Enjoy a family day out

May 2 2008 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

FAMILIES will be flocking to Bank Holiday events across the region this weekend. Among the many choices will be a special day at Newcastle Racecourse at the High Gosforth Park estate.

In addition to the usual race meeting, organisers are providing for all the family with barbecues in each enclosure as well as a kids play area, bouncy castles and face painting.

The racecourse’s commercial manager Mike Elliott said: “Spring may have been late in coming, but what better way to celebrate its arrival than with the first barbecue of the year.

“And we plan to make it a celebration for all the family, including children – and remember, children under 16 are admitted free, when accompanied by an adult.”

Elsewhere, shoppers can enjoy a glimpse of the past on Sunday when the North East Bus Preservation Trust’s annual rally arrives at the MetroCentre’s Coach Park in Gateshead. The annual rally, bringing together vintage vehicles of various types and ages, is to run from 11.30am until 4pm.

Meanwhile, a weekend of activities for children is planned at Bede’s World in Jarrow.

Among them will be a medieval pottery workshop on Sunday and Monday where kids can learn more about their Anglo-Saxon ancestors.

English Heritage is also putting on a number of events including a fairy trail for children at Belsay Hall, Belsay, Northumberland, which runs from Saturday to Monday, and a chance to learn about the North East’s Roman history at Chester’s Roman Fort near Chollerford, Northumberland over the same three days.

Cragside, a National Trust property near Rothbury, Northumberland, is hosting a hedgehog and squirrel hunt on Bank Holiday Monday.

In Durham, art sessions are to be held for children at the Killhope North of England Lead Mining Museum, running from 10am-5pm on Monday. And for lovers of the outdoors, Preston Hall Park in Yarm, Teesside, hosts the Tees Valley Garden Show, due to run from Saturday to Monday.