Tynemouth Longsands

A proper urban beach with genuinely photogenic bones: the long crescent of sand, St George's church spire rising straight off the back of the beach, surfers in the water twelve months a year, and the Priory headland brooding to the south. This is sub-250g country — Longsands is a recreational area that fills up fast, so a Mini flown early and sensibly is realistic where anything heavier isn't. Timing is everything. Turn up at 7am on a grey-gold winter morning and you'll have acres of reflective sand, a handful of swimmers from the sauna huts, and clean air; turn up at noon on an August Saturday and it's hopeless. The Priory and Castle at the south end is English Heritage — get your castle-and-cliffs frames from a respectful lateral distance over the beach rather than TOALing on the headland. Watch the surfers: they're everywhere and they're moving, so keep height and don't loiter over the lineup. Newcastle Airport's FRZ sits comfortably inland — you're clear here, but stay under 120m as the coast gets regular helicopter and light-aircraft traffic running the shoreline. Cullercoats' little harbour bay, one headland north, makes a tidy second location on the same battery set.