This tasty, scenic and thriving coastal town has got history that dates back over 2,000 years but may be hitting its true peak now and it needs to be on your staycation radar
Tynemouth’s beaches are some of the cleanest in the world(Image: palliki via Getty Images)
Nestled into the north east of the county, there’s one town that has been described as ‘seafood nirvana’ because its vibrant and buzzing coastal cuisine.
Tynemouth is one of the Tyne and Wear area’s most popular locations and is dominated by high-quality, locally sourced and sustainable seafood options. The area’s premier dining spot is Riley’s Fish Shack which serves nationally-renowned charcoal-grilled mackerel, lobster and scallops sourced directly from nearby North Shields Fish Quay.
Away from food, the town is also known for its Blue Flag-awarded beaches, maritime history, a popular and bustling market and a number of well-respected surf schools.
Located just eight miles from Newcastle, Tynemouth has a history that spans over 2,000 years and was subject to a significant monastic stronghold which was dominated by Tynemouth Priory and Castle that is now open to visitors and locals alike.
Located on the rocky North Sea headland, the remains of the medieval priory are now managed by English Heritage and play host to a swathe of exhibitions charting it history and incredible views of the North Sea and the mouth of the River Tyne.
Away from its history, Tynemouth has two particularly well-known beaches – Longsands and King Edward’s Bay – that are known or their golden sands, surfing, clean water and stunning views.
In the town centre itself, there’s a thriving high street full of independent shops and Tynemouth Market – billed as the North’s most vibrant marketplace.
Filled with over stalls in Tynemouth Station that’s been restored to the former glory of its grand Victorian days, visitors come from all over the country to sample what’s on offer including vintage clothing, jewellery, antiques, street food and much more.
The market has got rave reviews with one person writing: “Lovely little market. Plenty of art, photography, keepsakes and great food options.
“But my favourite part was the Sidings, a little row of shops I’d not seen before. Can’t recommend a visit enough.”
Another wrote: “It’s an amazing place. Both sides of a Metro transformed into the largest market I’ve ever seen.
Dinner comes with a spectacle in La Tremblade. Before I sit down to a platter of oysters at La Cabane des Bons Vivants, one of the village’s canal-side restaurants, I stand and watch orange flames bellow up from a tangle of long, skinny pine needles inside a large, open oven. They are piled on top of a board of carefully arranged mussels and, by setting fire to the pine needles, the shellfish cook in their own juices.
This is the curious tradition of moules à l’éclade, a novel way of cooking mussels developed by Marennes-Oléron oyster farmers along the River Seudre in the Charente-Maritime, halfway down France’s west coast. The short-lived flaming spectacle is a prelude to sliding apart the charred shells and finding juicy orange molluscs inside – and just one highlight of our evening along La Grève. The avenue that cuts between the oyster beds, lined by colourful, ramshackle huts and rustic pontoons is an alluring venue for a sunset meal by the canal, the atmosphere all the more lively and fascinating for it being in a working oyster-farming village.
I’m with my family here in the Charente-Maritime, just north of where the Gironde estuary meets the Atlantic and around an hour south of the region’s more famous resorts of Île de Ré and La Rochelle. Our five days here will show us how a holiday rolls with the same alluring vibe as those settings farther north, but costs less and has more to explore (our base is a comfortable villa in the village of Étaules), with towns such as Royan on the itinerary.
The first stop for any self-catering stay in France, though, is the market. Royan’s is out of this world. Completed in 1956, the Marché Central de Royan has a decidedly futuristic vibe; inside, the 50-metre-span dome is lit by a space-age pattern of skylights, suggesting this flying saucer might take off at any moment.
Moules a l’éclade: mussels cooked with pine needles over a fire Photograph: Hemis/Alamy
Its offerings are equally impressive, and we stock up on cheeses, including a creamy Brillat-Savarin and a fruity Comté; charcuterie, including the local terrine, legrilloncharentais, and saucisson; a big blousy lettuce, crunchy cucumber and a perfumed melon. It takes some resistance to say “C’est tout, merci” when each stallholder says “Avecceci?” (What else would you like?) after each choice, and we come away laden with bags of fresh, local goodies.
A short walk from the market is another mid-century marvel, the Église Notre-Dame de Royan. Like the market hall and much of the local housing, it was built as the town recovered from Allied bombing towards the end of the second world war and is extraordinary – especially when you catch sight of its concrete belltower and sharp angular structure above the roof-lines. Inside, it is even more impressive and is said to have provided inspiration for the audience hall in Dragonstone in the TV series Game of Thrones.
A triangular stained-glass window is framed by V-shaped pillars that tower above, punctuated by thin windows of white glass. We explore its balconies and hidden features between the concrete alcoves, before coming outside into the bright sunlight. The beach is a few steps away, but we resolve to return, when our gastronomic treasures aren’t wilting in the car.
When it comes to beaches here, we’re spoiled by choice. The children have brought bodyboards, so we head to Plage Le Vieux Phare for action on the Atlantic waves. It’s overlooked by a cartoon-like red-and-white painted lighthouse, the Phare de la Coubre. A queue is snaking from its entrance and the views from the top are said to be wonderful, but we choose to enjoy it from the beach instead – what with it being 35C.
A street in Mornac-sur-Seudre, a few miles north of Royan. Photograph: Helene Alexandre/Alamy
We hike across the soft sand to the life-guarded area a short distance from the ruined old stone lighthouse. Soon we’re jumping and riding the ferocious waves and the sight of the beach, east and west, disappears in a haze of sea spray.
The beach we visit the next day is more sedate; a day trip to the Île d’Oléron takes us to Plage de Boyardville at the north of the island. Our drive takes us through pine forests and deep woods that expand across the island, which is twice the breadth of the Île de Ré. We park beneath towering pine trees and follow the path to the beach, a picnic of our market spoils in the cool bag. The boardwalk leads to a perfect crescent and a shallow lagoon in which children tumble and splash.
To my left, the silhouette of Fort Boyard looms on the horizon. The concept behind this architectural curiosity dates from the mid-17th century but it was finally completed amid tensions between the French and English in 1857. The fort was intended to guard the coast but soon became obsolete and was used as a prison. From the beach it looks quite small, but distances can be deceptive: it is in fact 68 metres long and could house 250 soldiers with 74 cannons. Recounting my hazy memories of the 1990s Fort Boyard TV game show – a kind of Crystal Maze at sea only with tigers and Dirty Den (Leslie Grantham) – warrants a raised eyebrow from my 12-year-old son.
After indulging in ice-cream sundaes at Le Café de la Plage, we head into Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron, the island’s main town. It’s late afternoon on a Sunday, so few shops are open but there’s a four-piece jazz group playing on the main street, which brings an upbeat lilt to the sleepy town. With hollyhocks swaying in the breeze, white-washed, green and grey-shuttered houses, and long early evening shadows, it is reminiscent of the Île de Ré, only a little scruffier, which adds to its charm. We browse the shops that are open and wander back to the car, feeling sleepy and sun-kissed.
Oyster shacks in La Tremblade. Photograph: Willy Mobilo/Alamy
As we drive over the bridge back to the mainland, the tide has come in under it, and several aluminium oyster-catching boats are speeding by beneath.
The village of Mornac-sur-Seudre to the south is also reminiscent of the Île de Ré, with its white-washed houses, creeping wisteria and bright pink oleander bushes. We go early evening for a sundowner, next to its own waterway and oyster beds, and see more moules à l’éclade going up in flames outside the seafood restaurant Le Parc des Graves. We window-shop the gift shops and galleries, annoyed we didn’t get there earlier.
La Tremblade is our favourite though, and so we return to La Grève for a final meal at La Cabane de la Grand-Mère, which does its mussels differently – moules à la brasero. The recipe, borrowed from oyster-farming communities near the Mediterranean, sees them marinated with herbs, onions, white wine and olive oil and then cooked on a griddle over a fire. After swigging back a platter of briny oysters, we tuck into the steaming pots of mussels and agree these are the best we’ve ever eaten. I ask the owner how they are cooked and she tells me the recipe. “All the very best flavours!” she laughs. When I say how they’re even better than moules à l’éclade, she smiles and says: “Ah but, with the éclade, it’s a much bigger spectacle! The flames are amazing!” I can’t disagree.
Transport from Portsmouth to Caen was provided by Brittany Ferries; return crossing from £224 for a car and a family of four. For more information on the area, see infiniment-charentes.com
Under the glow of fluorescent lights at Seafood City market in North Hills, packages of pre-made adobo, salted shrimp fry and and dried anchovies glisten in meat coolers.
A DJ, dressed in a traditional barong, blasts a dance remix of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” as a crowd gathers to take a shot of fish sauce together.
“That was disgusting!” a man shouts into the mic, flashing a grimacing expression.
At Seafood City, DJs 1OAK, left, EVER ED-E and AYMO spin in barongs, the Philippines’ national formal shirt.
The smells of lechon and lumpia float through the air. Smiling children munch on halo-halo (a Philippine dessert made with ube ice cream, leche flan and shaved ice). Flags of the Philippines wave in the air as a man in UCLA Health scrubs hops into the center of an energetic dance circle. Employees shoot store coupons out of a money gun and toss bags of Leslie’s Clover Chips into the crowd. Fathers hold their children on their shoulders as a group of college students perform a Tinikling routine, a traditional Philippine dance in which performers step and hop over and between bamboo poles.
“This is so Filipino,” a woman says, in awe of the scene.
Sabria Joaquin, 26, of Los Angeles, left, and Kayla Covington, 19, of Rancho Cucamonga hit the dance floor at “Late Night Madness” in North Hills.
“I came here for groceries,” explains an elderly man, adding that he decided to stay for the party.
Seafood City, the largest Philippine grocery store chain in North America, typically closes at 9 p.m. But on certain Friday and Saturday nights, its produce or seafood aisle turns into a lively dance floor for “Late Night Madness.” On social media, where the gathering has exploded, it looks like a multigenerational nightclub that could use dimmer lighting. But for attendees who frequent the store, it’s more than that. It’s a space for them to celebrate their Filipino heritage through food, music and dance in a familiar setting.
“This is something that you would never expect to happen — it’s a grocery store,” says Renson Blanco, one of five DJs spinning that night. He grew up going to the store with his family. “My mom would [put] us all in the minivan and come here, and she’d let us run free,” he adds. “It’s comfortable here. It’s safe here.”
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1.Rhianne Alimboyoguen, 23, of Los Angeles follows an employee through the produce section.2.Allison Dove, 29, left, and Andrea Edoria, 33, both of Pasadena, enjoy Philippine street food. 3.Katie Nacino, 20, left, Daniel Adrayan, 21, and Sean Espiritu, 21, of the Filipino American Student Assn. at Cal State Northridge, practice tinikling, a traditional Philippine folk dance, in an aisle.
The first Seafood City location opened in 1989 in National City, a suburb of San Diego, which has a nearly 20% Asian population including a rich Filipino community. For its founders, the Go family, the mission was simple: to provide a market where Filipinos and people within the diaspora could comfortably speak their native language and buy familiar products. It’s since become a community anchor. Of the nearly 40 locations in Northern America, at least half of them are based in California, which has the highest population of Asian Americans in the United States.
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The first “Late Night Madness” event happened in September in Daly City, Seafood City’s newest location. The company wanted to launch a street food program at the store’s food hall in a fun and creative way.
The DJ played a selection of hip-hop, pop, soul and classic Pinoy records like VST & Company’s “Awitin Mo, Isasayaw Ko.” Hundreds of people showed up, and videos of people of all ages turning up in the popular supermarket spread like wildfire. So the company decided to continue hosting the event in October during Filipino American History Month and for the rest of the year. It’s since expanded to more locations around the country and in L.A., including Eagle Rock.
By 10 p.m. at the Seafood City in North Hills, at least 500 people are dancing in the produce section, next to rows of saba bananas, fresh taro leaves and bok choy. The lively crowd forms dance circles throughout the night, taking turns jumping in the center to show off their moves to songs like Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove,” “Nokia” by Drake and Justin Bieber’s “I Just Need Somebody to Love.” At one point, TikToker and artist Adamn Killa hops on the mic and says “If you a Filipino baddie, this is for you,” before doing his viral dance.
Among the Philippine street food offerings were pandesal sliders, lumpia-style nachos, lobster balls and various skewers.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
A group of employees dance behind the counter as they serve hungry patrons who fill their trays with various Filipino street food including pandesal sliders (soft Philippine bread filled with adobo, lechon or longganisa) and Lumpia Overload (think nachos, but a bed of lumpia instead of tortilla chips), lobster balls and barbecue chicken skewers. (No alcohol is served.) Meanwhile, a few lone shoppers sprinkle into the store to get their weekly groceries as music blasts through the speakers.
First-generation Filipino American Andrea Edoria of Pasadena says “Late Night Madness” reminded her of the family parties she attended as a child in L.A. and in Manila, where her parents are from.
“Growing up as a child of immigrants, I was kind of self conscious about displaying too much of my culture,” she says between bites of spiral fried potato. She went to the Eagle Rock event with her mother last month as well. “So it kind of fed my inner child to see so many people celebrating this shared culture and experience that we each grew up [with].”
A multi-generational crowd is drawn to the dance floor. At center is Jade Cavan, 44, of Chatsworth.
Members of the Filipino American Student Assn. at Cal State Northridge perform a tinikling performance.
She adds, “I think it’s so important especially now at a time where our country is so divisive and culture is kind of being weaponized, I think it’s a beautiful reminder that we can come together and find something that unites us.”
About 10 minutes before midnight, the grocery store is still bustling with activity. A dance battle breaks out and people begin hyping up the young women. The DJ transitions into slower tracks like Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” The remaining folks sing along loudly as they walk toward the exit, smiles imprinted on their faces. Staff rush to clean up, then huddle together for group photos to memorialize the evening.
After the final song is played, employees rush to clean up the supermarket.
Patrick Bernardo, 34, of Van Nuys looks at the counter, where a man had been chopping lechon, before stepping outside.
“There’s barely anything left on that pig,” he says, pointing to it as proof that the night was a success.
