At my first jewellery class with KL Jewellery designs/ Belfast school of jewellery Katrina told me about purple seaglass and I was immediately obsessed. I believe that was also when I first found out about Seaham; a magical seaside town in England where the beach is filled to the brim with all colours of glass. Of course upon further research and joining Facebook groups I learned that Seaham isn't actually magical, the abundance of seaglass is from all the waste glass that was dumped straight into the sea by local glass factories. The beaches in Seaham were actually very dirty from the mining and glass waste once upon a time, but the magic of the sea has turned all our ugly human glass waste into incredible pieces of crystal-like seaglass that glistens in the sand.

It was eventually decided that we would go to Seaham for our summer holiday this year. A daunting idea as we now have 2 dogs and have never left Ireland since we got them. But I was desperate to find some multis and potentially a vibrant purple. A ferry was booked, as well as a air bnb and I set to work researching all the best beaches and tactics for finding that gorgeous Seaham glass. 

It should be noted that Seaham isn't actually covered in seaglass, I've heard of a good few people going and coming back quite disappointed. The glass is mostly quite small on Seaham hall beach but I was still incredibly pleased, the glass is so much thicker and well rounded off than anything I've found in Ireland and there is a lot of it if you sit and dig. I think some people expect a beach where the sand is replaced by multi glass and that is not at all what Seaham is, but when I compare Seaham to the average beach I normally go to the quantity and quality of the glass at Seaham is absolutely astonishing. I was there for a week and found around 7 multis and a few pieces of bonfire glass which in itself is mad when you put that into perspective of what you would usually expect to find on a normal beach. I also found a countless amount of pirates glass, mainly from Blast Beach (I might talk about how difficult it is to get there in another post) and loads of slag glass from a variety of beaches, a gorgeous and huge bit of dragon glass, and 5 pieces of opalite seaglass from Easington beach.  Personally I have seen people find more multis than that in a shorter period of time but the tides are constantly changing how much glass you'll find and I'm incredibly grateful for what I found during that week. 

Seaham is just a "small" mining town, as someone who comes from the middle of nowhere I feel it's pretty big, but if you're looking for a big fancy seaside holiday with arcades don't go to Seaham. I was surprised to see that even though Seaham has a bounty of absolutely gorgeous seaglass there was only one craft/gift shop that I could find. Personally I loved Seaham town, I had amazing waffles and pancakes at a few different places and there were a good few restaurants that had great food. The town is beautiful (of course it is, it is right on the coast on top of beaches) And it has an ASDA and a shopping centre so In my opinion it's a great town that's a lot bigger than I was expecting considering I've heard people call it small (I was expecting something the size of Ballywalter, not Lisburn).

The surrounding beaches are stunning, but be prepared that wherever you go there is a decent amount of walking to do which includes stairs. A lot of stairs. As a person with a dodgy knee and a walking stick, it was a bit of a struggle to get to some places but totally worth it. Some beaches are a lot easier to get to than others eg Seaham hall vs Blast beach. Durham city is also nearby and we went there to go to a cat cafe which was a very relaxing experience. Honestly I didn't explore the surrounding areas as much as I could have because once I got onto Seaham hall beach I was hooked and I spent as much of my time there as I could. But from what I did see, everything is very lovely.

In short, manage your expectations if you want to go to Seaham, the beach is full of other seaglassers looking for those washed up treasures. But also make sure you put into perspective what you're getting from Seaham, there's a lot to be found and to be grateful for as well as the great memories you'll get. Also don't ignore the rocks on the beaches, I was incredibly excited to discover that the beaches around Seaham are also full of carnelian!! I came home with a large bag full of awesome rocks. I adored Seaham and I'm going to be very sad when I run out of my gorgeous Seaham glass for jewellery making, I'll definitely be back someday if I can. The nature and beaches are beautiful and it was definitely one of my favourite holidays. 

Follow me on my socials and keep an eye on the website as I'll be writing about my opinions and experiences on each beach I went to in the Seaham area.

Happy hunting!

Avery