Beamish

Beamish is a village in County Durham in northeast England. The only reason to visit is its extensive open-air museum.

Get in

Beamish museum trams

Beamish is five miles west of the main north-south transport corridor, with the A1(M) and East Coast main railway line - nearest station Chester-le-Street.

In summer a bus runs direct to the museum from Newcastle via Chester-le-Street.

Get around

The museum is actually big enough to have its own tram network.

See

• 1 Beamish Open Air Museum, DH9 0RG (Off A693 west from Chester-le-Street), ☏ +44 191 370 4000, museum@beamish.org.uk. Daily 10:00-17:00. Excellent industrial museum, recreating life in the area during the 19th and early 20th C. £19, conc £14, child £11. (updated Jul 2018)

Eat

• 1 Shepherd and Shepherdess, Cranberry Bog Road. 18th century pub restaurant (updated Jul 2018)

Sleep

• 1 Beamish Hall (Best Western), Coppy Lane, ☏ +44 1207 233733. 18th-century country house (updated Mar 2017)
• 2 Beamish Park Hotel, Beamishburn Road, NE16 5EG. (updated Mar 2017)
• 3 Bobby Shafto Caravan Park. March - November. static caravans for and a site for touring caravans. Some static caravans allow dogs. from £11 for a tent. (updated Mar 2017)
• Hotel 52, Joicey Square, Stanley, DH9 0PG, ☏ +44 1207 263790, stanley@hotel52.co.uk. (updated Apr 2018)

Connect

As of June 2022, Beamish has 4G with O2 and Vodafone, and 5G with EE, but no signal from Three.

Go next

• South to historic Durham
• North to buzzy Newcastle
• West to the old mining community of Consett
• East to the 1964 new town of Washington