Newcastle put on a spectacular show over the weekend for the southern visitor. On Saturday morning, the suns rays streamed through the window beckoning us to get up and out to hit the town and the coast. Breakfast and morning caffeine hits were enjoyed across the road at Café de Vie.
Afterwards, a trip to the bustling Grainger Market was made to stock up on some food for Saturday night’s special home-cooked dinner.
After dropping the shopping off, we hopped on the train and headed for the coast. At Tynemouth’s train station we were met by more markets on the station platform under the arching glass roof.
It was a busy little place, reminding us of the weekend Rozelle Markets, as the stores sold second-hand wares, books, plants, even dolls houses and miniatures.
A walk down the main strip of Tynemouth village, we passed a handful of pubs and boutiques, stopping off to make a few purchases along the way. As the street winds around, the open ocean appears with the sandstone Tynemouth Castle and Priory standing tall on the windy headlands.
We explored the Castle and Priory, trying to imagine the structures in their entirety and marvelling at what history might have been like here hundreds of years ago...
We climbed around the bunker and gun battery, which sits on the edge of the lofty headland, and inspected the only remaining gun left at the site today.
We spied Tynemouth Lighthouse and the smashing waves against the pier and decided to take a walk out to the end after our tour of the Priory.
The pier seemed to take forever to get down. The wind wasn’t too bad, but one could imagine it whipping exceptionally cold air on winter days.
We saw pictures at the Quayside Markets the next day, of waves crashing over and above the pier, and were glad that the seas were far calmer when we chose to walk out to the end.
The coastline at Tynemouth is a series of bays and some of the most popular surfing beaches in the UK. King Edwards Bay sits right next door to the Priory.
A leisurely walk high, above and around the Bay will take one to the sandy and wide Tynemouth Beach.
The sunny weather had brought lots of surfers and families for beachside activities on Saturday. We managed to grab a seat outside on the Robinson Crusoe café’s patio, which sits right on the sand. The café has a fabulous location, but unfortunately it’s service and selection of food doesn’t quite live up to its surrounds.
A much better pick would be higher up, on street level, at the quiet and palatial Grand Hotel.
We snuck in for a peek and found the quiet and cosy Drawing Room with ocean views through the bay windows and a menu, which was surprisingly reasonable for a hotel. Afternoon tea is also served here with finger sandwiches, cake and of course tea.
Making our way back into town we hopped off the train close to Quayside for a whistle-stop tour of the School of Design at Northumbria University and the Dott Festival at Baltic Square (where I have spent every day of last week visiting, participating in talks and helping out on site. I have been keeping a daily log on my PhD research blog. As you may know, the projects of the Dott Festival will be a major part of my research as the key case study).
The Dott Festival definitely brings a better and deeper understanding of the nature of the Dott programme and the issues that designers have been tackling in the public sector. It gave Geoff great insight into what exactly I will be spending the next 3 years looking at!
After a full day of touring the coast and the town we settled down for a drink at the riverside pub the Pitcher and Piano.
We chatted away, reflecting on our day and our time in the UK thus far as the sun set beautifully over the Tyne River.
Sunday morning was another gorgeous day and we begun with breakfast at the Side Café down by Quayside.
The Quayside Markets were on again so we strolled through, and then headed back up to town popping in and checking out the little boutiques I have been finding in Newcastle’s side streets. The surprising thing is that the majority of boutiques are for guys. That is solely for guys as at least 2 of the stores we went into did not stock women’s clothing at all! Geoff picked up some nice winter things in Union.
I popped in for a peek at the new Vivienne Westwood store which just hit town, where the back of the shop also stocks a decent size men’s range.
The sun was dipping lower in the sky and the time was drawing near for Geoff to be on the train back to London. It was hard parting after a fabulous and relaxing weekend, but we are looking forward to two weeks time when we can hang out and have fun in Newcastle again.
