for another visit.
We parked up on the main street on the top road next to The Crow’s Nest pub. The beach is located down a ramp which can get a little slippy as Abigail found out when she did a little skid. The child is only just out of a cast for a broken arm and is just so accident prone!! Let’s see if we can get to Florida without any more injuries.
Why is there so much glass at Seaham?
I had to do some research on this one! But found out the following bit of local history. Seaham was once home to Londonderry bottle works which operated from 1850’s to 1921. The bottle works produced various types of handcrafted bottles, decorative glass, and household glass. From Seaham, glass items were shipped to London, which then ended up in all parts of the world.
When the bottles weren’t up to scratch they were discarded in the North Sea. Over the years the glass becomes pebble-like from the rough seas and tides which bash the glass at high speed. The Victorians waste is now the sea glass treasures for the 21st century. Love a bit of history geeking so interesting.
Hunting for Seaglass
Seaham beach is quite unusual for most of the East Coast beaches I’m used to. Instead of white fine sand, it is full of large rocks and pebbles. I’m not sure if there is an official sea glass hunt technique but we seemed to get the best colours by doing a little digging under the wet stones.
Although some of the glass is really obvious it would be unlikely that you wouldn’t find a single piece if you went for a look. As you can see we got a great haul in a variety of colours in the hour we were there.
After a good hunt around and a paddle in the cold sea, we headed back up to the ramp back to the car, before stopping for a quick drink in the beer garden of the Crow’s Nest. We had a chat about our holiday plans, getting excited about the meals and restaurants of Orlando. It was a great way to spend a sunny Sunday evening and can thoroughly recommend a trip to Seaham.
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