A Perfect Day in Seahouses: Puffins, Pints and Proper Ice Cream

If Beadnell is Northumberland's best-kept secret, then Seahouses is its livelier, saltier neighbour — a proper working harbour town that's been welcoming visitors for generations without ever losing its character. It has the feel of a place that knows exactly what it is and sees no reason to change. On a good day, with the sun breaking through off the North Sea and the smell of fish and chips drifting up from the harbour, it's one of the finest spots on the English coast.

The Pier: Where the Sea Takes Over

We begin at the pier, which juts out into the harbour with a quiet authority. It's a working structure, not a pretty promenade pier, and that's precisely what makes it worth your time. Fishing boats come and go, ropes are coiled on the quayside, and the whole place smells wonderfully of diesel, salt and catches landed before most people were awake. Walk to the end and the North Sea opens up ahead of you in full, with the Farne Islands sitting low on the water a few miles out. On a breezy morning the waves slap against the pier walls and send spray arcing into the air. It's bracing, brilliant, and entirely free.

Just to the south of the harbour are some wonderful rock pools perfect for looking for crabs. There is also what appears to be a small jail cell, right in the middle of the rocks! Apparently it’s where fishermen used to safely store their goods and other possessions safely for a few hours while they unloaded their catch or had a well deserved pint or nap! Small, dark and sobering, there are also rumours that for a while it was used to detain those who had fallen foul of the law before they could be properly processed. Standing beside it, you're reminded that this was a tough, working community where life revolved around the sea and its demands. The rocks themselves are wonderful to pick your way across at low tide — barnacled, pooled and full of life. My dog Billy skips across them with considerably more grace than I manage!

Out to the Farnes: A Boat Trip to Remember

No visit to Seahouses is complete without taking to the water, and the boat trips out to the Farne Islands are quite simply unmissable. The Farnes are a National Trust-managed archipelago of volcanic rock islands, home to one of the most spectacular seabird colonies in Britain. As the boat rounds the islands, the noise hits you first — a cacophony of kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills and shags. Then the puffins appear, improbably charming, standing at the entrances to their burrows on Staple Island like tiny tuxedoed doormen. The grey seals haul themselves across the lower rocks, utterly indifferent to our presence. It's one of those experiences that makes you feel genuinely lucky to live in a country where this exists just a short boat ride from the shore.

Seahouses Beach: Sand and Space

Back on dry land, we head to Seahouses beach, which stretches north from the harbour in a long, clean arc. It's never the most famous beach on the Northumberland coast — Bamburgh, Beadnell and Embleton tend to steal that glory — but it has a quiet, everyday appeal that suits a gentle afternoon wander perfectly. The sand is firm, the views are wide, and in both directions the coastline rolls away towards dunes and farmland. Billy has a proper run here, the highlight of his day.

A Pint at The Old Buoy Inn

There comes a point on any good coastal walk where a pint becomes not just desirable but practically medicinal, and The Old Buoy Inn in Seahouses answers that call admirably. It's a great pub and restaurant — unpretentious, warm, welcoming of dogs. We sat outside with views of the Farne Islands, Bamburgh Castle, and Holy Island.

The High Street and Coxons Ice Cream

We finish with a gentle wander up the high street, past the shops, the fish merchants and the usual seaside fare, before arriving at the inevitable conclusion: Coxons. This Seahouses institution has been serving ice cream to grateful visitors for years, and one lick explains why. Rich, creamy, and made properly, it's the kind of ice cream that makes you briefly reconsider all your priorities. Standing in the street with a cone, watching the world go by in a town that has quietly been getting things right for a very long time — that, in essence, is Seahouses.