Location
Beamish Museum
Beamish
County Durham
DH9 0RG
United Kingdom

Website: http://www.beamish.org.uk

• Period Setting: Early 1800s to 1900s.

• Museum Type: An Open-Air museum set across over 300 Acres of land.

• Transportation: Renovated Victorian Trams & Buses.

• Opening Times:
  Summer (Saturday, 15th March to Sunday, 2nd November 2008)
  Daily 10am to 5pm, last admission 3pm.
  Winter (Monday, 3rd November 2008 to Friday 3rd April 2009)
  Open 10am to 4pm, last admission 3pm.  Closed Mondays and Fridays.
  * Most of the exhibits are closed during Winter, and thus admission reduced accordingly.

• Admission Charges
  Adult: £16.00
  Child (5-16): £10.00
  Sixty Plus: £13.00
  Family (2 Adults, 2 Children): £46.00
  Family (2 Adults, 1 Child): £32.00
  
  *Family Tickets void during Winter Months, all admission reduced to £6.00

My Ratings
-Therian

• Admission Cost (5/5)
  For the sheer amount you can see while visiting the museum I would say the cost is well worth it.
  However do allow at least 6 hours to see everything. Me and my parents went up to Beamish via a Coach Trip, and despite the fact we had five uninterrupted hours to explore we barely managed to see half the attractions.
  
  We arrived at 12pm, and nearly everyone on the coach freaked when we saw the sheer length of the queue waiting to enter. Because were came on a coach trip we didn't have to wait long to enter, but the queue moved very quickly considering the length of it.
   

• Staff Helpfulness (5/5)
  Top-Notch, almost literately. Everyone we met was really friendly, especially those in cosplay uniforms in the museum attractions. They were usually the one to start a conversation and were perfectly willing to help out by answering any questions we may have had.
  
  Overall a very friendly atmosphere, although honestly I actually found it somewhat creepy that they smiled so much ..
  But that's just me!
   

• Food Choices & Costs (2/5)
  Despite there been a few places on the site where you can order food the cost honestly didn't compare to what you received. We brought a Sausage Sandwich at the Home Farm area of the site, and it was £2.25 for one little sausage on a cob cut in half, of which half of the cob got thrown to the chickens that wondered around as it was actually rather soggy.
  
  Not only was the price somewhat ridiculous for what you got they had virtually ran out of food when we arrived, and it was only 1pm in the afternoon. I would say at £2.50 the 'Soup of the Day' was the best option on the menu, but what they didn't tell you was that the soup is all home-made, so especially with the Tomato Soup we had if you don't like the actual Tomato inside then its not a particularly nice option.
  
  I would certainly advise anyone to take a packed lunch with them. Yes, it means your carrying a bag around with you all day, but considering the alternative in terms of costs, and queues it's worth the little extra effort.
  Other food areas were located at The Town, and Entrance Building, and from what we saw the prices were more expensive in both locations.
   

• Victorian Themed Drinks & Sweets (4/5)
  An alternative to buying actual food is the availability to purchase actual Beers, Lagers and Sweets based on their original recipes in the Victorian Era. We tried a few of the old Bitters, and found they had a much stronger taste then what we're used to today. "A Proper Beer!" as my dad referred to them.
  
  The drinks can be purchased in The Town, and you are given the option to either have a glass indoors, or if you wish to sit outside then simply ask for a plastic cup. The Pub itself is based entirely on the original design with only a few renovations. The only real downside I'd say is that they use a modern cash register which is clearly visible behind the counter although such modern items can be seen all over the entire museum, albeit many do serve a practical purpose such as smoke detectors.
  
  Too young to drink? Just a few doors away from the Pub is an old fashioned Sweet Shop with real sweets from the era; behind the scenes they also occasionally have live demonstrations throughout the day on how these sweets are made using actual machinery from the era. We just missed a demonstration of making Sherbert Lemon when we went in, but ended up buying a few from the store itself, among other things -- I still have some Toffee Bon Bons downstairs.
   

• Range of Exhibits (5/5)
  Honestly it would be difficult to beat without finding an even larger museum. There are six "main" areas, and each of these has something unique ranging from Farmland, Railway Stations, Colliery Mines, A Victorian town and even a Manor House with huge garden out back.
  
  Much of the exhibits can be entered and viewed at any time, especially at the Town were you can enter a range of houses and see real examples of how people lived with enough detail down to say where they went to the toilet, and how they washed their clothes. It's all quite fascinating really.
  
  Down in the Colliery Village is an actual boarding school where you can enter the classrooms; sit down at the desks and even play around with old chalk boards children used to write on before paper was used. Out in the cloak room you could even pick up an old rolling hoop and have a play outside. It took a few tries but even I was eventually able to get the hang of it. It's actually more complicated then it seems at first - It's easy to get it moving, but can you control it afterwards?
  
  All around the site you can also see real animals in exhibits as they would have been housed in the middle ages. We were lucky enough to see inside a Victorian open dovecote and even watch as a dove hatched from an egg and how it's mother tended for it afterwards. Aside from the doves of course there is also a wide variety of poultry, pigs, horses, cattle, sheep and much more. The pigs especially were really quite fascinating just to see the sheer size of them. Now that's what you call a farm boar! I was walking past and didn't see anything inside, when next thing you know I heard a low grunt and this huge pig came crawling out of its pen.
  
  It must have been at least seven feet in length, and around feet foot in height. There was a sign on the gate saying "Warning: Pigs Bite" but working on a farm myself with a few pigs I just avoided the sign, and gave the Pig a fuss anyway. He certainly loved getting a scratch behind his ears.
   

• Overall Rating (4/5)
  While I could go on a lot longer describing Beamish Museum I feel it's time to stop at least for now. I've already written up quite a bit about the place, or at least enough to say it is indeed well worth the visit. We will be visiting again ourselves sometime when we can afford it simply to see what we missed before, and that was quite a lot too!
  
  What really let the day down was the sheer cost, and lack of food choices. The queues went by very quickly, but even at the the Entrance Building there were only maybe six simple items to choose from. We were all starving by the time we got home-- But no wonder too, since it was three and a half hours by Coach to get there.
  
  Certainly a day you can enjoy with friends, or family and well worth the admission cost- Just don't forget to take a camera!
  Don't fret if you don't have one though for they sell fairly cheap disposables on-site at around £2.99 if I recall correctly, perhaps cheaper. Personally I just used the camera on my phone.

A Few Photos

An old fashioned 'dip' for washing clothes.	Believe it or not - It's a toilet!
Any guesses? It's an old plug socket before fuses were invented.	Toilet Opened - Basically the "waste" was mixed in with ashes, and eventually decomposed into Compost.
An old Steam Train from 1913; Unfortunately I can't remember what the sign said, and the picture isn't clear enough to see.	Pockerley Manor from the back garden. You can also see much of the garden too! A Pity two people walked out as I took the photo though.

Now is your opportunity - Have you visited any museums recently? How about writing a review!
Ideally please include everything I've done above with ratings, and perhaps a few small photos.
Due to the sheer length of the reviews please send any articles to me directly via the forums using the name Therian.
*Please use the subject line 'Museum Review'

Have you been to Beamish Museum yourself?
What was your own experience like for your visit? - Let us know by writing to the Journal in game.
*Please include 'Beamish Museum' in the subject line.