Great Britain England Beamish Museum

Beamish Museum Great Britain England (6/14/2016)

We loved our visit to the Beamish Museum where you can have fun discovering what life was like in North East England in the 1820’s,1910’s and 1940’s.

Wonderful Beamish Museum

Located near Durham, the Beamish Museum is an open-air living museum that literally brings history to life in a very fun way. All the buildings are authentic and were brought to this site and reconstructed stone by stone in a real setting of towns, villages, and farms. Eight hundred friendly workers and volunteers in period customs man the buildings giving interesting narrations and will answer questions. Authentic stores, pubs, and restaurants provide even more opportunities for showing and lunch.

Map - Beamish Museum

Currently, there are four fun areas to visit (more planned for the future). To visit the four sites, you can take the Beamish Tramway or replicated period vehicles from an earlier generation that run around the loop both ways. This is part of the fun... and it is fun. Ding ding goes the bell announcing your departure and arrival at the Beamish Museum.

Location Map -
Beamish Museum

We suggest starting with the Beamish Museum’s 1820’s landscape that can be visited with a 10-minute walk from Beamish’s Entrance Building. While there, take the short ride on replicated 200-year-old Pockerley Waggonway train. The narration is fun. If you have plenty of time, you can visit a period church and other buildings here such as the 1820’s Pockerley Old Hall.

1900's Town - 
Beamish Museum

Do leave plenty of time for Beamish Museum's 1900’s Town where we had the most fun. It takes you back to how people lived over a century ago before the First World War and makes you appreciate the wonders we enjoy today. For example, visit the dentist office for a demonstration and you will better appreciate what we have today. 

Pat Liked the 
Shopping in the 1900's

We walked through the Edwardian-style buildings and shops buying some fresh baked goods and having a pint and Pimm’s in the atmospheric pub. There are interesting displays of horse society as well as the beginning of motor transportation. The Beamish Museum has a tearoom available for a light meal.

  

1900's Pit Village - 
Beamish Museum

Then it is off to Beamish Museum's 1900’s Pit Village for a view of what life in a smaller village would have been like. The school and the pit cottages are fun to visit. There is a fish and chips shop here for lunch. If you want to see how an early steam operated Winding Engine works, continue to the end. From here you can cross the road and visit the 1940’s Farm.

Future plans for the Beamish Museum include a hotel and a 1950’s town... that will be fun.

Important driving tip: Because many of the roads in England are smaller country roads with many confusing roundabouts, getting lost is not hard. In fact, it can be fun if you can get back on track.

Here is a wonderful tip... Make sure you have GPS - if from the car rental company ask for a lesson. The postal code in Great Britain typically has enough information to direct you to your hotel or destination. So, look up postal codes for your hotels and destinations so you can enter them in as you go through your day of explorations. We used a centrally located church or hotel for the villages. Sometimes the GPS asks to confirm the street name and number, so also having an address helps. Also, often just putting in the town/village name will take you to the right direction and you can follow signs to the town center.

Please see our other 12 travel blog posts on Great Britain:

York England

Beautiful COTWOLDS Bilbury Burton Stow Slaugher Woodstock Burford Minster Lovell Oxford England

Lake District (England's Most Visited National Park)

Stonehenge England 

Highclere Castle (Downton Abby) England

Stratford-Upon-Avon, England (Birthplace of Shakespere)

England's Southern Coast Canterbury Rye Sandwich Salisbury, England 

Hadrian's Wall, England

Beamish Museum, England

Harians Wall, England

Chester, England

Magnificent Castle Howard, England  

Alnwick Castle (Harry Potter), England  

 

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