Craster Kippers

A kipper is a herring split from head to tail, gutted, brined and cold-smoked, a method developed in Northumberland in the 1840s. L Robson and Sons have smoked at Craster since 1856 in the same brick smokehouses, hanging the fish on tenterhooks over slow oak sawdust fires for around sixteen hours, cold enough that the flesh is cured rather than cooked. The smokehouses are visible from the yard and the smell carries through the village. Craster once had a large herring fleet with women following the boats to gut, but North Sea herring stocks collapsed and the fish now comes from further afield, mostly Scotland and Norway. The dark orange colour of mass-produced kippers usually comes from dye; traditionally smoked ones are a paler brown.

What you actually see

• The Victorian smokehouses - brick sheds in use since 1856.
• The oak fires - sixteen hours of cold smoke over sawdust.
• The undyed colour - a pale brown rather than the dyed orange of factory kippers.
• The harbour - a small stone haven the village grew around.

When to go

Year-round; smoking runs through the year, and the restaurant and shop keep normal hours. Craster is the start of the walk to Dunstanburgh Castle, which pairs naturally with lunch.

Honest expectations

Kippers are strongly flavoured and bony, and eating one is more work than most fish. The village is tiny with a small charged car park that fills early. The smokehouse is a working business, not a visitor attraction, and tours are not routinely offered.

Nearby

Dunstanburgh Castle is a two-kilometre walk along the shore; Alnwick lies inland.