IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Birdhope Close, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, NE15 6BF

Looking through railings with a set of cut metal panels designed and signed by local school children. The dene is managed by Newcastle City Council and improved to benefit wildlife and people by the Wild Places Project and the Northumberland Wildlife Trust. Within the semi-natural woodland of the valley, an old concrete-lined paddling pool, fed by a spring, has been converted into a wildlife pond.

Ornamental gates installed in 1996 at the south-west entrance to Hodgkin Park on the corner of Milford Road and Armstrong Road. From the word 'Paradise' at the bottom, cut steel outlines of an industrial scene give way to plant life above. Public Monuments and Sculpture Association: http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/ Paradise was an old name for an area between Delaval and South Benwell south of the park, and of a coal pit in the area Image

View from inside the park. There is another view of the gates (from outside) here Image The railings have a bust of Thomas Hodgkin, a prominent local banker, who donated the land for the park to the city in 1899, and the words: 'Hodgkin Park / Dream of Paradise'.

Whitehouse Road in Scotswood.

Looking down on the development site of Scotswood and Delaval, recently cleared and levelled before new house building starts.

Ornamental gates installed in 1996 at the south-east entrance to Hodgkin Park off Armstrong Road. The cut, painted steel screens bear the inscription: 'From a City to the Park / From a Garden to the Town / An Oasis in a Desert of Street and Stone'. Public Monuments and Sculpture Association: http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/9558/

'Sapling' stands near some mature trees in the north part of Hodgkin Park. Public Monuments and Sculpture Association: http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/9557/

The arbour forms the north gate on Armstrong Road to the southern section of Hodgkin Park. It was installed in 1996 as part of a local regeneration programme. The arbour was designed to reflect the style of entrances to the Paris Metro and also refers to Gateshead's MetroCentre, visible across the river from the park Image Full details about the arbour can be found here http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/9558/ Just inside the park, the site of the former bowling green used to be laid out with a low level maze of old building stones said to resemble the results of an archaeological dig. This was an art work also called 'Metroland' designed by Simon English for the park restoration in 1996. No sign of it today but there is a photo from the Newcastle Libraries collection here http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4087073873