Leazes Park And The Town Moor: Newcastle's Free Green Space

Newcastle upon Tyne is unusual among English cities for the sheer amount of grass that sits directly against its commercial heart. Leazes Park, a Victorian park with a lake, opens onto the Town Moor, a vast stretch of common land where cattle genuinely graze a few hundred metres from the shops of Northumberland Street. Neither place charges for entry, and both are close enough to the centre that a visitor can fold them into a day out without spending anything on transport.

Yes, both Leazes Park and the Town Moor are free to enter. Leazes Park is a free public Victorian park that officially opened in 1873 and has a lake, tennis courts open for play and basketball courts. The Town Moor is open common land with long-standing public access for air and exercise, where the Freemen of Newcastle graze livestock, so visitors should give cattle space. The two sit side by side about ten minutes' walk from Grey's Monument.

Both parks sit within easy reach of the start point of Newcastle's free walking tours, and a morning walking the city followed by an afternoon on the grass is one of the cheapest full days out the city offers. Two free, pay what you want walking tours run on GuruWalk, the Geordie Genius Highlights Walk and the Grand Buildings, Vampire Rabbit Walk, both meeting at Grey's Monument and both lasting around two hours.

Is Leazes Park Free To Visit?

Yes, Leazes Park is a free public Victorian park. Newcastle City Council, which operates it, lists no admission charge, and the park offers a lake, tennis courts open for play and basketball courts that anyone can use.

Leazes Park officially opened in 1873, which makes it the oldest park in the city's council directory, and its centrepiece is the lake that fills the middle of the ground. The layout has the hallmarks of its era: winding paths around the water, mature trees, and open lawns that fill with picnickers whenever the weather allows. The council's park page records the opening year and the lake as the park's defining features.

The tennis courts are open for play rather than locked behind a booking system, and the basketball courts sit alongside them, which makes the park a genuinely useful stop for anyone travelling light with a ball. For most visitors, though, the appeal is simpler: it is a calm, green room directly behind St James' Park, and it costs nothing to sit in. There is no cafe charge to meet, no ticket desk to pass, no condition attached. The council page lists no admission charge at all.

Because the park abuts the football stadium, match days change its character entirely. On those days the surrounding streets fill with supporters and the park becomes part of the walk to the ground. On any other day it is one of the quietest corners of central Newcastle upon Tyne.

What Is The Town Moor And Why Is It There?

The Town Moor is open common land with long-standing public access for air and exercise, and the Freemen of Newcastle graze livestock on it, so visitors should give the cattle space. It is free to access and sits immediately north of Leazes Park and St James' Park.

Very few cities in Britain have a working common of this size pressed against their commercial centre. The land is not a conventional park: it has no formal planting, because its status comes from ancient rights of access rather than from a council recreation budget. The Freemen of Newcastle hold grazing rights over it, and their cattle are a working part of the landscape, not a decorative exhibit. The Freemen's own site records their role on the moor.

The practical consequence for a visitor is simple. The moor is free to walk, free to cross, free to sit on, and large enough that it never feels crowded. But it is shared ground. Cattle move across it, and the rule is to keep a respectful distance rather than approach them. That is the only real condition on the moor's free access, and it is one the livestock enforce themselves.

The moor also anchors the city's biggest free events, which are covered further down this page. Between those weekends it reverts to what it has been for centuries: open grass, wide skies, and the odd cow between you and the skyline.

Who Are The Freemen Of Newcastle?

The Freemen of Newcastle are a body with hereditary rights, including grazing rights over the Town Moor, and their livestock have priority on the land. Public access for air and exercise sits alongside those rights, which is why the moor is free to walk but not free to treat as a playground for dogs or barbecues near the animals.

The Freemen predate almost every institution in the modern city. Their grazing rights on the moor are the reason the land was never built over during the expansions that swallowed equivalent commons in other industrial cities. The cattle you see are there under those rights, and the compact is straightforward: the public gets permanent free access to hundreds of acres of central green space, and the cattle get left alone.

For a visitor this shapes behaviour more than itinerary. Cross the moor by any of the worn paths, picnic on the fringes if you like, but walk around the animals rather than through them, and keep dogs under close control. That is the whole cost of admission.

Can You Walk From Leazes Park To The Town Moor?

Yes, Leazes Park and the Town Moor are directly connected, and you can walk between them in a couple of minutes. The park sits at the moor's south western corner, so a single visit can cover the formal park, the lake and the open common without retracing your steps.

This connectivity is what makes the pairing work as a free half day. A sensible loop starts at the city centre, walks up to Leazes Park, circles the lake, crosses onto the moor, and returns past the stadium. Nothing on that route carries a charge, and the whole thing sits within a compact area of the city.

The Stadium Park area on the moor's southern edge is the transitional zone between the two, and from the open ground you can see the city centre towers rising behind the pitch. It is a striking contrast and one of the memorable free views in Newcastle upon Tyne: grazing land in the foreground, a city behind it.

For anyone combining the parks with a free walking tour, both GuruWalk walks meet at Grey's Monument on the Grainger Street side, which is roughly a ten minute walk from the edge of Leazes Park. A free morning tour followed by a free afternoon on the grass makes a complete budget day in the city.

What Free Events Happen On The Town Moor?

The Town Moor hosts two of Newcastle's biggest free-to-watch events: the Hoppings funfair, where entry to the fairground is free but rides are paid, each June, and the Great North Run, which is free to watch from the public route each September. Neither needs a ticket for the free part.

The Hoppings is the headline act. It is held on the Town Moor each June, and the free part is entry: you can walk into the fairground and soak up the atmosphere without paying anything, with rides and attractions charged separately. The 2026 run was 19 to 28 June. Organisers announce each edition's dates themselves, so check the official pages before travelling for a future year.

The Great North Run finishes on the Newcastle and Gateshead riverside, and spectating along the public route is free with no ticket. The 2026 race was on Sunday 13 September. It is one of the days the whole city turns out, and the atmosphere on the embankments costs nothing to join.

The moor also hosts other gatherings across the year, and the general rule holds for all of them: access to the open ground itself never stops being free. Event-specific elements, such as fairground rides at the Hoppings, are paid, and those prices are set by the operators rather than the city.

The Mela belongs to the neighbouring Exhibition Park rather than the moor itself, but the two greens are effectively one continuous free zone for event weekends.

Is Exhibition Park Free To Enter?

Yes, Exhibition Park is a free public park, run by Newcastle City Council with no admission charge listed. It sits on the eastern side of the Town Moor and adds a boating lake, formal paths and family space to the open common next door.

Exhibition Park is the third piece of central Newcastle's green belt. Where the Town Moor is open and unimproved, Exhibition Park is the shaped, planted version, with a lake of its own and a more traditional park layout. The council's directory page lists no admission charge.

It is the park most used by families with small children, because the paths are flat and the lawns are enclosed, and it is where the Newcastle Mela makes its home each late summer. The 2026 main event ran on 30 and 31 August with free entry, alongside a preview at Grey's Monument in the centre. Future dates are set by the organisers each year.

A walk from Leazes Park across the moor to Exhibition Park covers the full spread of the city's central free green space in under an hour at a gentle pace, with the option to stop anywhere along the way. There is no charge anywhere on that route, and no booking needed at any point.

Is Saltwell Park Free And How Do You Get There?

Saltwell Park in Gateshead is free to enter with free parking, open dawn to dusk, and the Towers tearoom is open about 9am to 3pm. It is on the Gateshead side of the river, not in Newcastle, and is reached by crossing the Tyne.

Saltwell Park belongs to Gateshead Council and is the grandest of the region's free parks, with the Towers at its centre and formal gardens around it. Gateshead Council's park page states free entry and free parking plainly. Visitors should note the geography: this is Gateshead, across the river from Newcastle upon Tyne, the same as the Angel of the North and the BALTIC gallery, and copy that calls it a Newcastle park is wrong.

Getting there from the central green spaces means heading to the Quayside, crossing the Tyne Bridge or the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, both free to walk across, and continuing south. The Tyne Bridge is undergoing restoration works planned over four years, with one footway kept available at all times, though scaffolding phases can change access.

Saltwell rewards the trip. The park is large enough for a full afternoon, the tearoom hours run roughly 9am to 3pm, and the free parking makes it an option for drivers who would otherwise pay city centre rates for the day.

Which Other Free Parks And Green Spaces Are Nearby?

Jesmond Dene, Pets' Corner and Ouseburn Farm are all free and all sit within or near the Ouseburn and Jesmond areas, a short distance east and north of the Town Moor. Jesmond Dene is a free public park, Pets' Corner is free to enter daily from 10.30am, and Ouseburn Farm is free entry for everyone with no booking.

Jesmond Dene is the wooded valley option, given to the city by Armstrong and opened to the public in 1884, and it feels like a different landscape entirely from the open moor. Pets' Corner sits inside it and is free to visit, with donations encouraged but not required, open daily from 10.30am with last entry at 3.45pm and closing at 4pm, though those hours are provisional and it may close at short notice. Ouseburn Farm, further south towards the river, is free entry for everyone with no booking, usually open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 3pm in term time and daily in school summer holidays.

Together with the central parks these give a visitor several distinct free green experiences: formal Victorian park, open common, event park, valley woodland and an urban farm, none of them charging for entry.

What Should You Know Before Visiting The Parks?

Bring nothing but water and sensible shoes, because none of the central green spaces charge entry or require booking, but facilities are limited on the open moor itself. The parks are public ground, so toilets, food and shelter are found at the edges rather than the middle.

A few practical points make the difference between a good free afternoon and a flat one.

• The Town Moor has no facilities in its interior. Food, toilets and shops are at its edges, closest to the city centre.
• Cattle have right of way on the moor. Keep distance and keep dogs under close control.
• Leazes Park has open tennis and basketball courts, so bring equipment if you want to play.
• Saltwell Park is in Gateshead, across the river, and its free parking fills on sunny weekends.
• Event weekends, especially the Hoppings in June, change access to the moor's road edges. Check the official event pages before travelling.

How Do The Parks Fit With A Free Walking Tour Day?

Both free walking tours meet at Grey's Monument on the Grainger Street side, roughly ten minutes' walk from Leazes Park, and each lasts around two hours, so a morning walk followed by an afternoon in the parks makes a full free day in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Two free walking tours are listed on this site, both on GuruWalk and both in English. The Geordie Genius Highlights Walk is rated 4.86 out of 5 across 111 GuruWalk reviews, and the Grand Buildings, Vampire Rabbit Walk is rated 4.83 out of 5 across 53 GuruWalk reviews. Both are pay what you want: free to reserve on GuruWalk and tipped at the end according to what the walk felt worth.

The Geordie Genius walk, rated 4.86 out of 5 across 111 reviews on GuruWalk, publishes no fixed schedule, so check its GuruWalk listing for dates before planning the day around it. The meeting point at Grey's Monument is itself free to see and stand beneath at any time, though climbing the column is a separate paid experience at 7 pounds, pre-booked, guided, and usually running the first and third Saturday of the month from April to September.

The natural shape of the day is a walking tour of the central streets and Quayside in the morning, then the short walk out to Leazes Park, the lake, and the open moor beyond it for the afternoon. Everything on that itinerary from start to finish, apart from food, is free to enter.

Common Questions

Is Leazes Park Free?

Yes. Leazes Park is a free public Victorian park, opened in 1873, with a lake, tennis courts open for play and basketball courts. Newcastle City Council lists no admission charge.

Is The Town Moor Free To Walk On?

Yes. The Town Moor is open common land with long-standing public access for air and exercise. The Freemen of Newcastle graze livestock on it, so give the cattle space and keep dogs under control.

How Far Is The Town Moor From Newcastle City Centre?

The Town Moor sits directly behind St James' Park, roughly a ten minute walk from Grey's Monument in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. Leazes Park and Exhibition Park sit on its edges.

Is The Hoppings Free?

Entry to the Hoppings fairground on the Town Moor is free, but rides and attractions are paid. The fair is held each June, and the organisers announce each edition's dates, so check the official pages rather than assuming a date.

Can You Combine The Parks With A Free Walking Tour?

Yes. Both free walking tours on this site meet at Grey's Monument on the Grainger Street side and last around two hours, and the parks are a short walk from there. Both walks run on GuruWalk, are free to reserve, and are tipped at the end.

Is Saltwell Park In Newcastle?

No, Saltwell Park is in Gateshead, across the River Tyne from Newcastle upon Tyne. It is free to enter with free parking, open dawn to dusk, reached by walking across the free Tyne Bridge or Gateshead Millennium Bridge crossings.