Go Visit: Beamish

Pretty much the entirety of the week leading up to Easter was spent in walking boots.  Mr CC and I went away to Northumberland and met up with some of the CC clan (of which there are numerous members...) for a few days of gorging on local produce, hiking over the hills and long overdue catch-ups.  It was bliss, and the sun shined every day!  We went to so many places that I'll be blogging about over the coming weeks, but first here is a day out with a different: Beamish.

The 'living museum' close to Newcastle explores Northern life in the 1820s, 1900s and 1940s; it boasts a farm, a colliery, a manor house and even a town complete with shops where you can buy real items as if you had truly gone back in time.  If you read last week's post, you will no doubt have gathered that the 1940s farm was by far the favourite spot of Mr CC.  As we arrived at the farmhouse the scents of home-made scones wafted through the doorway and lured us into the heart of the 1940s home: the kitchen.

The best part of it for me was the larder shelves; although they were intended to show a different era it was surprising how many dishes and pots I recognised from our own kitchen!

The town came a close second to the farm.  Boasting a bakery, a co-operative store, a print shop, sweet shop and even a pub, the Edwardian street is the perfect spot to imagine what a pre-war Northern town would have been like.  Unfortunately we missed the morning's bread from the bakery, but Mr CC indulged in a pint of Beamish Gold in the pub and we contented ourselves with an ice cream!

We ended our day with a trip on the waggonway and boarded for a short steam ride through the Georgian landscape, watching the white smoke curl against the vibrancy of the blue sky.

I would highly recommend this as a day out not only for history nuts like Mr CC and I, but also families as there are plenty of interactive activities - you can even take a ride on a tram if little ones don't fancy the walk!  One final word of advice: if you want the fish and chips, be prepared to queue.  The smell was overwhelmingly tempting, but we resisted as the queue snaked around the entire building...

Have you ever visited Beamish; what did you think?

CC X