Living open air museum

 We had a change of plan. It rained this morning. Not that this would have stopped us all going to the waterfall, no, it was because we realised going to it would take us in the wrong direction. 

Ian had found a place called Beamish open air museum near Stanley. Roughly an hour's drive away and both Chris and Sue said it was a must-see attraction. What we hadn't realised was this was a time slot attraction and only those with pre-booked tickets could be allowed in.  So no sooner had we pulled into the car park than the phone came out and tickets were booked for 1 pm.

Beamish Museum was founded in 1970 by Frank Atkinson to preserve the region’s heritage for future generations. Frank found inspiration from Scandinavian folk museums and wanted to build a museum to bring the region’s history to life. (this excerpt from-(thisisdurham.com)

The site is vast! A 300 acre estate incorporating various original and replica buildings including 1940 farm, 1900 town, 1900s pit village, 1820 Pockerley wagonway and Old Hall and more. The route is circular and although you could walk to each attraction (time-consuming) there are bus and trams running all day. The first thing we did once our ticket had been scanned was queue at the tram stop. One had been seen heading away as we arrived but a notice saying the trams run every 20 minutes made us join the queue. Much, much later the tram arrived but not on our side of the road, it stopped at the opposite stop. I walked over to enquire when the tram on our side of the road would arrive only to be told this was the only one and it wouldn't be back for another 40 minutes. Needless to say all those folk queueing on the tram side got on which meant there was no room for any of us who had waited patiently opposite! 

 

Walk it was then! 

The first stop was the Rowley Station almost halfway around the loop . And according to the signs, a 20-minute walk. We passed the Wagonway, noted the café at the Welfare Hall and continued through the 1900s town to the station.  Hmm. There didn't appear to be any steam locos running even though we had read that the loco runs over the weekend. Then a large notice was spied. Only the Puffing Billy was running and that was back at the Wagonway. For goodness’ sake, why hadn't we been told this at the ticket desk!  Before we retraced our steps we noticed that a classical car rally was being held. Hundreds of cars for one to walk around and admire. Ian was in his element! For me though, the inner kid came out and that carousel would so have been a nostalgic ride. If only I could have dragged Ian away from those classic cars!

 

So at the Wagonway we found Puffin Billy the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive constructed in 1813. The ride took about 7 minutes! Yep, 3.5 minutes to stop by the Whim Gin  (Man-powered jack-rolls or windlasses were the earliest winding gear over the shafts. Later, horse-driven whim-gins were copied from the coalfields)  and 3.5 minutes back!

 

So far we had not been that enamoured with this living museum. Things like bus and tram stops need to be addressed. (We weren't the only ones peed off) and correct information is a wonderful thing!  Still loads to see though and since we were near to the 1820's Pockerley Hall we detoured to that. Now that was worth the visit.

 

 As I mentioned this place is huge, and no way would we be able to see the rest of this museum in the time left (closes at 5 pm) so tomorrow, as the ticket allows multiple visits, we will be back to see what we missed tomorrow.

And seen at the Wagonway,