Beamish Museum

Beamish, County Durham  DH9 0RG

Tel: 0191 370 4000 Fax: 0191 370 4001

e-mail: museum@beamish.org.uk
Website: www.beamish.org.uk

No trip to County Durham is complete without a trip to the award-winning North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish. Set in 300 acres of countryside, it illustrates life in the North of England in the early 1800s and 1900s. There is so much to see. Stroll down a cobbled street full of shops, banks and offices, visit an old Methodist chapel, find out how life was lived on a farm in the late 19th century, take a trip on a tram or steam train, visit an old dentist's surgery (and be grateful you didn't live in those days, and needed a filling!), walk through a colliery village, and go down a drift mine.

You can also see the world's third oldest surviving railway engine, which dates from 1822, housed in a specially created Great Engine Shed. There's also Pockerley Manor and Horse Yard, based on a small fortified manor house. Here you experience life as it was lived 200 years ago. Stroll the terraced gardens, walk through the fine horse yard, and see the costumes from all these years ago.