A dream or should I say nightmare come true! I always wanted to stay in a castle as well as…read moresomewhere haunted, well I got a twofer with this place. Our room, the Grey room was grand and creepy all at once. We had the entire castle to ourselves during our stay except for a few workers. We loved walking the grounds while imagining what happened here so long ago. We were lucky enough to meet the owner of the castle, Sir Humphry Wakefield, who brought it back to life after it was left in shambles. We loved touring the castle. The coffee shop was great with its lovely food and giant stone fireplace to warm up in front of. We bought a couple keepsakes in the gift shop, hoping it would be the only thing we'd be taking home from this place. Wish we could have stayed another night, but even if you're not a ghost hunter, I think a stay in this beautiful castle is well worth your time!

This is a great castle, it is a lot more scary at night as I have been in the daytime and when they…read moredid the celebrity haunted night there are though I dont find it remotly scary during the day the place is a lot creepier at night. The castle is a lovely medival castle which has a great hall and a room full of armour and weapons The most interesting thing is the torture chambers which include a rack, thumb screws and an iron maiden. The pit prison has the bones of a child who died here and the bones of the blue boy were supposed to be found in one of the walls during renovation Lots of the rooms are supposdly haunted and there are always little orbs on photots brought back from here when you take pictures at the lake. They do have overnight stays at the castle. A good place to go for those interested in castle or ghosts

A great social club based at the top end of the town. Good prices being a social club and great…read morefriendly staff. A good selection of drinks available from the bar. The place also has a good size function room available to hire for any occasion from christenings to birthday parties - reasonably priced charge for this. The room is done out nice and the staff always helpful, whether to open earlier to setup room for a party or any other request. Buffets can also be ordered from the club for your party rather than having to look for an outside caterer saving time of contacting different people when organising a party.

Intimate little amateur theatre. Interesting range of productions which are well worth supporting.read more

South Shields Museum & Art Gallery is a free museum funded by the council, in South Shields city…read morecentre. It has recently been refurbished, though I have not been inside for over a year now so am not sure what the refurbishment entailed! Bearing in mind that is it free it is obviously worth a look around. I particularly like the Catherine Cookson-esque street scenes, and also... the old fashioned sweetie shop. It sells loads of classic old sweets - it's always packed with kids, for obvious reasons! Definitely try the cinder toffee and the cola cubes!!! For the more cultured types there are often art displays upstairs. There is WC access too so it is easily accessible to all of the public. You can find out more about the current displays and exhibitions by going to their website: http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/southshields/

Based at the bottom of King St the Shields museum is funded by the council and is free for anyone…read moreto go inside. The displays vary all year round and have quite a bit of local history inside of them. Although the museum itself is quite small some of the diaplya are very informative and appeal to people of all ages. I think that the council could do more to promote this place as very few people know about it and even more so know that it is free to enter and have a look around. The museum is ideal for people who are on there way to the beach to take in a little history of the town and will get you to know the place a little better.

Journal Tyne Theatre - my favourite of the two theatres in Newcastle. Though its rival is seen to…read morebe the Theatre Royal, I can honestly say that I prefer the general atmosphere and architecture of the Journal Tyne Theatre. On my first visit I found it virtually impossible to locate despite having lived in the North East all of my life. When I did eventually find it, he staff were welcoming and cheerful. Last year I saw numerous pantomime performances throughout the North East, but I can honestly say that despite its lack of special effects and its very basic stage, the actors and actresses were more engaging than any of the celebrity endorsed pantomimes. I guess they have to be in order to keep up with the competition and pull in an audience over the christmas season. The actual inside of the theatre is lacking - it goes without saying that it is a very old building, which isn't particularly well maintained. However, it does have a certain charm and for this reason I look forward to the christmas pantomime every year.

This is a lovely old place to visit,The Theatre stands at the bottom of Westgate Road in the city…read morecentre,so is very easy to get to.It's a listed building so it has'nt lost its charm and has lots of original features.There is always a vast variety of acts available and even the annual pantomime so there really is something for every age. There's a good sized bar which is always a bonus. It's not a glitzy place but it's atmosphere more than makes up for anything it might lack in looks.Much nicer than a lot of the newer venues around.

This cinema has room for improvement but I like it…read more It is totally old school and reminds me of picture houses when I was a wee lass. You enter on the ground floor where you buy your tickets. But the screens are on the floors up the stairs (there's disabled access). There are 4 screens and there is usually a decent selection of films for all ages and tastes. Some screens are smaller than others and there is one which seems to sit just a few dozen. However the seats are comfortable, the screens and film quality is good and the place is clean. This is more than I can say for some chains I have been to. There is also an old fashioned projector that you can have a look at. The down side is there is very limited food and the staff can be a bit grumpy. However, if you eat at the Shish Tandoori first (see review) you won't be hungry. Plus, there is a Tesco near by if you need to stock up on treats for the film.

I love the pavillion as it is like going back in time…read more The staff are really friendly and collect your ticket at the dooryou can buy popcorn at a price which is not so high you have to sell a child and the 4 screens mean the cinema is intimate enough that you can engage easily with a film without feeling like it is a completely impersonal and mass participation event. New films can take a bit of a while to make it to Gala but I would go here rather than to a massive multiplex anytime.

A newish venture that is really worth a visit. I'd been to the previous restaurant on this site and…read morethis is so different. The son and partner of the last incumbant / owner have opened an exciting and unusual mix of restaurant, live music venue and art gallery . We loved it and would recommend it for its welcome, food, and ambiance.

Great bar with lounge area and upstairs loads of couches and fireplaces upstairs again a small…read moregallery space. Good staff and a cozy place for a drink.

Great place for kids and adults. Plenty of educational and interest lectures…read more Outdoor ice rink in winter.

My first visit to this place was a few years back during my brief stint at Sunderland Uni aka my…read morelost weekend. On my last encounter I got to play with vials of nandrolone and learned how to drug test people/evade detection depending on your ethical leanings. It was forthright, educational and cool. I visited again at the weekend to see the Bodyworlds exhibition. Unlike my last visit which pertained to anatomical learnings, functions of the body, human performance and errr doping, this one did not. I admit, my visit was more out of some kind of fucking morbid curiosity following a documentary I watched about Gunther Von Hagens in 2010. I am not even going to bother masking this under the pretence of wishing to learn more about the motor functions of the human anatomy, which many will, and which is their right. So, got their lunchtime. The exhibition begins pretty mundanely. A few skeletons which is fairly standard 'anatomy class' shit, before Gunther begins to ease you towards a skeleton holding a relay baton, which stands upright behind the plasticised ligaments and tendons of what once presumably made up part of its outer shell. I was not entirely sure what I was meant to be making of this anatomically, and in all honesty - after some considerable thought - I'm still not sure. Nice plasticisation (?) of the patella. And the 'pose' really brings out the array of tendons surrounding the scapula I suppose. Thumbs up. The exhibition ultimately climaxes in several displays seemingly curated to pay homage to amongst others, Da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man,' and Rembrandt's 'Autopsy of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp' but they subsequently have the affect of making you feel like you are caught up in a particularly grotesque episode of fucking Hannibal. Nonetheless, the part of the exhibition which summed the whole things up for me, was the several millimetre thin cross sections of the human anatomy which have ended up resembling something like prosciutto ham. And that's kind of what it all is. The cadavers have been 'processed' to the point where you don't feel like you are looking at human beings. At all. In the same way looking at a slice of bacon or ham, doesn't cause you to think of a pig. Because essentially, it isn't. Any kind of character, distinguishing feature, or anything identifiable as particularly sentient has been stripped, and bio-chemically altered beyond any recognition. Ultimately, any insights into anatomy are inevitably outweighed by what is seemingly part art-exhibition, part unintentional satire on human gastronomic habits played out on processed corpses. It's all very strange and leaves you wondering what you've witnessed for days afterwards. To be honest, I'm still not sure.