Blogmas: Christmas At Beamish Museum, County Durham
It had been years since I’d been to Beamish, the open air museum near Stanley in County Durham, but I wanted to go when it was all done up for Christmas. We had booked for a couple of weeks ago but the storm meant we had to rearrange, so I went yesterday instead for a walk around Christmas at Beamish with Arthur.
When I got there at 11 the car park was filling up but there’s plenty space. The fast track ticket entry if you already have the yearly passes wasn’t actually that fast as there was only one person scanning all the bar codes. You need to have a booked time slot as they are staggering entries.
The entrance is where you can pick up the bus or the tram, and there were small queues to get on, but as I had Arthur with me we preferred to walk our way around through the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s.
Walking around to the 1900’s town we found the elf trail, which was really cute actually. Staff were handing out trail maps to kids at the entrance as there are elves dotted all around for them to find.
As we left the woods to continue our walk to the town we got the first taste of Christmas at Beamish when Santa drove past in his car.
1900s Town
The best bit of Beamish is definitely the town. It was also the busiest, with queues outside of each shop as they’re limiting numbers inside. Heron’s bakery smelled amazing and people were coming out armed with sausage rolls and pasties, but the biggest queue was obviously outside Jubilees sweet shop.
The grocery store was open, as was the Sun Inn, that came from Bishop Auckland, the tearooms, the Masonic Hall and the bank. The old fashioned chemist and photographers are both closed at the moment, so you can’t currently get photos taken.
Ravensworth Terrace is a street that was once in Gateshead, and you can go in to visit the dentist surgery, the music teachers house and an Edwardian day at the office in the solicitors.
The whole town is decorated for Christmas, with a big tree outside the town hall, and garlands around all the railings and lampposts. The market stalls are lined up too selling all sorts of gifts, like jigsaws, mugs, bags and jars of sweets and Christmas decorations.
Even if you can’t visit Beamish in person, you can still buy a lot of the products available from the town online here including sweets, treats from the bakery, prints and general Beamish gifts.
Santa who had drove past us as we walked round was parked up in the town, so people were queuing to get their photo taken with him, as the accordion player struck up with music too. It was very festive and you could easily spend ages pottering around the shops and market.
As well as the shops you can visit the old fashioned garage filled with motor cars and cycles from the 1900s, and the stables.
Beamish Park, Fairground & Railway
Walking out of the town you’ll find Redman Park complete with bandstand that was once in Saltwell Park, and the fairground with old fairground stalls, games and merry go round.
Pass Rowley Railway Station complete with old signal box, waiting room and wrought iron bridge from 1896. The station was always lit by oil and was the first attraction that came to Beamish. You can see the old wagons in the yard too.
The Pit Village
Next on the circuit was the Pit Village, a replica of a coal production village in the North East. It’s made up of 6 original cottages from Wearside in the 1860’s, including a miners cottage. There’s also a village school, a pay office, Davy’s fish shop, a band hall, stables and the Pit Hill Chapel that was from Beamish village.
By this point of my visit it was pouring with rain, and Arthur was looking a bit fed up so I didn’t visit the Colliery or the farm. We could have got the bus or the tram, that runs the whole way round Beamish and would save a lot of walking time but it wasn’t too far back to the entrance.
Our visit lasted a couple of hours, but you could easily spend a lot longer if you’re going in to each of the locations and displays. The transport would cut down on walking time but for adults it’s not that far to walk – although with kids it would be a lot longer and looked a lot more stressful.
Special Christmas extras are available at Beamish, which is open for the festive season until Christmas Eve. Until 18th December it’s only open Wed – Sun but from 18th it’s open daily.
As well as spotting Santa travelling around, you can pre book tickets to see him in the Grotto. You can also book for Christmas dinner in the tea rooms at weekends or once the school holidays start. There is live festive music at the bandstand over weekends too.
For full details of Christmas at Beamish and how to book and get tickets for everything you need visit the Beamish website here.
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