FOOTBALLERS’ WIDOWS TO WAGS – Ideas for what to do for 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon in North East England.

12th August 2010

It’s August and the new football season has started … cue the groan from footballers’ widows around the country! So to help make the next nine months as pain free as possible we have come up with some suggestions on how to while away 90 minutes in North East England.

1) Kick off with a shopping spree to the upmarket suburb of Jesmond, just minutes from Newcastle’s city centre. Then head to the cosmopolitan Clayton Road which is lined with fantastic shops, including MeMeMe, an Aladdin’s cave of handbags and gorgeous jewellery – www.mememeaccessories.com

2) It’s a game of two halves – so take a trip out into Northumberland to the picture-postcard village of Corbridge, a shoppers’ paradise with everything from hand-crafted jewellery to stunning leather shoes and accessories on sale, before stopping off for a Polynesian foot treatment at Matfen Hall Hotel.

3) Have a ball in the stunning Rockliffe Hall Hotel, near Darlington, owned by Middlesbrough Football Club’s chairman Steve Gibson. Enjoy a 90-minute Splendour treatment which focuses on the face and body. The treatment will re-energise the senses while creating a radiant glow on the skin. Oriental pearl particles fully exfoliate the body prior to a prescriptive facial. Your treatment is complete after a comfort touch massage working absolute pearl light reflecting cream all over, for a lustrous finish.

4) With a little extra time head south to Yarm recently voted Britain’s best high street by viewers of BBC Breakfast. The choice of chic boutiques and exclusive restaurants, bistros and cafes will help while away a whole afternoon.

5) Keep an eye out for your favourite player in Newcastle’s exclusive boutique C F Cruise Flannels, a favourite with the Newcastle United squad or hear the roar of the Magpies from St James’ Park from the one the UK’s largest department stores Fenwick, on Newcastle’s busy Northumberland Street. Then wander down Grey Street voted the ‘Most Beautiful Street in Britain’ by listeners of BBC Radio 4.

6) Head into the Premier League with the MetroCentre - the UK’s number one shopping and leisure centre and Europe’s biggest shopping centre. The centre boasts several major department stores including Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and House of Fraser and is stocked full of desirable designer brands and high street labels with new retailers arriving in the malls all the time.

7) Step into five star luxury at Seaham Hall Hotel and Serenity Spa, County Durham, only a short drive from Sunderland FC’s Stadium of Light. The spa was named the UK’s Best Spa Destination by Conde Nast Traveller. Treatments include a range of exotic wraps and Hot Stone therapies.

8) Darlington’s Grange Road is a Mecca for shoppers. The street is lined with luxurious, tempting shops such as Chestnut, which is set over three floors with its own in-store shoe and accessory department. Labels include Moschino, Armani Jeans and Ralph Lauren. www.chestnutclothing.co.uk

9) Take a trip around the world without even setting foot out of North East England with the Indocéane treatment at Headlam Hall Hotel and Spa, Darlington. The 80-minute treatment is an exotic ritual, taking you on a journey of ultimate relaxation across the continents encompassing age-old traditions and rituals of beautification. This most sensual of treatments commences with a Mediterranean influenced body exfoliation; softening the skin in preparation for an Ayurvedic influenced massage using warmed oils and an ancient Indian technique. Your body is then enveloped in a sublime wrap with elements which harness the serenity and relaxing powers of the Orient.

10) Switch off from the cheering crowds at St James’ Park at one of the many city centre havens of tranquillity including City Retreat, Savannah and Serenity in the City.

11) Before the final whistle indulge yourself with some luxury chocolates at one of the North East’s delicious chocolatiers www.robineau.co.uk in Darlington, www.davenportschocolates.co.uk in North Shields, Tyne & Wear www.chocolinis.co.uk  in Saltburn.

For more information on things to do in North East England go to www.visitnortheastengland.com

ENDS

PR Contact: Hayley Quarmby, PR Officer at One North East, 0191 229 6852, hayley.quarmby@onenortheast.co.uk