Student lunch at its finest

This week JesmondLocal, using the hashtag #HelloJesmond, lists the best of our area. Today, Megan Cunningham looks at where to go when you want lunch al fresco. Do you have a favourite picnic spot? Let us know by tweeting us @JesmondLocal, or via Facebook.

It may be just minutes’ walk from the city centre, but Jesmond is surrounded by green spaces and fresh hidey holes. Here are the top spots for a picnic in the sun before the winter months descend upon us!

1. Jesmond Dene
At the East end of Jesmond is the wooded retreat of Jesmond Dene. Following the river Ouseburn from South Gosforth down to Jesmond Vale, there is a wealth of wildlife in-between the trees and fields, totalling three kilometres of space to explore.

2. Exhibition Park
With an impressive play area and assault course, Exhibition Park is the perfect lunch place for those young at heart. Sport facilities from tennis courts, croquet lawns, to a climbing wall mean that this area is not just for kids! Remember to save your crusts for the ducks and swans found chilling on the pond!

3. Town Moor
The ‘highlands’ overlooking Jesmond! The Town Moor stretches 400 hectares over the whole of Newcastle, but fields and hills close to Jesmond make the perfect lunchtime escape. Just beware of cowpats under your feet: Freemen of the city graze cows on the grass throughout the year, cityfarm chic!

4. Fat Hippo Deli
For those with a packed-lunch phobia (soggy bread problems!) there is comfort in Jesmond’s vast takeaway scene. The Fat Hippo Deli serves those locally famous burgers in brown packed lunch bags for the edgiest picnic yet.

5. Student Roofs
If the thought of leaving the student bubble for the countryside is all too much, you could make like a monkey and just climb up onto your roof. During the summer months barely a street can be seen without smatterings of students perched on windowsills and teetering over the edges of town house gutters. When revision calls but lunch in the sun tempts, needs must, apparently!