North East hidden gems – Saltwell Park

I love Newcastle, it’s a great city to visit, with fantastic shopping opportunities, tasty restaurants, lots of lively bars, and a great range of hotels! but sometimes it’s nice to get out of the city and head for something a little calmer and a little greener.

One of our favourite places to visit is Saltwell Park, we discovered it around 2 years ago and it’s become our fail safe place to go. Whether we want to go for a walk, a cup of coffee, visit the animals or walk round the lake, we always enjoy it. It’s a bit of a hidden gem though, many of my friends, even though they’re local, haven’t heard of the place.

Saltwell Park is a ten minute drive from our home, set in a leafy part of Gateshead. It’s tucked away from the main road, and despite the fact it’s massive, it hides quite easily! It has plenty of free parking both around the park on the road, and in a car park joined to the parkAs well as the rather grand Saltwell Towers, the park is home to a small animal corner, a beautiful lake where you can hire boats during the summer and even a small train that runs round parts of the park.We love to go for walks round the beautiful grounds, calling into the cafe inside Saltwell Towers for a hot cuppa or picnicking on the grass in the warmer weather. The little man loves playing in the play park, the sandpit is his favourite bit, we usually bring half of it home in his shoes!