The central area contains the centrepiece of the park – Wailes's former home, the Grade II listed Saltwell Towers and its surrounding belvedere walls.

Today the bonfire display has grown into one of the largest in Tyne and Wear and is attended by thousands of people every year.

The largest of these was the Saltwell estate, which consisted of around 500 acres (200 ha) of land in a broad quadrangle between the Team Valley and the villages of Bensham and Low Fell.

[7] One such call was made in 1857 when the editorial of the local newspaper, the Gateshead Observer, demanded that a park be built at Windmill Hills.

[8] Gateshead Council subsequently considered other sites for a second park, but it was discouraged by the high prices being asked by the estate owners at Redheugh and Shipcote.

Whilst negotiations were ongoing, James' offer to sell part of his estate at £650 per acre was met by fierce criticism from members of the public and the council began to seek an alternative to the Shipcote proposal.

Later that month the park committee formally opened talks with Wailes and, after various proposals were considered and rejected, in September 1875 the council decided to buy the entire Saltwellgate estate for an increased total price of £35,000 after securing a loan for the full amount from the Local Government Board.

[8] Having obtained the Saltwellgate estate, the council contacted local ornithologist and landscaper John Hancock and asked him to submit designs for the new park.

When Hancock refused, citing the pressure of his existing work, the park committee retained Edward Kemp at four guineas a day until his plans were submitted and approved in February 1876.

[8][9] Saltwell Park is located within a residential area around 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) south of Gateshead town centre on land which slopes towards the Team Valley in the west.

[8] Saltwell Towers is located in the middle of the central section of the park and it is surrounded to the south by its accompanying walls, walkways and ha-ha.

An enclosed rose garden lies to the east of the building and to the west there is a maze and a dene through which a stream runs into a lily-pond at an entrance to the park at Saltwell Road South.

The approach from the southern section is a large grassed area replete with paths which wind towards a footbridge to the Towers, which is used for general leisure activities and picnicking and is home to a stone-built war memorial.

The entrance to the footbridge is the site of a bronze war memorial which sits in the centre of a roundabout surrounded by bedding flowers.

The north-eastern entrance consists of a pair of imposing gateposts and the view from this access point sweeps across the entire northern section of the park.

[9] The plants within the screen are typical of those bedded throughout the park, which include French marigolds, roses, tulips, phlomis, sedum and silver dust.

[19][20][21] The building is a dark red and yellow brick construction with asymmetrical towers, tall chimney stacks and corner turrets.

[29] Midway along the Broadwalk in the north section of the park is a Grade II listed bronze statue of Alderman John Lucas, mounted on a sandstone plinth and granite base.

[30] The wrought iron gates and accompanying stone piers which greet visitors at the north-eastern entrance to the park are also Grade II listed.

The name is carved onto a low stone wall which runs alongside and an inscription commemorates the men of the Durham Light Infantry who died whilst crossing the original Primosole Bridge during Operation Fustian in the Second World War.

[13] The lake has long been inhabited by mallards and tufted ducks and it is also home to several other species of wildfowl, including mute swans, Canada and barnacle geese, coots and moorhens.

Common pochard and great crested grebes also inhabit the lake in winter after migrating from Russia and central Europe.

[41] Also renovated was Saltwell Dene, a picturesque wooded area with a stream, bridges, cascades and a lily pond which inspired local artist Thomas Miles Richardson to paint a watercolour of it in the 19th century.

[13] Various other attractions have been installed and subsequently removed from the park, including a paddling pool, a museum[43] and, from 1982 to 1993, a retired and modified Vickers Viscount 701 airplane.

[7][13] Today, the park is a green lung in the centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead[19] which attracts over two million visitors a year.

[55][56] Saltwell Park has hosted a Race for Life – a national fundraising event for women only, organised by Cancer Research UK – for a number of years.

[57][58][59] On 21 March 2010 the park hosted a fundraising day in support of Sport Relief, a bi-annual charity event organised by the BBC.

[60] Three fun runs around the boating lake attracted over 4,000 participants in total, including Jayne Middlemiss, Andrew Hayden Smith and Futureheads guitarist David Craig.

Fitness equipment was installed near the tennis courts in the Northern Fields section of the park and is available for use by the public free of charge.