There’s more to the seaside than sandcastles – Ben Robinson visits coastal villages to find Peter Pan lakes and floating docks
Villages by the Sea Monday 7.00pm BBC2
Alicia Miller - 11 November 2021
There’s more to England’s coastal villages than bucket-and-spade holidays and bobbing fishing boats. In the second series of Villages by the Sea, archaeologist Ben Robinson sets out to explore the stories behind some of our favourite seaside stops – and what he finds is almost always surprising. From Peter Paninspired lakes to guano-processing ports, there’s plenty to discover beyond your waterside stroll and 99 Flake. Here Robinson introduces the six unique villages starring in the series – and explains why you should visit now…
BAMBURGH, NORTHUMBERLAND
“In every coastal village, there’s a story behind the façade, and knowing that story enriches your appreciation of the place – even if you’re not a history buff. Take Bamburgh. Today, people visit for its castle, but historically this little place was pioneering as a mini welfare state, with medical and social care, stuff we associate with big urban centres. Look at the buildings and you’ll start to realise the village’s complicated history. I’ve been many times and am always finding something new, although I never miss out on the Northumberland crab sandwiches they sell on the high street. Apparently, the water here is purer and the crab is delicious.”
STAITHES, NORTH YORKSHIRE
“Staithes feels like a typical fishing village, like something you’d see in Cornwall. But look at the cliffs and hills and you’ll see evidence of massivescale industry, especially alum and ironstone mining. Suddenly you realise some of these cottages aren’t fishermen’s, but miners’. And your perspective changes. There’s a pub I like on the waterfront called The Crab and Lobster: it’s been bashed by storms, practically levelled at points in time, but it’s stood firm. On a nice day you can sit and take in the whole of the harbour and watch the boats return.”
THORPENESS, SUFFOLK
“The Victorians invented seaside holidays; before that no one in their right mind jumped into the sea for pleasure. So not long ago resorts like Thorpeness were cutting-edge. Built on a swamp by Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, it’s a completely fabricated vision of a family holiday. Ogilvie took cues from Tudor-esque English architecture with timber framing, but wanted to build quickly so a lot of it is made from concrete! There are no shops or supermarkets, just tea by the boating lake, which was inspired by Peter Pan (author JM Barrie was a friend of Ogilvie’s), and a knickknack shop called the Emporium. And this fantastic atmosphere built from literally nothing.”
CHARLESTOWN, CORNWALL
“If you watched Poldark, you’ll recognise Charlestown, where it was filmed. But when people visit this fantastically complete Georgian harbour they rarely realise what an innovative place it was. It wasn’t built to look nice: it was built for commerce, to get Cornish copper and china clay out into the world. Look for the little outlets at the back of the harbour, spewing out water. They don’t seem like much, but these top up the water level for the floating dock, allowing boats to dock 24/7. It was amazingly successful, but then the village’s founder Charles Rashleigh was ruined, and it stopped. That’s why we value Charlestown now; it didn’t develop later on to be destroyed by Victorian or Edwardian builders.”
ARNSIDE, CUMBRIA
“The natural version of Blackpool tower? It’s in Arnside. The Knott is a 500ft hill, right behind the village, that lets you look over the estuary towards the Yorkshire Dales and Lakeland Fells. You get the experience of the outdoors without having to get too outdoorsy, and for the genteel Victorians that was extraordinary. The experience hasn’t changed much; people still come here for the scenery. They climb to see the stunted trees on the limestone outcrop, bashed by sea breezes. They ramble around the peninsula and sit on the tiny pier that was designed for paddle steamers. For me, however, the real thrill was seeing some of the Crossfields boats built here – originally for fishermen and later for recreational sailing. ”
ALNMOUTH, NORTHUMBERLAND
“When you take the train from London to Edinburgh, Alnmouth is one of the highlights out your window: a pretty village clinging to the dunes. It was designed to serve powerful Alnwick Castle – the one from the Harry Potter films. It was a huge grain port in the 18th century; some say it had the largest grain warehouses in England. Then overnight it changed. A huge storm altered the river inlet and it couldn’t function as a commercial port any more, so it reinvented itself as a centre for processing guano, the seabird droppings used for fertiliser. These days there are lovely ice cream shops and bakeries, and on sunny days the golden sands look tropical. It’s weird to think not so long ago it would have been stinking to high heaven with seabird muck. But that’s just it – these seaside villages always surprise you.”
There’s more to England’s coastal villages than bucket-and-spade holidays and bobbing fishing boats. In the second series of Villages by the Sea, archaeologist Ben Robinson sets out to explore the stories behind some of our favourite seaside stops – and what he finds is almost always surprising. From Peter Paninspired lakes to guano-processing ports, there’s plenty to discover beyond your waterside stroll and 99 Flake. Here Robinson introduces the six unique villages starring in the series – and explains why you should visit now…
BAMBURGH, NORTHUMBERLAND
“In every coastal village, there’s a story behind the façade, and knowing that story enriches your appreciation of the place – even if you’re not a history buff. Take Bamburgh. Today, people visit for its castle, but historically this little place was pioneering as a mini welfare state, with medical and social care, stuff we associate with big urban centres. Look at the buildings and you’ll start to realise the village’s complicated history. I’ve been many times and am always finding something new, although I never miss out on the Northumberland crab sandwiches they sell on the high street. Apparently, the water here is purer and the crab is delicious.”
STAITHES, NORTH YORKSHIRE
“Staithes feels like a typical fishing village, like something you’d see in Cornwall. But look at the cliffs and hills and you’ll see evidence of massivescale industry, especially alum and ironstone mining. Suddenly you realise some of these cottages aren’t fishermen’s, but miners’. And your perspective changes. There’s a pub I like on the waterfront called The Crab and Lobster: it’s been bashed by storms, practically levelled at points in time, but it’s stood firm. On a nice day you can sit and take in the whole of the harbour and watch the boats return.”
THORPENESS, SUFFOLK
“The Victorians invented seaside holidays; before that no one in their right mind jumped into the sea for pleasure. So not long ago resorts like Thorpeness were cutting-edge. Built on a swamp by Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, it’s a completely fabricated vision of a family holiday. Ogilvie took cues from Tudor-esque English architecture with timber framing, but wanted to build quickly so a lot of it is made from concrete! There are no shops or supermarkets, just tea by the boating lake, which was inspired by Peter Pan (author JM Barrie was a friend of Ogilvie’s), and a knickknack shop called the Emporium. And this fantastic atmosphere built from literally nothing.”
CHARLESTOWN, CORNWALL
“If you watched Poldark, you’ll recognise Charlestown, where it was filmed. But when people visit this fantastically complete Georgian harbour they rarely realise what an innovative place it was. It wasn’t built to look nice: it was built for commerce, to get Cornish copper and china clay out into the world. Look for the little outlets at the back of the harbour, spewing out water. They don’t seem like much, but these top up the water level for the floating dock, allowing boats to dock 24/7. It was amazingly successful, but then the village’s founder Charles Rashleigh was ruined, and it stopped. That’s why we value Charlestown now; it didn’t develop later on to be destroyed by Victorian or Edwardian builders.”
ARNSIDE, CUMBRIA
“The natural version of Blackpool tower? It’s in Arnside. The Knott is a 500ft hill, right behind the village, that lets you look over the estuary towards the Yorkshire Dales and Lakeland Fells. You get the experience of the outdoors without having to get too outdoorsy, and for the genteel Victorians that was extraordinary. The experience hasn’t changed much; people still come here for the scenery. They climb to see the stunted trees on the limestone outcrop, bashed by sea breezes. They ramble around the peninsula and sit on the tiny pier that was designed for paddle steamers. For me, however, the real thrill was seeing some of the Crossfields boats built here – originally for fishermen and later for recreational sailing. ”
ALNMOUTH, NORTHUMBERLAND
“When you take the train from London to Edinburgh, Alnmouth is one of the highlights out your window: a pretty village clinging to the dunes. It was designed to serve powerful Alnwick Castle – the one from the Harry Potter films. It was a huge grain port in the 18th century; some say it had the largest grain warehouses in England. Then overnight it changed. A huge storm altered the river inlet and it couldn’t function as a commercial port any more, so it reinvented itself as a centre for processing guano, the seabird droppings used for fertiliser. These days there are lovely ice cream shops and bakeries, and on sunny days the golden sands look tropical. It’s weird to think not so long ago it would have been stinking to high heaven with seabird muck. But that’s just it – these seaside villages always surprise you.”
AS TOLD TO ALICIA MILLER