Sweetheart Wings (Spitfire Rock)

If you go down in the woods today, You're sure of a big surprise. Well we didn't find a Teddy Bear's picnic, but instead we found some cool aeroplanes etched into some rocks in Ashington.

Officially known as Sweetheart Wings, but I think most people call it Spitfire Rocks, this is actually an installation created by artist Simon Watkinson in 2005. It was commissioned as part of the Wansbeck Estuary Art Trail, a series of artworks dotted along the River Wansbeck between Ashington and Newbiggin.

The piece itself is made up of three massive natural boulders set beside the riverside path. Each one had sockets cut into the stone to hold gunmetal cast models of RAF aircraft, including a Spitfire fighter and a Vickers Wellington bomber. The planes were mounted angled upwards so it looked like they were climbing into the sky straight out of the rocks.

The rocks act as a quiet memorial to the RAF's role in Northumberland during WWII. The coastline around here saw regular patrols and training flights, with aircraft operating from nearby airfields across Northumberland and Tyneside while protecting the shipping lanes along the North Sea.

The name Sweetheart Wings is a nod to the 'sweetheart brooches', tiny RAF wing pins worn by the wives and girlfriends of airmen as a token of love and pride while they were away at war.

Sadly, the gunmetal planes that once sat in the stone sockets were stolen years ago, most likely for scrap, leaving empty depressions in the boulders.

It's only 500m from the parking area, so a nice 15 min there and back walk.