newcastlecentric

With a little positive thinking and a lot of high pressure pushing north from the Mediterranean, we might salvage something of our summer. At the moment, the weather would have you believe it was approaching Christmas Eve, or Armageddon.

Still, good weather or not, it won’t stop a fervent army of picnickers arriving on your doorstep. Along with their aeroplanes. Made of grass.

Picnicopolis is part of the East 08 festival, and will see plane shaped parks appear across Newcastle and Gateshead.

The organisers are the Tokyo Picnic Club, a group of over 80 people from various professions such as architecture, urban design, landscaping, graphic design, photography and cuisine.

Campaigning for a better quality of picnic in 21st century Tokyo, the group was founded in 2002 to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of London’s Picnic Society.

An 85-foot-long motherplane with a natural grass area on its back will offer a picnic spot for 200 people at Baltic Square for the 10 day event. Otherwise you can pack a picnic, grab the kids and make for your closest Picnicopolis event where dozens of babyplanes will touch down for the day :

Saturday 16th Angel of the North / Sunday 17th Leazes Park / Monday 18th Jesmond Dene / Tuesday 19th Blackfriars / Wednesday 20th Bill Quay Community Farm / Thursday 21st Metro Centre / Friday 22nd Old Eldon Square / Saturday 23rd Ouseburn Valley / Sunday 24th Saltwell Park / Monday 25th Baltic Square

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