Category × County
7 Best Parks and Playgrounds In Tyne and Wear
With only seven listings to work through, it pays to know what greets you at each. Saltwell Park and Exhibition Park are proper town parks: paths, water, play equipment, somewhere to sit, all of it visible within a few minutes of arriving. Herrington Country Park and Gibside put the walk first and the play second, which a five-year-old notices immediately. WWT Washington Wetland Centre and Belsay Hall Castle and Gardens are visitor attractions first and green space second, and our records put a roof somewhere on each site.
Top parks and playgrounds in Tyne and Wear
Showing 1–7 of 7
Parks and PlaygroundsSaltwell Park
Zoos and Wildlife ParksWWT Washington Wetland Centre
Parks and PlaygroundsHerrington Country Park
Parks and PlaygroundsExhibition Park
CastlesBelsay Hall Castle and Gardens
National ParksRoker Park
Parks and PlaygroundsGibside
Cover is recorded at just two of the seven, which sets the terms of any North East afternoon. With a young child, arriving at a site where the play area is near the car park is worth more than arriving somewhere more impressive with a long walk in front of you.
Parks and Playgrounds in Tyne and Wear: FAQs
Where should we go for a first outing with a one-year-old?
A town park with a short circuit and a bench, every time. Saltwell Park is the obvious candidate in this county because the ground is level, the distances are small and there is normally somewhere to feed and change a baby without walking half a mile. Country parks and estates are lovely and they are also gates, mud and long paths, none of which a first outing needs.
Does a wetland centre hold a young child's attention?
Rather better than most adults expect. Animals sit at eye level, hides give somewhere to duck into, and nothing at WWT Washington Wetland Centre has to be read before it makes sense. It also carries an indoor flag, which is a real advantage in this list. The limit is walking distance: the routes are longer than they look on the map at the entrance.
Our children are three and nine. Can one site cover both?
The larger mixed sites give you the best chance, because the nine-year-old needs somewhere to go and the three-year-old needs somewhere to stop. Herrington Country Park and Gibside have the space for that, provided you accept that the younger one will be carried at some point. Trying to satisfy both at a small park usually means the older child is done in twenty minutes.
One of these is filed under national parks. Is that right?
No. Roker Park is a seafront town park and the category attached to it in our records is wrong; we have reported it. It does not change what you will find there, but it is a reminder that the heading a site is filed under is less reliable than the description of the site itself. Judge by what a place is, not by the label it arrived with.