Holidays

As usual August blog posts seem to go out of the window, so this will be the only one as it's September tomorrow (and it feels like it, due to the rubbish weather today).

So what have I been doing?  Quick summary in photos and sketches:

A week in Anglesey with the family.  Never been before and was delighted with what we found.  Lovely rolling country-side, much easier to get to than Cornwall and no traffic jams.  Beautiful beaches, although the waves aren't very good for surfing.

We loved Beaumaris and made a bee-line for the Janet Bell Gallery, somewhere I've been wanting to visit for ages.  I had a little chat with Janet herself and bought this tactile porcelain pebble by Clare Mahoney and iridescent pot by Karin Eriksson.

The North East 

Our next stop was Northumberland!  Long suffering husband, me and the dog headed north while the kids were away volunteering at a Scout Jamboree.  We had a night in Durham to explore family connections, then to Beadnell for two nights and another night in Newcastle itself.  I studied at the old Newcastle Polytechnic graduating in 1990 - so it was 25 years since my last visit.  Long overdue....it's a fantastic part of the country and we have vowed to go back much sooner than in 25 years.

We walked four miles along Beadnell beach for lunch at The Ship Inn, Low Newton-by-the-Sea.  A wonderful walk, only spoilt by the dog getting a whiff of dead seal from half a mile away and having to race him to the sand dunes (you can guess who won).  The less said about this the better.  The afternoon was very warm indeed so we sat in the shade of the old lime kilns reading and sketching the harbour.  I have a bit of an obsession with lobster pots but drawing them has got it out of my system as they were very tricky to get right, especially with a dip pen that kept clogging up in the sunshine.

Other highlights were walking from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle (whilst eating kippers in a bun), Bamburgh Castle at sunset with the whole beach to ourselves.  We also had a brief visit to the National Trust property Cragside and must return as so much to see.  Also loved the redevelopment along the Tyne, particularly the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Sage Gateshead.