Category: Places to Visit

Inspired by ongoing efforts to record the urban flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside, I wanted to make some of what has been discovered so far accessible to those interested in exploring the city for themselves. Cue a new series! These blogs will explore some of the best botanical walks the conurbation has to offer – perfect for planning your next outing in the urban jungle. Here, we’ll explore Jesmond Dene.

Starting out at ancient woodland, the Ouse Burn valley at Jesmond Dene and Armstrong Park, has changed much over the years. In the 19^th century, the valley was home major industrial workings including quarries, watermills, and an iron foundry – elements that have greatly contributed to its present-day aesthetic. In the the 1850s, William George Armstrong, later Lord Armstrong of Cragside, Northumberland, purchased the valley and alongside his wife, enclosed the land for use as private parkland. Managed as a naturalistic garden, Armstrong introduced many and more exotic plants to the dene during his tenure, before eventually gifting the site to the people of Newcastle in 1883.

Since Armstrong’s day, the dene has been managed as a public park, though many of these curious introductions remain, if you know where to look. Together with the site’s native flora, they make Jesmond Dene one of the most eclectic and interesting walks in all of the city, if one of the longer ones at around 3 miles circular.

Your walk begins at the entrance to Armstrong Park from Jesmond Vale Lane (hunt.sounds.pages). In spring, the grassy verge on the Northern most side of the lane is a sight to behold on account of the plentiful spring bulbs left to spread over the decades. The two most numerous are Early Crocus (Crocus tommasinianus) and Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), but Spring Crocus (Crocus neapolitanus) are plentiful and Greater Snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii) and Green Snowdrop (Galanthus woronowii) remain as relics. Heading into the park, you can also observe Snow Crocus (Crocus x hybridus) and Yellow Crocus (Crocus x luteus) dotted absent any obvious pattern, through wooded areas and glades, presumably having outlived their initial, formal arrangements.

Following either one of the paths through the park, either the mid-section or upper-most trail will do, you will notice a wide range of trees and shrubs associated with landscaped Victorian estates. Several of these such as Turner’s Oak (Quercus x turneri) and Portugal Laurel (Prunus lusitanica) have persisted absent spread. Others are now soundly naturalised with two of the more prominent being Rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum) and Highclere Holly (Ilex x altaclerensis). Other curiosities here include Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) and the curious holly cultivar Ilex aquilifolium ‘Ferox’. Points of interest in the understory during this initial leg include Great Forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) and Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), both presumably of more recent garden origin.

Dependent on the season of your visit, highlights of this first parkland trail include an expansive area of Winter Heliotrope (Petasites pyrenaicus) at curl.rings.soils; Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica) adorning a rock ledge at live.spend.take and what was, until this flora at least, Newcastle’s only known population of Great Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia) at trial.mutual.encounter. However, the true highlight comes in the park’s latter reaches where, in a trend that will continue throughout your walk, a range of ancient woodland axiophytes begin to appear.

During this stretch, expect Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum), Ramsons (Allium ursinum), Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa), among commoner woodland fare. At quiet.brief.nature, be sure to keep a watchful eye for Cabbage Thistle (Cirsium oleraceum) in a damp flush – the origins of this curious plant are unclear, but it may well have persisted here, unnoticed, since Armstrong’s time.  From here, all that remains to continue out of the park to Armstrong Bridge, before making the gradual descend into Jesmond Dene via the sloping path towards Red Walk. Along this trail, lookout for another relic, Blue Anemone (Anemone apennina), blooming in spring.

Once you reach the Red Walk, you will find yourself in a large open area named the Coalman’s Field, formerly planted as an arboretum and home to a great many exotic trees. Do play close attention to the wall by the nearby café, in recent years this has been colonised by Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata) that has escaped the café’s ‘green roof’. From here, you have several options as to where to head next. You may need to zigzag slightly to catch all the highlights. First, head towards Pet’s Corner before turning left over small wooden bridge. At the bridge, look towards the burn for some interesting relics in Himalayan Honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa), freely seeding itself in the banks, and Wilson’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida), as well as several native ferns in Lady-fern (Athyrium filix-femina), Borrer’s Male-fern (Dryopteris borreri) and Hart’s-tongue (Asplenium scolopendrium).

Near the fenced compound, just over the bridge, both Green Snowdrop and Autumn Crocus (Crocus nudiflorus) are established in the wood; though needless to say this depends on timing. Follow the trail North past the compound until you reach employ.tricky.riders. Here, lookout for a sizeable stand of Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) with its splendid pink blooms and cast an eye towards the riverbank where you may see Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium) and a modest population of Abraham-Issac-Jacob (Trachystemon orientalis) – more on that one later.

Following this short trail, you will eventually hit a T-junction. Take the stairs down towards the burn where, for a short while, you will skirt the margins of Pet’s Corner. Plants to look out for here include Spotted Laurel (Aucuba japonica), Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) and plenty of Pendulous Sedge (Carex pendula). Before long, you will remerge on to the Red Walk, having conveniently avoided the throngs at the petting zoo. Now, you will follow the main thoroughfare deeper into the dene.

At themes.cuts.nuns, or around about, you’ll notice a set of steps leading upward to the next tier of the dene. Do not take these but instead, loiter at there base where you’ll note expanding populations of Few-flowered Garlic (Allium paradoxum) and Three-cornered Garlic (Allium triquetrum), both beautiful but highly invasive colonists. Here too you may note the non-native form of Wood Spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides subsp. robbiae) and the first of many suspect Carpet Box (Pachysandra terminalis) which seems to thrive here and may well be a hangover from Victorian times given Armstrong’s apparent penchant for Japanese gardening. Indeed, during the next leg of the Red Walk, you may note small areas of False-bucks-beard (Astilbe japonica) and Rodgersia (Rodgersia podophylla) nestled amid native plant species – both presumably introduced by Armstrong.

Continue on the path until you meet a derelict building at tiger.unfair.pipes noting along your way Yellow-flowered Strawberry (Potentilla indica), Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum), Garden Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. argentatum) and more lovely axiophytes including, on this occasion, Wood Speedwell (Veronica montana) and the locally scarce Giant Bellflower (Campanula latifolia), which while sporadic, frequently appears on the banks of the Ouse Burn.

Your next stop will be the Jesmond Dene Mill and nearby artificial waterfall. This is a scenic point at which to pause, and exploration of the nearby area will reveal several notable plants including seedlings of Oregon-grape (Mahonia aquifolium) and Wrinkled Viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophyllum) and interesting ferns in Golden-scaled Male-fern (Dryopteris affinis), Soft Shield-fern (Polystichum setiferum) and the first of many Hard Shield-ferns (Polystichum aculeatum) to be observed during your visit. Around the mill, sightings may also include self-sown Western Red-cedar (Thuja plicata) and Lawson’s Cypress (Cupressus lawsoniana), as well as Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus) by the tracksides.

Continue on your way until you reach a solitary private home. Noting some patches of White-stemmed Bramble (Rubus cockburnianus) that have escaped the garden in recent years, cast your eyes back towards the burn where you will find the Ouse Burn Stepping Stones. A foray across is recommended but do be careful as they can be slippery in places.

 Immediately over the river, you will encounter a permanently wet slope, perhaps created as a Victorian rockery, where you should encounter the Dene’s largest population of Kidney Saxifrage (Saxifraga hirsuta), another local speciality. Here it grows with Londonpride (Saxifraga x urbium), our native Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage and several fern species. This is also a good spot to look for Giant Bellflower, if you missed it earlier. Once satiated, head across the stepping stones and continue your way, crossing a small road into what is, by all accounts, the wildest part of the dene. You may wish to pause at signal.trying.composers to admire several plants of Bear’s-breech (Acanthus mollis) which were dumped from a nearby garden in 2022 and have since firmly established themselves on the bank.

The next stretch of trail takes you as far as the bridge at Castle Farm Road. Along the way, expect more of the same with interesting ferns and axiophytes. Of note along this stretch is a small population of Hard-fern (Blechnum spicant) at one of its only Newcastle outposts and in spring, the bluebells are worth investigating with both Blubell and Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) present alongside the much more numerous Hybrid Bluebell (Hyacinthoides x massartiana). Do look out for some interesting, pure white native Bluebells at this stage while at the foot of the bridge, you may catch site of the yellow flowers of Marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris), one of the few wetland plants to persist in the now heavily polluted Ouse Burn.

At this point, you may wish to turn back – this has been a rather long walk after all. For intrepid botanists, however, the upper reaches of Jesmond Dene still hold much of interest. Realistically, it may be better to do this walk in two stages but here, we will continue unabated up a flight of steps and through a tunnel, emerging on the opposite side of the bridge. Here you will find yourself surrounded by Abraham-Isaac-Jabob which seems to be doing rather well here of late.

This final short stretch of the dene receives little upkeep or footfall and as such, remains one of the better places to observe the city’s ancient woodland flora. Expect more of the axiophytes mentioned previous alongside Dog’s Mercury (Mercurialis perennis), Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana), False-brome and better still, the rare Wood-melick (Melica uniflora) clinging on in areas of disturbance. The close proximity of gardens mean that a suite of other neophytes have colonised this part of the dene including reoccurring populations of Italian Lords-and Ladies (Arum italicum) and Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum). Indeed, new curiosities are appearing all the time as demonstrated by a burgeoning population of Balm (Melissa officinalis) discovered in 2024.

Emerging from the Dene at this point will allow you to easily catch a bus back to your starting point, but the walk back along the uppermost path offers and entirely new set of plants where the drier, more open conditions are perfect for Great Wood-rush (Luzula sylvatica), Wood Meadow-grass (Poa nemoralis), Wood-sage, Broom (Cytisus scoparius) and Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea). Along your way, you should catch sight of several more of the denes unusual relics including Shallon (Gaultheria shallon), Martagon Lily (Lilium martagon) and Dusky Crane’s-bill (Geranium phaeum) but that, I fear, is more than enough for one day save for a pitstop where the path returns to Pet’s Corner.

While they are tricky to find, at video.stole.counts, a Spring visit may reward you with the exquisite flowers of Dog’s-tooth Violet (Erythronium dens-canis), said by local botanists to have grown in the Dene for 30 years or more. This is yet another highlight of this weird but wonderful part of the city.

Other interesting plants to look for along the way…

Pink-purslane (Claytonia sibirica), Butterbur (Petasites hybridus), Atlantic Ivy (Hedera hibernica), Common Bistort (Bistorta officinalis), Wood Burdock (Arctium nemorosum), Wood Sedge (Carex sylvatica), Enchanter’s-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana), Sanicle (Sanicula europaea), Redwood-sorrel (Oxalis oregana), Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis) and Creeping Comfrey (Symphytum grandiflorum).