One of my favourite discoveries local to me was Eshott Airfield, just off the A1 near Felton a great visit for all the family with vintage aircraft flights and events and a fab on-site cafe it is most definitely worth a trip.
My first visit to the airfield in the summer of 2022 was to stop for a coffee and cake, I watched the aircraft taking off and landing and thought wow I’d love to do that! I went into the office to enquire about flights and fast forward a couple of years and I’ve been incredibly lucky to take to the skies a few times at Eshott now in their vintage Chipmunk and Tiger moth planes with Tiger Flights. An experience you’ll never forget I can’t recommend this enough it’s true bucket list stuff! Seeing our amazing coastline and castles from this viewpoint is just incredible.
A coast and castles flight takes you up the Northumberland coastline passing Amble, Dunstanburgh Castle, Bamburgh and Alnwick on the way back it’s an amazing way to see the stunning sights our region has to give. My pilot Richard, who also happened to be the airfield director, put me at ease and I knew I was in good hands to fly up and down our coast and just enjoy the unreal views. All of the pilots here are amazing and the staff in general couldn’t be more helpful or friendly. I know several people who have booked flights since seeing me share them on my social media pages even someone who was terrified of flying! But all of them have said what an amazing time they had and couldn’t wipe the grins from their faces.
There’s quite a fleet of amazing aircraft here, and I’ve loved the events that have been held such as machine meets, peaky blinder nights and Top Gun open-air cinema….at an actual airfield does it get more perfect??
The cafe which boasts its own special blend of Tynemouth coffee, serves light bites and delicious cakes with the most friendly staff and amazing afternoon teas. There have been ‘Breakfast with Santa’ events here which I’d really recommend for the little ones seeing Santa arrive in an airplane! Really worth keeping an eye on their socials for announcements of events.
There’s the opportunity to do hangar tours here for those aviation enthusiasts, and I love the work they do for the local community here as well as valuable services for refuelling emergency and military aircraft it’s such an important resource.
The former RAF WWII airfield has a ton of history to discover and I love how their events and work keep this alive. I recommend visiting their website here Eshott Airfield and their social media pages for updates on events. Currently the cafe is closed for the winter season but is usually open Thursday – Sunday for those coffees with a view!
