Outdoor Activities in Newcastle upon Tyne

The seven with indoor space as well as outdoor. Belsay Hall Castle and Gardens and Murton Equestrian Centre both appear in the indoor and the outdoor columns, so a shower interrupts the visit instead of ending it. Stepney Bank Stables is another that spans both. It is not a guarantee of comfort in a downpour, but it beats standing in a field with a five-year-old and a broken umbrella.

Go Ape Matfen is the high-adrenaline entry on this list, and The Newcastle Spy Mission Treasure Trail works surprisingly well with children who think they are too old for organised fun, because it puts them in charge of the route and the clues. Teenagers tend to engage with a task far more readily than with a walk that has been described to them as nice.

They can be, with adjustments. The appeal is that you set the pace and can stop whenever legs give out, which is the opposite of a timed attraction. The catch is reading: a child who cannot yet read clues will need an adult doing the work, so it becomes a family activity rather than a way to occupy them. Take snacks and be relaxed about finishing.

Choose a site with more than one thing happening in it rather than a single fixed activity, so the older ones can range while the youngest stays close. Jesmond Dene Newcastle and Exhibition Park both suit that pattern. Agree a meeting point on arrival, set a rough time to regroup, and accept that somebody will be bored for twenty minutes at some stage of the day.