Blog Articles

Picnic Spots A good picnic spot needs a few things: somewhere lovely to sit, somewhere for a wild child to disappear for twenty minutes and burn off the sandwich, and ideally a decent view to enjoy while you're waiting for them to come back. The North East has this covered in every direction, from grand parkland estates to a genuinely wild gorge walk. Gibside, near Rowlands Gill A 600 acre Georgian landscape garden with sweeping views across the Derwent Valley, Gibside is one

Beach Days The North East coastline punches well above its weight, from Blue Flag beaches with lifeguards and cafés right on the doorstep to vast, wild stretches of sand where you can walk for an hour and barely see another soul. Here's a spread to suit every kind of day out. Tynemouth Longsands and Whitley Bay These two neighbouring beaches, along with King Edward's Bay next door, have held Blue Flag status every year since 1994, among a small handful of beaches nationally t

Best Splash Pads There is no finer way to occupy a wild child on a properly hot day than a splash pad, and the North East has a decent scattering of them, almost all free, dotted between Northumberland and Durham. None of them are enormous, but that's rather the point: turn up, get soaked, dry off on the grass, repeat. Ridley Park, Blyth An award-winning Victorian park with a genuinely popular water play area right at its centre, alongside two separate playgrounds for differe