Rising Sun Country Park

Walk Details

Our Rising Sun Country Park walk is approximately 4.5 miles long on the site of the former colliery of that name that operated here from 1908-1969 with extensive underground tunnelling of some 60 miles! It is a gentle walk on well defined paths & only one slope onto Rising Sun Hill where the Pit Head once was & from where we should get views across The Tyne as far as Penshaw Monument & up into the hills of Northumberland.

We commence from our meeting point, Asda car park at the entrance to the site & head towards the Visitor Centre, if anyone wishes to use the “facilities“ (toilets) they can do so at this point before we continue with the walk.

The Rising Sun Country Park, 162 hectares, was landscaped & made into the park we now see today after the colliery closure & is managed by North Tyneside Council & the Rising Sun Farm charitable Trust. It is made up of a large pond, Swallow Pond, more smaller ponds, wetlands, woods & extensive grasslands which as the area has matured brings in the wildlife. It is a green oasis in the heart of North Tyneside!

The Visitor Centre was the former Scaffold Hill Isolation Hospital for infectious disease from 1914 until after the War. It later then became a care hospital for the elderly until it’s closure in 1986. It is now a cafe, play area etc.

We will take a 30 minutes break at the Rising Sun Farm and Countryside Centre, where you could buy produce from the Earth & Fire Bakery.

Our walk will finish at the Visitor Centre which has a very good café.