Beamish: so much more than just a museum!

We all love history in our family. That may explain why we enjoyed our trip to Beamish so much. It's a fantastic place, where history comes alive, in the form of both actors and the kind of exhibits which definitely aren't behind a glass case.

We visited Beamish in 2010 and lots has happened since then, with more planned!

We loved Beamish so much that we have often recommended it. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to talk to Richard Evans, the director of Beamish and he told me more about this fantastic place and its plans for the future....

Beamish might be a world-famous open air museum, but it is also much more than that. It is a place which tells the story of the North East, but by making the history, culture and heritage come alive. At Beamish you can ride on an old fashioned steam engine, eat fish and chips cooked on an authentic coal-fired range or visit an Edwardian dentist (although you might not want him to actually work on your teeth).

“It’s a museum for people,” says Richard Evans, Director of Beamish. “We have fantastic objects, but we are able to bring them to life. Socially, culturally and economically, this is a really important place.”

Beamish started life in the post-war period and was proposed in 1958 when the speed of de-industrialisation was quite dizzying for the entire region. It opened to the public in 1971, introducing local people, and those from around the world to everyday life in Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times.

“The North East has always shared traditions, culture, history and industry,” adds Evans. “Beamish started as a response to that.”

The 300 acre site is situated in the countryside just outside County Durham. Its latest feature is a 100-year-old band hall from the nearby town of Hetton-le-hole on the edge of Durham. It was taken, brick by brick, to Beamish and the local community raised £10,000 to help bring it there.

In chronological terms, a visit to Beamish begins in the 1820s, with Pockerley Old Hall. The hall actually dates back to 400 years earlier, but in the Georgian era it would have been home to a tenant farmer or miner and there are costumed guides ready to chat to you about life back then. They can explain where the servants would have slept, and the grim reality of life as a servant’s child, working all day and stuck up in a dark, cold attic at night.

The Old Hall has its own farm and gardens, but makes it clear that it is set in a time when change was coming. This is not done by signs or glass exhibits. Instead, the start of industrialisation can be felt, literally, by a journey in a steam wagon via the Pockerley Waggonway.

Visitors to Beamish can travel between eras by old-fashioned trams. One of the most evocative stops is at the re-creation of a classic North Eastern market town in the years running up to World War One. There is a railway station nearby and the town boasts typical shops, with almost typical shop owners and customers (“almost” because they are not actually ghosts from the past, but actors).

In the sweetshop, it is possible to see how old fashioned sweets were made and watch them being heated, stretched out and then cooled on the counters. Fortunately for those with a sweet tooth, samples are available and you can suck or chew your way back in time.

Everything seems extremely authentic, from the shillings, farthings and half-pennies, to the presses on display in the stationers. Newspapers are not made like that anymore.

Some of the most remarkable parts of Beamish are the Pit villages and colliery, which are part of a world which no longer exists. Hard hats can be put on and life as a miner re-created, but for minutes rather than hours. It is easier to imagine life as a miner when you are crouching down in the dark and cold.

It was amazing to go down into the pits and see how hard the work must have been. We had to put on hard hats beforehand.

The pit village also includes a school, and children are welcome to try out fountain pens before quietly getting on with their work, under the eye of a very strict teacher.

Beamish is not finished yet.

“At the moment we are working on a 1950s town,” reveals Evans. “It’s the story of the recovery of the North East after the second world war, and the birth of the NHS.”

Everything will, of course, be authentic, and visitors will even be able to stay in a 1950s semi, enjoying a fully fitted-out kitchen.

“This is a museum, not a theme park,” says Evans, “and everything we do is connected to scholarship and research. But we make no apology for being popular.

“We want our visitors to remember the tastes of what they eat and the smells of where they go. It’s a sensual place as well as an intellectual one.”

(Read more about lovely historical places: our trip to Gorey Castle in Jersey)

Beamish: so much more than just a museum!

We all love history in our family. That may explain why we enjoyed our trip to Beamish so much. It's a fantastic place, where history comes alive, in the form of both actors and the kind of exhibits which definitely aren't behind a glass case.

We visited Beamish in 2010 and lots has happened since then, with more planned!

We loved Beamish so much that we have often recommended it. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to talk to Richard Evans, the director of Beamish and he told me more about this fantastic place and its plans for the future....

Beamish might be a world-famous open air museum, but it is also much more than that. It is a place which tells the story of the North East, but by making the history, culture and heritage come alive. At Beamish you can ride on an old fashioned steam engine, eat fish and chips cooked on an authentic coal-fired range or visit an Edwardian dentist (although you might not want him to actually work on your teeth).

“It’s a museum for people,” says Richard Evans, Director of Beamish. “We have fantastic objects, but we are able to bring them to life. Socially, culturally and economically, this is a really important place.”

Beamish started life in the post-war period and was proposed in 1958 when the speed of de-industrialisation was quite dizzying for the entire region. It opened to the public in 1971, introducing local people, and those from around the world to everyday life in Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times.

“The North East has always shared traditions, culture, history and industry,” adds Evans. “Beamish started as a response to that.”

The 300 acre site is situated in the countryside just outside County Durham. Its latest feature is a 100-year-old band hall from the nearby town of Hetton-le-hole on the edge of Durham. It was taken, brick by brick, to Beamish and the local community raised £10,000 to help bring it there.

In chronological terms, a visit to Beamish begins in the 1820s, with Pockerley Old Hall. The hall actually dates back to 400 years earlier, but in the Georgian era it would have been home to a tenant farmer or miner and there are costumed guides ready to chat to you about life back then. They can explain where the servants would have slept, and the grim reality of life as a servant’s child, working all day and stuck up in a dark, cold attic at night.

Read more »

PGL With My School (By Jessica)

My class enjoyed a week of fun at PGL Marchants Hill after a long, stressful week of SATS. This is what I thought...

The Marchants Hill PGL centre is the closest camp to London but is still far from the busy, bustling atmosphere of the City. It is set beautifully on the edge of the Devil's Punchbowl (a National Trust site) and has 45 acres of amazing activities.

OUR ROOM

One of the chalets

We stayed in Frensham Ponds - one of the old fashioned looking chalets in the middle of the centre. Our room was fairly basic. It had: three bunk beds with a large drawer underneath each one, six coat hangers, a toilet, a sink and a shower. The room was small for six people but there was enough space and we didn't spend much time in it anyway. It was very clean and our only complaint was that it was hard to keep the shower water off the floor. However, this might have been because we were getting changed in there! Luckily, we were on the top floor of the building, but the bottom floor isn't great to sleep in because the ceiling is thin and therefore you can hear everything going on upstairs.

THE FOOD
To my surprise, the food at PGL was quite nice. I had to get the vegetarian options each day and I was impressed by the variety and quality of the food. On our first day, I had stuffed peppers for supper, which was a delicious treat. Although I adored lunch and supper, I did not like breakfast as much. The mushrooms were slimy, the hash browns were tasteless and the veggie sausages were simply vile. I dislike porridge and I cannot eat eggs, so I had toast with jam or cereal every single day. They were fine, but it was a bit of a shame to be only able to eat those out of all the different options. On my last day, they served Quorn sausages for breakfast which (obviously) were great. Another annoying thing about meal times was that there is no toilet in the dining room and you cannot leave until you have finished eating.


THE INSTRUCTORS
The instructors were all incredibly friendly, enthusiastic and optimistic. They were all fairly young yet they knew what they were doing. They cheered us on and sang songs to us as we walked to and from activities. The only time our instructor was not as cheerful as the rest was when it was hailing chunks of ice larger than peas!

THE ACTIVITIES
Obviously, the activities at PGL were incredible and the best bits of our trip. They made up for the bad breakfasts, the early mornings and the terrible weather! My top four activities were...

 

The Giant Swing

1. ORIENTEERING                                                                                I always thought that orienteering was something extremely tedious and boring but I realise now that it is not. Our group got split up into teams and we had a competition to be the first team to find all of the markers. When we got there, we had to do a forfeit. It was very funny! I enjoyed it because it was such a challenge.


2. THE GIANT SWING                                                                          The Giant Swing is -as you can probably tell from the name- a giant swing! You are strapped onto a metal beam by a harness and are pulled to the top by the rest of your group. When you are at the top, you pull a cord behind you and suddenly you hurtle down to the ground at lighting speed! It is absolutely amazing and I had two goes...


3. THE TRAPEZE                                                                                                                              I loved the trapeze because it was quite scary but really enjoyable. You put on a harness and climbed to the top of a wooden beam. Next you have to jump off and either hit a big red ball or hold onto a mini swing (depending on which trapeze you are on) I had to hit the ball. The best bit was being lowered down to the ground.


4. THE HIKE                                                                                                                                      We went on the hike for half a day and although it was tiring, it was amazing. We were told lots of stories about the Devil's Punchbowl and although we doubted that all of them were true, it was a truly fascinating experience. We played lots of games, walked up lots of hills and collected things from the forest. However the best thing of all was the incredible scenery.

OVERALL

I give PGL four stars all together, as the activities are so much fun.

PGL With My School (By Jessica)

My class enjoyed a week of fun at PGL Marchants Hill after a long, stressful week of SATS. This is what I thought...

The Marchants Hill PGL centre is the closest camp to London but is still far from the busy, bustling atmosphere of the City. It is set beautifully on the edge of the Devil's Punchbowl (a National Trust site) and has 45 acres of amazing activities.

OUR ROOM


One of the chalets

We stayed in Frensham Ponds - one of the old fashioned looking chalets in the middle of the centre. Our room was fairly basic. It had: three bunk beds with a large drawer underneath each one, six coat hangers, a toilet, a sink and a shower. The room was small for six people but there was enough space and we didn't spend much time in it anyway. It was very clean and our only complaint was that it was hard to keep the shower water off the floor. However, this might have been because we were getting changed in there! Luckily, we were on the top floor of the building, but the bottom floor isn't great to sleep in because the ceiling is thin and therefore you can hear everything going on upstairs.

THE FOOD
To my surprise, the food at PGL was quite nice. I had to get the vegetarian options each day and I was impressed by the variety and quality of the food. On our first day, I had stuffed peppers for supper, which was a delicious treat. Although I adored lunch and supper, I did not like breakfast as much. The mushrooms were slimy, the hash browns were tasteless and the veggie sausages were simply vile. I dislike porridge and I cannot eat eggs, so I had toast with jam or cereal every single day. They were fine, but it was a bit of a shame to be only able to eat those out of all the different options. On my last day, they served Quorn sausages for breakfast which (obviously) were great. Another annoying thing about meal times was that there is no toilet in the dining room and you cannot leave until you have finished eating.

Read more »

Cadbury World (by Robert )

Cadbury World

 

Me and my mum, dad and sister were lucky enough to go to Cadbury World. I am going to tell you about this amazing experience by letting you know about the 14 activities/shows and small films which, added together, create the tour of Cadbury World.

Me and my sister with some rather large cocoa beans!

You start by wandering through the Aztec jungle. Then 600 AD comes along and one person sees a new fruit on the trees. The fruit was cocoa beans and soon everyone was trying the new food. At that time few people liked chocolate because it tasted bitter, so one person invented liquid chocolate which was very spicy but nice because they added chili to the recipe.

After that you learn about how chocolate was made nicer when the chili was replaced by cinnamon and sugar. You also see how it was shipped to London and that cocoa beans were often mistaken for sheep droppings.

The next two zones talk about the founder of Cadbury's, George Cadbury and how his sons then took over the business.
There was also a video about the life of a cocoa bean. There were lots of special effects and the chairs we were on moved (which was awesome). Next there was also a cool ride around the chocolate village. Afterwards, you could taste, make, smell and eat chocolate while listening to music and playing electronic games. Throughout the day you can also see what is happening in the factory without disturbing the workers. I thought this was really fascinating, especially how quickly they can make and pack the chocolates.

The only bad thing about it was that I was only given a a £1 voucher for three proper-sized bars of chocolate. Because I am not allowed milk chocolate we asked if there were any other options and we were told that if we kept the bars, we could swap them at the end for some sweets or plain chocolate. But £1 did not get us very far.

Over all I would give Cadbury World 4 and a half stars. The best bits were the ride and interactive games but the learning was interesting and fun.

IT WAS A GREAT DAY

 

(I am Robert and I am Jessica's brother. I am eight.
My mum thinks I should tell you that we paid for Cadbury World using our Tesco Vouchers, which made it very good value!)

 

Mum also says: Gretta Schifano, over at mumsdotravel is running a travel linky about great family days out, so you should pop over there for some more great ideas, and maybe add yours too.

Cadbury World (by Robert )

Cadbury World

Me and my mum, dad and sister were lucky enough to go to Cadbury World. I am going to tell you about this amazing experience by letting you know about the 14 activities/shows and small films which, added together, create the tour of Cadbury World.

Me and my sister with some rather large cocoa beans!

You start by wandering through the Aztec jungle. Then 600 AD comes along and one person sees a new fruit on the trees. The fruit was cocoa beans and soon everyone was trying the new food. At that time few people liked chocolate because it tasted bitter, so one person invented liquid chocolate which was very spicy but nice because they added chili to the recipe.

After that you learn about how chocolate was made nicer when the chili was replaced by cinnamon and sugar. You also see how it was shipped to London and that cocoa beans were often mistaken for sheep droppings.

Read more »