Books by The(North)Sea

A string of little free libraries along the Northumberland Coast

Leave a book, take a book, close the door

For you, from us, for free

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Books by the Sea is a project born in lockdown of hopeful themes of reading, seeing and thinking slowly, right here by the sea. A collaboration between The Old School Gallery and Emble Farms, built by a local stalwart and stewarded by a network of volunteers in our community, Books by the Sea is a string of little free libraries dotted along the North Northumberland Coast.

Connecting locals and visitors, our libraries all look alike - they are tiny wooden black pitched roof huts. You will recognise them when you see them, see our little friend above! The libraries are all in great places for walking, our hope is to encourage reading and sharing ideas in an analogue way. Find treasure in our troves of books, for free.
This is just for you, fun and for literacy.

(Click on the map below ⬇️ to find the locations of little free libraries in Northumberland)

Our first publication, Forecast is what we like - a physical, analogue thing that fits in your pocket. We have printed one thousand copies only and over the coming months we will add them to our libraries. The libraries are easy to find but Forecast might not be, you’ll have to hunt out your copy. Featuring poetry, photography, stories and illustrations, Forecast relates to our lives here. We are grateful to the contributors for their support and interest in our zine, a pamphlet for our time in our place. Should you wish, you can buy a hard copy or download Forecast below. All profits will be used to bring forth more from Books by the Sea. We hope you like it and enjoy visiting our Books by the Sea libraries.

As well as Forecast, we are building a collection of great work contributed by some wonderful creative people, click here: to see how you can support us.

These are over 100,000 of these boxes around the world. We really hope you will be part of making Books By The Sea a great success. You can find lots of information at https://littlefreelibrary.org/ and you can even start you own.

Find us, follow us, like us and post about your reading on Instagram @booksbythesea_lfl

HAPPY READING!

This is not a bookshop. But is a mighty fine selection. For free, for you, from us. #littlefreelibrary #jamesrebanks #englishpastoral #edsheeran #arslongavitabrevis #emble #booksbythesea #booksbythesea_lfl #northsunderland #northumberlandcoast #kee
Harry Pearson A modest chap is Harry. And he is an engaged chap. Books by the Sea is honoured to have Harry in our fold. He wrote a lovely piece on dovecotes, whinstone, our beloved Embleton and the rise and fall of keeping pigeons in our zine, For
Number 11; The Deep South Say hello to our latest new arrival! Welcome Warkworth! The newest member of the Books by the Sea family, sited just south of the bridges over the Coquet in the Milennium Garden, this is perhaps our most sophisticated loc
Some cracking selections here ready for our new branch. Keep your eyes peeled as you wander along the coast this weekend - it’s a scorcher so please bring a book, take a book, stay in the shade and expand your mind. Many thanks to @mainstreet
Alnmouth branch updated with lots of children’s books ready for the summer holidays. Map link in profile. Plan a walk with the bairns. #alnmouth #booksbythesea
Turnover Tuesday Get out, enjoy the long days, pick up something from one of our libraries, many with refreshed stock this evening. Swipe to see. It’s your life. Read how someone else sees it. Mary Oliver time again: “Pay attention
It’s not just fiction. Here are some reference books bound for our branches. Opera, orgies, aristocrats, slang and in French too… Born here, drawn here, read here #takeabookleaveabook #littlefreelibrary #bornheredrawnherereadhere #boo
Loadsa money in the 80s, innit? Look how Debrett’s grew in size between 1982 and 1990! This isn’t a fair comparison, the 1982 is the Handbook whereas the 1990 is the Peerage and Baronetage, which is the traditional volume. The Handbook
Blooms, books and bras… from brassiere to jardiniere Our gallant steward of the North Sunderland branch is a local stalwart. She was the head teacher of the local primary school, is now heavily involved in the #rnli locally and has lead the c
Random Act of Kindness What goes around comes around, the milkman of human kindness has made an extra delivery this morning in Beadnell. How lovely! Hopefully you can read the message above, #randomactsofcrochetkindness has visited our library and
Note in a Bottle Captivating (and captivated) writing from @angelareadman. Angela is a celebrated writer who kindly contributed this poem to our debut pamphlet zine manifestation we’ve called Forecast. Somehow she captured the spirit of what
Holy Island Forecast Island resident Tracey is doing a super job stewarding the new Holy Island branch, well done! She received her copies of our little zine on Friday and reports the first one has already flown the coop! Checkout our bio for more i
Night moves Night moves… out past the cornfields… to the sound of thunder… here’s another copy of Forecast being put out there for our supporters, readers and future leaders! Apologies to Bob Seger Take a book 📚 Lea
First copies of Forecast going into the Alnmouth branch. 🎣 #libraries #librariesofinstagram #library #books #librarylife #reading #bookstagram #librarylove #book #librarians #libraryfun #booklover #read #liitlefreelibrary #librariestransform #publ
Welcome to our first BBTS publication. Forecast🔮 A 24 page zine of poetry, illustration, short stories and photography celebrating the Northumberland coast. 🖊 Including written contributions from Harry Pearson (The Far Corner) Angela Readman (Co