Saltwell Park is Gateshead’s great Victorian park, opened in 1876 to a design by the landscape gardener Edward Kemp. At its heart stands Saltwell Towers, a fairy-tale mansion built for the stained-glass maker William Wailes and now a visitor centre after a major restoration in the early 2000s. There’s a boating lake, a maze, a dene and formal gardens to wander. Free and open daily, and only a short hop from Newcastle across the river.
