Beamish Museum

Beamish opened in 1970 on the argument that the region's ordinary life was disappearing faster than its grand buildings, and it collects, moves and rebuilds real structures: a colliery village with pit cottages and a working drift mine that visitors go down, a 1900s town with a dentist, sweet shop, garage and pub, a Georgian landscape with a farm and a manor, and a 1950s town added recently with a fish and chip shop, cinema and prefabs. Staff in period dress work the buildings rather than guide tours, baking, printing and serving. Electric trams and motor buses carry visitors between areas on a circuit around the site. The scale is unusual: it covers about a hundred and forty hectares and walking it all is a long day.

What you actually see

• The drift mine - a real coal drift entered underground with a guide.
• The four periods - 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s built as separate settlements.
• The tram circuit - working electric trams connecting the areas.
• The staffed buildings - bakery, printer, dentist and pub run by costumed workers.

When to go

April to October for the full site, when all areas open; winter opening is reduced to part of the museum. Tickets last a year, which suits a return visit. Term-time weekdays are quieter but heavy with school groups in the mornings.

Honest expectations

The site is very large and almost entirely outdoors, so weather governs the day. Not every area is fully staffed on quiet days. The mine tour involves low headroom and helmets. Queues for the trams build in the afternoon.

Nearby

Durham city and its cathedral lie south; Newcastle and the Angel of the North are north.