Hi All My Dad plans to go back home to newcastle upon tyne for his 60th in August this year. We planned on surprising him with our arrival. Can anyone recommend any nice cheap accommodations (b&b's are fine). My grandmother lives I believe its a suburb call Lowfell (if that helps)There's going to be my husband and my son (3yrs old extremely well behaved)

Low Fell is in Gateshead, I'd suggest somewhere near to the Newcastle Quayside like a Premier Travel Inn or Travelodge where the changes to the area are really noticable.

slightly more would be the Hilton on the Gateshead side of the Tyne Bridge

It would help if you define what do you class as cheap - £30 pppn ? £50 pppn ? £70 pppn ?

The Malmaison on the riverside is nice but may be outwith your price range.

Just down from Low Fell is a place called The Ravensworth Arms. They have really nice rooms and it's a great place for a meal. There's a Lewis Carrol connection and a Catheryn Cookson connection to the pub.

http://www.ravenswortharms.com/

You can see the Angel from it. And it's really close to Low Fell

My husband and I will be visiting our children in Gateshead over Christmas. What's on at that time and what can you recommend for us to do? We are enthusiastic foodies and interested in finding out about the local way of doing things.

Thanks
Annie in South Africa

There seems to be a relative shortage of hotels - other than the really expensive - in central Newcastle. I stayed in the Travelodge quite close to all the redeveloped Quayside area, this past June: let's just say I wouldn't consider it somewhere to stay for a family celebratory weekend. I'd look for a B&B somewhere a bit further out (and therefore cheaper and quieter). See the local council's tourist information - http://tinyurl.com/qbtol

Patrick, the OP was travelling in August.

Annie, I suggest you start a new thread with a title specific to your interests, e.g. "Gateshead at Christmas - what to do & where to eat ?" But here are some starters. The Baltic is a very interesting contemporary art museum in an old mill, on the river bank on the Gateshead side. The Sage, on the same river bank, is a new concert hall in an amazing building. If you hire a car you could visit lots of good castles on or near the Northumberland coastline, like Alnwick and Dunstanburgh. By train from Newcastle you can visit Durham - atmospheric ancient hilltop city - and even Edinburgh, if you are there long enough to want to do a full day trip.