Bird’s eye view
Ben filming at Alnmouth for series two of Villages by the Sea
First published in edition 205 of The Northumbrian, Apr/May 2025
TV’s Flying Archaeologist Ben Robinson has done as much as anyone to showcase the region on television. He tells Jane Hall about his enduring love for England’s spectacular border county
Growing up on a farm in the flat Cambridgeshire fenlands, the closest a young Ben Robinson came to a hill was the gentle 20 metre slope on which his home village of Sutton-in-the-Isle stands.
That changed when as an 11-year-old he headed 260-odd miles north on a school trip to Northumberland. Thus began a lifelong affection for the dramatic landscapes and wide, open skies that characterise England’s border county.
Ben is TV’s Flying Archaeologist, taking to the air to discover features from Britian’s rich past which help to shape our present. Casting his mind back more than four decades to that first trip north, he recalls: “We stayed at a youth hostel in Rock on the coast. I think it’s closed now, but I remember it being in a big old house. We spent a packed few days exploring Northumberland. We went to Hadrian’s Wall, Bamburgh Castle, Holy Island, we had a boat trip to the Farne Islands, and we saw real hills, miles of sandy beaches, and big, big skies.
“Ever since I’ve had a soft spot for Northumberland and the North East. I was surprised by the landscape with its hard, craggy rocks and big hills. I’d grown up with really small hills, and the landscape in Cambridgeshire is kind of soft, with peat, silt and mud. Until I went to Northumberland I had never actually seen hard, craggy rocks like the Whin Sill.
“Then there were the Farne Islands – massive, rugged outcrops rising out of the sea – whereas where I grew up, it’s all small, sandy islands and shingle. Even the sandstone in Northumberland is hard. But I also noticed some similarities to the fenlands and Norfolk, like the wide, sandy beaches, the dunes and the coastal marshes.”
Ever since that formative trip, Ben has been drawn to Northumberland, first as a student on Teesside and later, while studying for a PhD at York University, when he would escape with his friends to explore Northumberland and head into Newcastle for nights out and to watch football at St James’ Park.
Now, having carved out a successful TV career alongside his day job with Historic England’s Midlands region, he does his bit to ensure that Northumberland is well-represented on the small screen. He has done this on programmes as diverse as BBC Four’s The Flying Archaeologist, and Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village; to Channel 4’s much-missed Time Team, where Ben got his national broadcasting break; and Most Historic Towns with Professor Alice Roberts.
The region also features in his book England’s Villages: An Extraordinary Journey Through Time, in which he visits some of the nation’s quirkier communities, investigating their architecture, archaeology and history. His latest TV offering, the popular Villages by the Sea, which has recently finished its latest run on the BBC, features six Northumberland coastal locations over five series, making this the most-featured region in the series.
Lindisfarne, Alnmouth, Bamburgh, Craster, Seaton Sluice, and Seahouses have all featured in the programme, which follows Ben as he unearths the role of Britian’s coastal villages in our history. Ben says it is the combination of compelling stories and the willingness of local communities to be featured that keep bringing the production team back to Northumberland.
“We’ve been met with huge enthusiasm and a lot of help. Plus, and I can’t stress this enough, the local expertise and the passion with which people explore their own patch and want to tell others about it has been fantastic. There are so many brilliant researchers doing great work and it’s a real pleasure meeting people who’ve done loads of work on their villages, and the surprising stories that throws up.”
The son of a farmer, Ben had initially thought he might join the RAF after developing a love for flying as an air cadet with 1094 (Ely) Squadron. But it was flying and gliding with the cadet force that began to pique his interest in archaeology.
“I remember going flying and spending as much time thinking about that as looking out of the cockpit trying to work out what was going on. I’d be thinking, ‘Oh my God, is that the remains of a Roman settlement, is that an Iron Age fort, that looks like the remains of a bomb crater filled with water…’
“About the same time, my dad became interested in microlights and created a little airfield on the farm. We’ve had microlights there ever since.”
Later he carved out a path which combined his love of flying with his interest in the past, and he is now one of only a handful of UK-based aerial archaeologists. It is, he explains, “a great way to get a different angle on the history and heritage that’s all around us.”
He used it to good effect when he took to the skies over Hadrian’s Wall for The Flying Archaeologist, revealing a new side to its near 2,000-year history thanks to his bird’s-eye view. Impressive as the wall is, it is not necessarily Ben’s favourite Northumberland location, though he is loathe to commit to where that may be.
“I always find that very difficult to answer. It’s like someone asking, ‘which is your favourite kid?’ Lindisfarne is spectacular. It’s a spiritual place, obviously; that early cradle of Christianity. It’s got a wonderful atmosphere with dramatic scenery and wildlife, but then again Bamburgh, which you can see from Lindisfarne, with the exploration of the early kingdom through the archaeology that is going on revealing the roots of England, of how we are forming into a country and the international connections there were, is fascinating.
“Craster is an astounding place, with its once industrial port and its kippers, and I saw dolphins when we went just a little way out of the harbour. I was supposed to be doing an introduction, and I saw these dolphins, and even in the programme I think I said, ‘Oh look, dolphins!’ You can’t beat that, or the walk up to Dunstanburgh Castle.
“Seahouses with all the fish yards and the transformation of a few cottages by the sea to this big harbour and this tourism destination with trips to the Farne Islands, is a fascinating place too. They’ve all got lots of surprises; they’re all spectacular in different ways.”
He delighted in visiting the Farne islands in the Villages by the Sea episode featuring Seahouses, rekindling memories of his trip as an impressionable 11-year-old. “It was a real adventure visiting the islands as a kid, going out in a relatively small boat, more like a coble. Nothing like the boats they have now.”
Filming took place last September and Ben explored the lime kilns, uncovered the history of the herring industry, and even the beginnings of tourism. “Even before the 20th century, the fishermen in Seahouses were already advertising trips to the Farne Islands,” he explains, a sign that visitors have been an important part of the village’s economy for well over a century.
He recently discovered that he has historical family links to north Northumberland’s tumultuous past. His mother’s family are Armstrongs – a name once notorious as the principal reiving clan in the borders. Ben says: “That may be another reason why I’m interested in Northumberland. The Armstrongs left, or were kicked out, in the 16th or 17th century down to our neck of the woods in East Anglia. The Scots didn’t like the Armstrongs, and I don’t think the English did much either. I think they were basically expelled. But there may be some ancient DNA that is making me want to get back there.”
Villages by the Sea is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. England’s Villages: An Extraordinary Journey Through Time by Ben Robinson (Bonnier Books) is available priced £10.99