South Shields / Whitburn
Marsden Bay · Photo: Mike Quinn
Climb a red-and-white striped Victorian lighthouse, run about on open clifftop grassland, then drop down to a cove where a giant sea stack is crowded with seabirds. Finish with a fish supper on the South Shields front.
Landmark · 10:00–13:00 (3h)
Coffee at the cafe (opens 10:00), lighthouse tower when it opens at 11:00, then lunch at the cafe and a run on The Leas.
A red-and-white striped Victorian lighthouse on the cliffs between South Shields and Sunderland, the first designed to run on electricity. Children can climb the tower and then run about on the open clifftop grassland of The Leas.
Photo: nationaltrust.org.uk
Nature & gardens · 13:15–15:15 (2h)
Rock pooling and cave poking at low tide; watch the seabirds on Marsden Rock in spring and summer.
A cliff-backed sandy and pebbly cove dominated by Marsden Rock, a huge sea stack covered in nesting seabirds in spring and summer. Good for rock pooling and cave poking at low tide; check tides as the rock is cut off at high water and keep clear of the cliffs.
Photo: Mike Quinn
Food stop · 15:45–16:45 (1h)
Fish and chip tea on the seafront.
A long-established South Shields fish and chip family business now trading from a converted seafront building, with a sit-down restaurant and takeaway. A natural lunch or tea stop after the beach or South Marine Park.
Photo: colmansseafoodtemple.co.uk
North EastBarnard Castle / Middleton-in-Teesdale
Walk from a little chapel visitor centre to a waterfall you can stand behind at Gibson's Cave and the tumbling cascades of Low Force. In the afternoon, a French-chateau museum in Barnard Castle where a mechanical silver swan performs every day at 2pm - and under-18s go free.
Bowlees Visitor Centre → The Bowes Museum
North EastMiddlesbrough
Dinosaurs, space and live reptiles at a free town museum, lunch and swan pedal boats in the big Victorian park at its gate, then a Georgian National Trust hall with a natural play area and a model railway layout.
Dorman Museum → Albert Park → Ormesby Hall
North EastNewcastle city centre / Quayside
A walkable Newcastle day that starts under the cathedral's lantern spire, crosses the Tyne on the tilting 'blinking eye' bridge and follows the river east into the Ouseburn valley. Lunch is among the pigs and goats at a free city farm, and the afternoon goes underground on a guided tour of a Victorian coal-wagon tunnel that sheltered people in the Blitz.
Newcastle Cathedral → Gateshead Millennium Bridge → Ouseburn Farm → Victoria Tunnel
