Saltwell Park — Attraction in Gateshead

This park has to be one of the nicest if not the nicest outside of London.

Saltwell Park is a Victorian park in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Opened in 1876, the park was designed by Edward Kemp and incorporates the mansion and associated grounds of the Saltwellgate estate owner, William Wailes, who sold his estate to Gateshead Council for £35,000. Upon opening, it became known as "The People's Park". The park was expanded in 1920 when the council purchased the adjacent gardens to the Saltwell Grove estate and added these to the park. This extended the park's total size to 55 acres (22 ha). Towards the end of the 20th century, the park had fallen into disrepair, but between 1999 and 2005, it was subject to a £9.6 million restoration project, funded collaboratively by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Gateshead Council and is now host to around 2 million visitors per year.[2]

The park is split broadly into three sections. Saltwell Grove, the southern section, is an area of grassed open space with a bandstand to the western corner. The central area contains the centrepiece of the park – Wailes's former home, the Grade II listed Saltwell Towers and its surrounding belvedere walls. These have been fully restored and are now a visitor centre. There are also three war memorials, a yew-tree maze, a dene and an area containing several species of caged animals known as Pet's Corner. The largest section of the park is the Northern Fields section which contains a four-acre boating lake with a wooded island at its centre, as well as three bowling greens and two pavilions.

Saltwell Park has been presented with numerous awards in recent years, including being named "Britain's Best Park" in 2005 and Civic Trust Park of the Year in 2006. It has won a Green Flag award every year since 2006 and in was 2013 re-listed as one of fifty-five Green Heritage sites in the UK. The park has been a social hub for over a century; an annual public bonfire night display was first held in 1883, a circus in 1886 and the park hosted the Holidays at Home programme during World War II. Today the bonfire display has grown into one of the largest in Tyne and Wear and is attended by thousands of people every year. In October 2012, Saltwell Park was the site of the first British Legion Field of Remembrance in North East England. It also plays a role in local sport and recreation; it has hosted a fundraising day in support of Sport Relief, a Race for Life for a number of years and in November 2012 a "green gym" was installed at the park – one of only two...

Visited Saltwell Park for the first time last week as I was in the area visiting my in-laws. What a beautiful, expansive, lush and verdant feast for the eyes! Everywhere you look, there are old trees, beautifully manicured gardens and walkways, and very happy dogs with their humans! So nice to see.

My only (very slightly) negative note would be about the café. The carrot cake was fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but the tea was overfilled and I burnt my hand. Anyway, that is just something that should be considered, especially for more vulnerable or elderly folk. My actual complaint is about the wait time to even order. There were two people in front of us and it took 15 minutes. How?! The fancy coffees being ordered take forever to make, especially since there was only one person manning the counter. I think an extra person would have helped to take the pressure off the only member of staff there. Other than that, no complaints at all.

We had a lovely time and seeing the squirrels, mice and cute ducklings made me really happy. I only wish your maze were tall enough for adults...

*Update - There are no longer any restrictions to use the toilet facilities. It's still a great area to bring the kids. Large open areas to sit, play, picnic, stroll, etc. If bringing your dog(s) here, they should be kept on leash. There is a designated enclosed area to let your dog(s) off leash. Notices around the lake warn about feeding bread to the ducks, geese, and swans. Feeding bread is harmful to the birds digestive systems. If you want to feed the birds, I suggest wildbird feed, suet pellets, duck feed, etc.

Kids thoroughly enjoyed the outing here. Toilets are only open from 11am until 3pm at the moment. Although we didn't visit the cafe, I would assume it's the same opening hours at present. Face masks to be worn when entering the toilet area and remain worn until after you leave the premises. There was an attendant there, and to prevent crowding, only one person was allowed in at a time unless with a child/children. A good system in place, I think, to allow for social distancing so well done to...