A COASTAL VOYAGE IN WATERCOLOUR: THE BORDERS TO THE HUMBER, by Ron Thornton. Published by Wagtail Press, Hexham (tel: 01434 673562). £19.50 (+£3.50 p&p). Hardback.

THE watercolour paintings of this South Shields-born professional artist celebrate the many attractive places to be found scattered along the magnificent coastline from Berwickshire to Yorkshire.
One constant feature through this 160-mile journey are the traditional fishing cobles still active from Spurn Head to Cove Harbour near Cocksburnpath, where one of the smallest fleets of full-time fishing boats in all of Scotland can be found. Evocative watercolours of harbours, bays, rocky foreshores and islands are accompanied by smaller, detailed black-and-white studies and informative historical notes.