Billy Shiel's Boat Trips

The boat launches from Seahouses harbour, and within minutes you're cutting across grey-green water toward the Farne Islands. Billy Shiel's operation has been running these trips for decades - it's the sort of outfit that feels properly established, the kind where the skipper knows every rock and seal colony by heart.

What you're actually doing is wildlife spotting. The islands are home to thousands of seabirds - puffins, razorbills, guillemots - and grey seals that lounge about on the rocks like they own the place, which they do. The trips vary: some land you on the islands themselves for an hour or so, others circle them for photographs. Either way, you're close enough to see individual birds and genuinely close to the seals. It's genuinely impressive, not oversold.

The journey takes two to three hours depending on which trip you book. Bring seasickness tablets if you're prone - it can get choppy. Waterproofs aren't optional. Families with kids aged seven and up tend to get the most from it; younger children find the boat journey itself the main event rather than the wildlife.

With Seafield Caravan Park just 0.1 miles away and several other parks within easy reach, this sits nicely into a Northumberland coastal break. Combine it with Bamburgh Castle or a walk along Seahouses' own beaches. Worth booking in advance during summer - the boats do fill up.