A Great Day Out in the North.

**English Bloke** · 14th April 10, 07:59 PM

As some of you may know, I work away quite a bit so it's lovely to get home and spend a bit of quality time with my Family. I used to spring spontaneous days out for us all quite often but haven't for a while as life seems to be somewhat hectic of late. When my boys were younger these days out used to be dubbed "Dad's big adventure" and as we haven't done one for a while I thought it prudent that we did. Unfortunately David my younger son couldn't join us as he is approaching A Levels at College and it didn't fit with his schedule. On the other hand, my wife's mother is visiting us from Turkey so she was more than happy to join us. I shall cut to the chase.

I decided we'd all go to Beamish in County Durham. It's a living museum featuring exibits depicting life in the North East of England around 1825 and 1913. The museum is set in 300 acres of countryside and is a delightful experience... as I hope to convey with some edited highlights.

A screen grab from their website.

We left home early-ish as it's a fair trip from where we are. We had a brief stop on the way in the Cumbrian town of Kirkby Stephen to stretch legs and stock up on picnic supplies.

We then arrived at the museum and went straight in.

The first place we went was the Colliery Village. A reconstruction of a village from 1913 with pit cottages, school and chapel.

The School House.

Wife and Daughter in class...

Supervising my elder Son Tom with his schoolwork.

My daughter playing with hoop and stick in the school yard.

The interior of one of the pit cottages. There are also demonstrations of rug making, bread baking and other crafts in these houses.

Looking back towards the village as we head for the Farm buildings.

Me and the little one. Notice the means she employs to let me know which way she wants to go. (It's a Johnstone Modern by the way)

We did take pictures at the Farm but I'll skip them as I'm sure you've seen Farm Animals before. The Shire Horses were amazing though, all be it that they were stabled (and letting their hair down as it were)

The Omnibus on it's way back to the pit village.

The tram to town... This vehicle was built in 1925 and operated in Gateshead till 1951

**English Bloke** · 14th April 10, 08:00 PM

When we got to the town there was much to see. Again it's set in the pre First World War era and there are shops, houses, a bank, a newspaper office, a pub and a masonic hall, a railway station, a garage and a park for picnics with a band stand and everything (No bands playing today unfortunately).

The street scene.

The sweetshop. My little girl loved it in here.

There was a demonstration of how sweets were made in days gone by and today's batch was blackberry (Pure sugar with a bit more sugar sprinkled on top... yum!)

The finished sweets, once cooled were handed out to the assembled audience to try. We were sold and so left the shop with bags bulging full of "Peaches and Cream", "Rhubarb and Custard" and "Kendal Mint Cake"

We also popped into the Pub for a quick one.

The hand-pulled beer on Tap was Beamish Hall Bitter and Beamish Burn Brown Ale, both gorgeous.

The Masonic Hall was also fascinating. The frontage of the building was transferred to the museum in 2000 from it's original location in Sunderland.

**English Bloke** · 14th April 10, 08:01 PM

We also popped into the Garage which was full of Model T's, Motorbikes and a Lorry.

We visited the houses and met the Dentist in her surgery.

And also examined this new fangled notion of having a water closet INSIDE your home. Not sure I like the idea, seems most unhygienic.

We then caught the tram to the 1800's.

There are two parts to the 1825 section. Pockerley Manor which is a farmhouse and farm, all as it would have been. No pictures of this unfortunately as we spent a number of minutes chasing my daughter who decided in the blink of an eye to wander off and explore on her own while Dad was answering some questions about the Kilt... After some discussion on the merits of holding daddy's hand, we made our way to the Pockerley "waggonway".

This is a recreation of a colliery engine that transports passengers on a 200 yard track out and back through Georgian countryside. The farmland that the track travels through has been set up as it would have been to show the farming techniques of the time.

The engine is a ten year old replica of a colliery engine called the "Elephant". The original engine, now long gone was used to haul coal from a Northumbrian pit to the river Tyne. The replica was built from plans based on a painting. How cool is that?

After this we got the tram back to the museaum entrance and back to the 21st Century.

My Mother in Law was most impressed with the Tram conductor's uniform it seems.

**English Bloke** · 14th April 10, 08:02 PM

After a bite to eat we made our way North to... "The Angel of the North"

This sculpture by Antony Gormley is one of the most viewed pieces of Art in the world. It is situated right beside the busy A1 and is seen by one person every second, 90,000 people per day and 33million people per year... That's quite alot. It is staggering in it's immenseness. I absolutely love it. It's made out of 200 tonnes of weathering steel and was sunk into old pit-workings and is anchored, 20 meters down. It is 20 meters tall (65 feet) and has a span of 54 meters (175 feet)

A word from the man who designed it before I let the pictures speak:

"People are always asking why an angel? The only response I can give is that people have never seen one and we need to keep imagining them. The Angel has three functions. Firstly a historic one to remind us that below this site, coal miners worked in the dark for two hundred years, secondly to grasp hold of our future expressing our transition from the industrial to the information age, and lastly to be a focus for our hopes and fears".
Antony Gormley - Sculptor.

**English Bloke** · 14th April 10, 08:02 PM

Next we backtracked to Scotch Corner (No it's not in Scotland) and headed into the Yorkshire Dales via Richmond (of Richmond Castle fame and home of the Green Howards Regiment) and Leyburn (A lovely Yorkshire market town). When I was a boy we lived for a while in a little village called Bainbridge not far from there. It was on the way home (sort of, bit of a scenic route) so I thought we'd pop by and show it to my gorgeous daughter.

First stop was Aysgarth Falls, about half way between Leyburn and Bainbridge. Hardly Niagara but pretty all the same.

Bainbridge is a sleepy little hamlet but it has a beautiful sloping village green in the middle. I used to sledge down this as a kid during winter and roll easter eggs down it in the spring. A great place for kids to grow up.

It's called Bainbridge because it was built by a bridge over the river bain... yeah OK, sorry.

This is us on the humpty backed bridge. Our old house is in the background and at the top of the hill behind is the site of a Roman fort.

Our old house. My bedroom was the window, top right. The house is 'L' shaped and we're looking at the back door. The front door is to the right and out of sight round the corner. A beautiful house indeed.

My old primary school. Seemed much bigger back then.

There is a set of stocks on the green used for the punishment of miscreants in days of yore. My little girl insisted on trying them for size and was delighted at the prospect of being pelted with rotten cabbages.

Brief history here.

We came back through the village of Hawes which is where Wensleydale cheese is made (Wallace and Gromet like Wensleydale cheese). Unfortunately it was late, and dark and the Cheese Factory was closed so I'll take you there another day.

Well, it was a lovely day out... Thought you might like to share.

**BoldHighlander** · 14th April 10, 08:23 PM

What a wonderful set of photos!

Thanks for sharing your family outing with us!

**McClef** · 15th April 10, 01:49 AM

A great day out indeed - I visited Beamish a couple of years ago but it was January and there were less things open.

**MartinGrenoble** · 15th April 10, 02:14 AM

A great selection of pictures and comments, both historic and personal.

That was a favorite holiday area for my parents,though I never went there myself, and I'd never heard of the angel. What a monster! I think perhaps it needs a kilt.

Martin