Walking near Hexham: town parks, Tyne Green or the full tour

Hexham offers two rather different pleasures: a wander through its old streets and parks, and time beside the River Tyne. You can combine them, but the station, town centre and riverside are not one continuous flat promenade. The best choice depends on how much walking you want between the places you came to enjoy.

Start with one of the three plans below. Only the complete council tour has a published distance here. The shorter choices are deliberately flexible, so you can turn back without feeling that you have failed to finish a route.

Choose the shape of your day

A little time beside the river

Choose Tyne Green if river views and an easy-to-shorten outing matter more than covering a set distance. Start at Tyne Green Country Park’s car park, use the park paths and return the way you came. Decide your turning point on the day, before tired legs or worsening conditions make the return difficult.

Visit Hexham describes improvements to the riverside path for wheelchair users and mobility scooters. That is useful information about the park path, but it does not establish step-free access along every approach or extension. If you need a particular surface, width or gradient, check the exact section and your route from the car park before committing to it.

Keep to the paths and respect other uses of the park. There is no fixed mileage for this suggestion: your start, turning point and any detours determine the distance.

Town, parks and places to pause

Choose the town and adjoining parks if you want a walk that can be broken up with a look around Hexham. The Sele, Abbey Grounds and Hexham House Grounds form a connected group of public parks, with several entrances rather than a single trailhead.

Useful places to orient yourself are the Sele entrance from Hencotes, the Abbey Grounds by Beaumont Street and Battle Hill, and Hexham House Grounds from Gilesgate. Use a current map to choose the connection that suits your start. The historic park layout includes slopes and flights of steps, so being close to the town centre does not make every path level or step-free.

For a more structured town walk, the council tour below offers a return to the station before its optional river section. The separate town-only distance is not given in the guide. You can choose that earlier finish without assuming it is a measured route in its own right.

Check local events when choosing a quiet time. The Sele hosts gatherings as well as everyday walks, so a park that looks restful in a photograph may be busy on the day you visit. Follow any temporary signs and keep dogs under close control; check the rules displayed at each park rather than assuming the same arrangements apply everywhere.

A mapped outing combining town and river

Choose the Hexham and River Tyne Tour if you want a defined route with photo-led directions. Northumberland County Council’s guide, hosted by Go Jauntly, combines a town loop with an optional riverside extension and some retraced sections. The full walk returns to its station start.

• Start and finish: Hexham railway station, Station Road, NE46 1EU.
• Full published distance: 5.3km / 3.3 miles, including the riverside extension.
• Guide’s estimated time: 1½ hours. Add time for your own pace, stops and conditions.
• Terrain to expect: steps, steep sections, narrow pavements and some roads without pavements, as well as riverside paths.
• Shortening the outing: follow the guide’s town-only finish at the station, rather than adding the river section.
• Crossings on the river extension: the station footbridge and the passage beneath Hexham Bridge. The tour does not require you to cross the River Tyne.

Open the council’s tour page and map, or save the downloadable photo guide before leaving. Follow its full sequence rather than trying to navigate from this overview. The guide was last updated in December 2025; current signs and closures still take priority.

Check which railway crossing a route uses

Hexham’s rail crossings are a good reason to check the age of a downloaded walk. Network Rail announced the permanent closure of Tyne Green level crossing and its footpath from 12 May 2023. Its notice directed pedestrians to Bells crossing, around 100 metres away.

That change matters if an older leaflet still shows Tyne Green crossing. Do not follow obsolete instructions through a closed crossing, or improvise a diversion from a distance mentioned online. Use a current route and obey the instructions at any authorised crossing. Never rely on a train sounding its horn as your warning to move.

The Network Rail notice explains the change. The council tour above uses the station footbridge for its riverside extension, which is a different arrangement. Check the actual crossing in your chosen guide before setting off.

Let the river conditions decide the river section

The Environment Agency has a specific flood-information page for Tyne Green, Hexham. Check it shortly before your walk, alongside the weather forecast and any local access notices. Read the time attached to the information rather than relying on an old screenshot.

An absence of flood warnings is not a certificate that a footpath is dry or passable. The warning area concerns places at Tyne Green, including the canoe club and café; the ground on your chosen walking line still needs its own judgement.

If water covers the riverside path or the passage under Hexham Bridge, leave that section out. Do not walk through floodwater, skirt it along the bank or follow a saved route line into it. Water can hide damaged surfaces and obstacles. Turn back while you still have a straightforward return, and choose another outing only if its conditions are suitable too.

This is where separating town and river helps. You can plan a town visit without making the under-bridge passage an essential connection, or postpone the river altogether. A shorter day is a better result than forcing a route to match the original plan.

Make the start work for everyone

Arriving by train: check Hexham station information and your return service. National Rail lists the station as step-free category B2, with no lifts. That classification should not be read as a promise of a simple step-free route between all platforms. The council walk itself includes the station footbridge, so anyone avoiding steps needs to check the whole approach, not just whether the train platform is accessible.

Starting at Tyne Green: use the named country-park car park rather than treating a general park postcode or map centre as an entrance pin. Check signs for current parking arrangements. The park is listed with toilets and a café, but check opening before relying on either as an essential stop; a facility appearing on a map does not mean it will be open when you arrive.

Walking with children or a dog: allow room beside the riverbank and watch for slippery edges. A short outing with a clear turning point can be easier to manage than a full loop. Check local dog signs, pick up after your dog and give other park users space. No single off-lead rule is assumed for all the parks and paths in this guide.

Keep longer outings separate

There are plenty of reasons to explore further around Hexham, but adding a village, woodland or ridge changes the route rather than merely lengthening a park stroll. Choose the whole outing before deciding where to park or which train to catch.

For another day, our guide to walking near Anick looks at village paths north of Hexham. The Allen Banks planning guide covers a separate woodland destination. Neither should be treated as an unchecked extension of the Tyne Green walk.

Before you leave, keep four things together: your chosen route, its actual start, the return plan and today’s conditions. With those settled, there is much more room to enjoy Hexham at your own pace.