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- The Regional Image Campaign
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- Television Advert
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- Colin Baldwin
- Arnab Basu
- Niel Bushnell
- Paul Callaghan
- Christopher Davy
- Amelia Dunn and Jacob Wylie
- Durham University Women's Rowing Team
- John Earl
- Wayne Edy
- Rhiannon Hiles
- Melvyn James
- Helen Kilner
- Simon Kujawa
- Terry Laybourne
- The Bowes Museum
- Tom Maxfield
- Jackie Maxwell
- Philip McDonagh
- Fiona Raglan
- Neil Robson
- Sharon Stephen
- Kathryn Tickell
- North East England eNewsletter
- Image Gallery
- Postcards from North East England
- Panoramic Views
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Neil Robson
Neil Robson of L Robson & Sons Ltd, Traditional Fish Smokers pictured at Craster, Northumberland
Some of Neil Robson’s earliest memories are of getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go to market with his father and hand pick the finest herring in peak condition for smoking.
Neil is the fourth generation of the Robson family to specialise in the traditional method of oak smoking kippers and salmon and the company celebrates its centenary in 2006.
Situated in Craster, a small fishing village on the Northumberland Coast, the company still cures fish in the original smokehouses, which are more than 130 years old.
Over the years, Craster kippers have earned the reputation for being among the finest in Britain. Only the plumpest herring with exactly the right oil content are soaked in brine then smoked over smouldering whitewood shavings and oak sawdust for 16 hours. The resulting product is well worth waiting for and favoured by many of the top chefs, as well as The Queen.
Craster, Northumberland
Craster lies nestled between the cliffs and reefs of the Northumberland coast.
Renowned for its varied and spectacular landscape much of Northumberland’s coast is designated both an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Heritage Coast and boasts many clean, sandy beaches, hidden coves and secluded bays.
W Albert Craster, the founder of the Craster family was given the township in the twelfth century and the family continued to live there over the centuries.
Craster has always been closely associated fishing. Its small harbour was built in the nineteenth century and named after a member of the Craster family killed in action in India in the early 1900s. The harbour was base for the many boats that brought in herring for smoking to make the famous Craster kippers with their distinctive Northumbrian flavour.