Home Of The City Fathers...
by steventilly
Newcastle Civic Centre - the home of the City Council. Built in the late 1960's it is not quite so monsterous as some buildings of this era. It has a fine carillon in it's tower, the only carillon built in the UK since the war, and an outstanding staue of the river god 'Tyne'.
Black Gate
by steventilly
Black Gate was the gate protecting the entrance to the Keep of the 'New Castle'. It had drawbridges linking it to both the street level and the keep itself. It is much modernised from it's original state.
Newcastle Brown Ale
by barryg23
Newcastle Brown Ale is the best known beer from Newcastle. It's been brewed in the city since the 1920s and it's famous blue star logo has been there since the start. It’s available on draught, in bottle and in cans though the bottled version seemed the most common in the pubs we visited in Newcastle. I had never tried it before my visit to the city so what better place for my first glass.
The Angel of the North
by MDH
Not really off the beaten path, but still kind of outside the city, the Angel of the North is the largest sculpture in Britain. Its appearance is of a Neolithic-like human figure with two long wings; wings that are actually larger than the wingspan of a Boeing 767! People travelling along the A1 highway just south of Newcastle will be greeted by the Angel before entering the city.
Since its completion in the late 1990s, Geordies look at the Angel with a mixture of pride and amusement. It's a sculpture that's brought more attention to Newcastle from the rest of the UK, but at the same time, some people think it's too "strange" when you take in its appearance and the way it's right next to Northumbria's major highway, where everyone can see it.
The artistic merits of the Angel might be debated for years to come, but nevertheless, stop by, see it, and decide for yourselves.
Darlington
by margaretvn
Visit Darlington, you can get there easily by bus, train or car from Newcastle. The town has a very interesting train history and has a Railway centre and museum which is worth visiting. The museum is on North road and there you can see Stephenson's world famous 'Locomotion number 1' plus lots of other memorabilia from the age of steam.
On the outskirts of the town there is also the life size train sculpture by David Mach.