We are so fortunate here in the North East of England to have the fantastic resource that is Beamish on our doorsteps!
Beamish is a world famous open air museum, telling the story of life in the North East of England in the 1820s, 1900s and 1940s. There is so much to see there – you can go in houses set up like they were in the 1900s and stop in the shops in their village – including the grocers and sweet shop. There is an old school, farm, colliery, steam train, fairground. The site is vast and you can catch old fashioned buses and trams to get around – or just walk a lot. There is actually so much that we are on our second trip on our annual pass and will need to go a couple of times more to see it all. Although we do find it best to take shorter trips there with our little ones so they don’t get too restless.
Beamish was in the news this week for having just secured £17 million for a 1950s expansion which I am very excited about. Featuring both replicated and original period homes, a cafe and a farm, the 1950s area will also include the Grand Electric Cinema from Ryhope, Sunderland, which will be moved to Beamish brick by brick. Amazing!
In the vlog below you can see us check out the village, school, colliery, train and 1940s farm. If you are a Downton Abbey fan you may recognise the village from the finalé too.

I love Beamish. We live literally 5 minutes away so go regularly. The annual passes are such good value, we pop up for a cuppa or lunch once a week usually
We’ll have to let you know next time we are there in case you are around!!
Love your Beamish vlog! The annual pass is such good value. Love the smiles on your kids and lovely to see sunshine too. We are visiting Beamish on Saturday – we normally visit a few times every year and every time we do there is something new to discover – cannot WAIT for the 1950’s area to be finished! How exciting! Thanks for linking to #LoveNorthEast x
Thanks for your comment Samantha! We love it there too. I’m very excited about the 1950s section too!
Great VLOG. We’re off to Beamish this Sunday, but I doubt our weather is going to be as nice. Still looking forward to it though. (www.unscriptedphotography.co.uk/blog) xx
Thank you Claire! Well the weather for tomorrow looks hideous – snow and sleet but Sunday actually looks quite bright. Hope you have a great day.
You should totally get a mirror for the headrest of the car so we can see Lena joining in, not just hear her!
Where did those woods lead to?!
Thanks for joining #daysoutwithatoddler – see you next month 🙂
They lead back to the main path. She does have a mirror but the shell of the cybex Sirona is so big you can hardly see it!