Thanks to our writer Cat for this post. If you have dinosaur obsessed kids, Teessaurus Park is a lovely spot to explore and have a picnic. It's not particularly well known and not something you see advertised very often.
If you use the postcode TS2 1QE it will take you to the car park in front of the park. The car park only has about 30 spaces ( including a couple of disabled spaces) but it's never been even half full when we've been.
However, the main Industrial Estate road, Riverside Park Road doesn't have any restriction so you could park along the edge of that if the Teessaurus car park was ever full.
Quite oddly located in an industrial estate on the bank of the River Tees, Teessaurus Park has been around since 1979. Amongst factory units and the shipping yards, the park was created as an entry into an Art to Landscape competition that was ran by the Sunday Times and the Arts Council.
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As part of the competition, Middlesbrough Council commissioned a sculptor called Genevieve Glatt to create a life size, steel sculpture of a Triceratops called Teessaurus. Constructed by Harts of Stockton, the sculpture cost £16,000 and stood alone until two baby triceratops were installed in 1987.
From the late 80's onwards various other dinosaurs were introduced into the park including a Mammoth, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Brachiosaurus and a Brontosaurus. The dinosaurs that were erected later were made by workers on the government Youth and Employment Training Scheme at Amarc Training and Safety.
The park was a bit of a mess until the last couple of years, it's be tidied up a lot and the dinosaurs have all been painted bright colours by local Community Champions which has brought life back into the park.
Each of the dinosaurs has been given an information plaque which contains child-friendly facts about things like size, what it ate and when it lived.
An interactive trail has also been created which is activated via QR codes which you scan on your phone, however when we last visited neither me or my husband were able to get it to work. Hopefully it was just a glitch as it sounded fun.
The park is mainly grass with well maintained paths around the edge, there are plenty of spaces for picnics and ball games but I recommend checking thoroughly before sitting down as there does seem to be quite a lot of rubbish and dog waste that is not picked up.
- It's a FREE day out
- You can visit at any time
- Learn dinosaur facts / encourage reading from the boards
- Child-friendly walks nearby
- Usually pretty quiet
There's a brilliant walk along the edge of the River Tees, it's nice and flat and a lot of it has been tarmaced so it's great for bike and scooter rides and dog walks.
It's a around a mile to walk to the Transporter Bridge in one direction or Newport Bridge is a mile and a half in the other direction, both are manageable for younger children and the bridges are interesting to see and learn about.
There are longer walks signposted to Seaton Carew and Redcar but we're yet to try one of those yet.
It's not necessarily the most scenic walk you'll ever take but my kids love looking out for the boats and working machinary on the river.
There are no toilets or refreshments on site which is a shame, which I think is one of the reasons the park isn't busier.
The park is great for running around and burning off some energy or having a picnic, it will be a hit for dinosaur lovers but I think Middlesborough Council are missing a treat - it could be made into such a fab spot if they built a small block of toilets, brought in a mobile coffee van and held some school holiday activities there.
Looking for places to visit nearby? These attractions are a short drive away.
Preston Park, Museum & Gardens (+ Butterfly World)
Air Trail Tees Barrage
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