I live in Vienna, Austria, and I enjoy travelling (especially to England and Scotland). --> See ...
I live in Vienna, Austria, and I enjoy travelling (especially to England and Scotland). --> See my detailed profile for more <--
Member since:16.02.2001
Reviews:39
Members who trust:71
Last year, we visited Beamish for the first time. It is an open air museum, located in the North of England, between Durham and Newcastle.
(Note: I had to put this review into the Durham category, because Ciao do not like to add many new categories at the moment. They ask us instead to post it to the closest city/area category that is available)
This museum has won a number of awards including Visitor Attraction of the Year 1997, British Museum of the Year 1986 and European Museum of the Year 1987.
Beamish tries to show how people in the north-east of England used to live and to work in
1825 and in 1913. Some buildings were located here before and just have been restroed, and others have been taken from somewhere else and transported and rebuilt here.
The whole area is quite large and can be devided into four separate places, which I'd like to present to you in some more detail below.
Transport between the various places is by the electric tramway (original trams from the 1900s) or using a replica bus (Daimler CC double-decker), or just by walking around.
THE COLLIERY VILLAGE
In the Colliery Village you can get a good impression of the people and where the used to live and to work here in the year 1913.
There is a school, a chapel and some pit cottages, all showing certain parts of these days' live. You will find staff dressed in clothes of 1913 who are very willing to explain to you in more detail what you can see.
The Drift Mine, which used to be a real coal mine, is one of the top attractions, and therefore you have to expect long queues before you can get into the first seam underground to get am impression about the working conditions of these days.
The Deep Mine is a recreation of a typical pit of the early 1900s. You can walk into the engine house and look at the wheel and the powerful engines to learn how hard their work was.
We were quite impressed because we had never been to such a place before, so we've learned a lot.
THE HOME FARM
The Home Farm demonstrates another aspect of the region's history which was agriculture. Some buildings can be visited, including an impressive kitchen where they demonstrate the making of oat cakes.
It is a real farm, so you can also see some animals in and around the farm (cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, geese, ducks, etc.).
THE TOWN
This is the part of the museum which is open all year (most other attractions are closed during winter), and it certainly was the most attractive for our children.
The Town shows a typical market town of 1913 with a lot of interesting detail.
You can visit some Georgian family houses, fully furnished to the original state at a high degree of detail. This includes the home of a teacher, a dentist and a solicitor.
Amongst other things, there is an Edwardian garage with some motor cycles and vehicles (including a Ford Model T), and a lot of spare parts and garage equipment.
Also worth a visit is the Newspaper office (where you can actually watch a printer producing posters and advertising material using a very old press), the Bank and some Co-operative stores (hardware store, draper's and grocer's), all of which are originally equiped, so you can feel like living 100 years ago.
The Sun Inn is a typical pub of these days where you can have a drink.
Certainly the top attraction, however, is the famous Sweet Shop, where you can see the traditional sweet-making process and where you can buy some sweets out of an enormous variety on offer in this shop. Expect some queues, it's always very crowded, but worth waiting.
A complete railway station has been recreated next to The Town, typical for early 20th century and including some interesting railway artefacts.
POCKERLEY MANOR & WAGGONWAY
Towards the end of your round-trip you will visit Pockerley Manor and the Pockerley Waggonway which both date back to 1825.
You will see a farm building and a manor house - make sure you see the lovely kitchen and the bedrooms in the manor house.
The Waggonway shows one of the first steam-powered railways. Just get onto one of the carriages behind Stephenson's Locomotion and enjoy a short trip.
SUMMARY
You should spend about a day in Beamish, it is a great open-air museum. As the director points out: 'It is a museum, not a theme park. Our purpose is to educate and to enlighten you, and if you enjoy the process we will be doubly pleased.'
We cerainly enjoyed it very much, and we recommend it (of course, you should try not to get there on a rainy day to enjoy it best).
Opening times are from 10 am to 5 pm (last admission 3 pm) from April to October, we paid GBP 10.- for an adult and GBP 6.- for a child in summer 2000 (under 5s are free).
Yes Michael you are correct Beamish is an Excellent place for a day out. However if you visit again try to visit the Tanfield Railway, its only 1 mile away.
Here you can ride on the oldest Steam railway in the world and visit the workshops where the machinery is belt driven from a steam engine as it was years ago.
Excellent op keep it up Baz
Squidget 17.05.2001 21:04
Sounds like a great place to visit and you have covered it with your usual fine and simple detail!! Squidget :o)
DoubleTrouble 15.05.2001 23:13
Been there and loved it, it really is a great day out.
Ana x
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