Warkworth by Ian Scott Massie
Original Watercolour
12" x 10" Mounted size - 7" x 5" Image size
Available: unframed @ £215
To shop, please click here
12" x 10" Mounted size - 7" x 5" Image size
Available: unframed @ £215
To shop, please click here
AMBLE
Amble lies close to the East Coast Main Line. It’s a small town with a harbour from which, a hundred years ago, up to three quarters of a million tons of shipping sailed away annually. Its nickname is “The Friendly Port”. In the 1930s the grand liner The Mauretania was passing Amble on her last journey to the breakers yard and telegraphed the town greeting it as “the last and kindliest port in England”.
Like many coastal towns it has had to adapt to survive. The local coal mines were productive, but economies of scale favoured the more densely worked areas of pits around Newcastle and Durham and investment was always hard to attract. When the mining went so did the railway station. Unemployment rose to13%. The town received government support in regional development grants, but under the Thatcher government this was withdrawn in 1984.
But Amble, like so many embattled communities in the North East of England, took stock and went to work on rebuilding itself. It took its assets: the sea, the harbour, the excellence of its local food and exploited them to the full with great success.
Visiting Amble today is a pleasure. There are trips to Coquet Island, a Puffin Festival celebrating Amble’s well-loved birds and a marina full of yachts. But for me - and I’m far from alone in this - the sweet-flavoured jewel in the crown of the town is Spurelli’s Ice Cream Parlour. The confections created in this little cafe are extraordinary. It’s been voted the best ice cream in the country. Flavours like Sicilian Lemon or Pistachio and Alnwick Rum just sing on the palette.
Like many coastal towns it has had to adapt to survive. The local coal mines were productive, but economies of scale favoured the more densely worked areas of pits around Newcastle and Durham and investment was always hard to attract. When the mining went so did the railway station. Unemployment rose to13%. The town received government support in regional development grants, but under the Thatcher government this was withdrawn in 1984.
But Amble, like so many embattled communities in the North East of England, took stock and went to work on rebuilding itself. It took its assets: the sea, the harbour, the excellence of its local food and exploited them to the full with great success.
Visiting Amble today is a pleasure. There are trips to Coquet Island, a Puffin Festival celebrating Amble’s well-loved birds and a marina full of yachts. But for me - and I’m far from alone in this - the sweet-flavoured jewel in the crown of the town is Spurelli’s Ice Cream Parlour. The confections created in this little cafe are extraordinary. It’s been voted the best ice cream in the country. Flavours like Sicilian Lemon or Pistachio and Alnwick Rum just sing on the palette.