Beamish Museum
Opening Times:
Summer 2012: 31st March 2012 - 4th November 2012
During Summer opening the Museum is open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm, last admission is always 3pm
Winter 2012/13: 6th November 2012 - 22nd March 2013
Closed: Christmas Day, Friday 28th & Monday 31st December 2012.
Admission Costs:
Adult £17.50
Senior (60 years) / Student £13.00
Child (5-16 years) £10.00
Child (under 5) FREE
Family (1 Adult + 2 Children) £32.00
Family (2 Adults + 2 Children) £46.00
All tickets to Beamish are valid for 12 months from your first visit to the Museum for an unlimited number of visits.
Admission covers all day time events and activities, including use of the vintage trams, buses and steam locomotive rides at Pockerley Waggonway and Rowley Station (weekends only). Click here for full details.
Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum, where the past comes to life, is unique. It’s no ordinary museum but a living, working experience of life as it was in the Great North in the early 1800s and 1900s. Beamish, set in over 300 acres of beautiful countryside, vividly recreates life in the North of England in the early 1800s and 1900s. Winner of both the British Museum of the Year and European Museum of the Year Awards, it demonstrates the recent history of the region in a ‘living’ way and provides entertainment and education for visitors of all ages and interests. People from the past welcome visitors and interpret how the people of the North of England lived and worked.
Venue Enquiries
Beamish
The North of England Open Air Museum
Beamish
County Durham
DH9 0RG
Tel: 0191 370 4000 (9.00am - 4.00pm, Monday-Friday)
Visit Beamish Museum websiteCafé/Shop
- Gift Shops – offering a wide range of gifts and souvenirs
- Picnic areas
- Baby Changing Facilities
- Toilets in most areas
- Wheelchair accessible toilets
- Car park for disabled visitors
- Free wheelchair loan
Accessibility
Beamish is a large open air museum with many historic buildings, some of which are not always completely accessible to visitors.
A copy of our access information document with detailed access information on each area of the museum can be downloaded by clicking here.
Beamish is a hands-on museum. Many sounds, smells, tastes and textures can be experienced; and objects, surfaces and textiles handles making for a multi-sensory experience.
To create an authentic feel, there are a variety of ground surfaces, some of which are uneven by nature. There are steep slopes in places, and some buildings and exhibits have stepped access.
If a visitor over the age of 5 with a disability requires someone to accompany them in a caring capacity to enable them to carry out a successful visit, then the carer is admitted free of charge.
Free wheelchair hire is available. As numbers are limited, please contact the museum in advance to reserve and avoid disappointment: 0191 370 4000 (Lines open Mon-Fri, 9am-4.30pm).
Visitors using motorised wheelchairs or scooters should use the pathways and not the roads around the museum. Please note we are not able to hire out motorised wheelchairs.
Accessible Bus: J2007 looks exactly like a single deck Northern bus from the First World War years, but is fully accessible for all visitors with a rear wheelchair lift and space for up to four wheelchairs inside.
Assistance dogs are welcome throughout the museum.
Free accessible parking is at the lowest level of our car park to the left of the Entrance Building. There are ramps into the Entrance Building and at the rear of the building providing access to the Museum site.
There are accessible toilets and baby changing facilities within the following areas:
- The Entrance Building - Unisex accessible toilets, Baby and adult changing facilities also available.
- The Town - Unisex Accessible toilets in Masonic Hall. Accessible Toilets and baby changing facilities in tram shelter and Tea Rooms.
- Pockerley Old Hall - Accessible toilets and baby changing facilities.
- Pockerley Waggonway - Accessible toilets only.
- Home Farm (The Cart Shed) - Accessible toilets only.
- The Pit Village and Colliery Yard (Lamp Cabin) Accessible toilets.
- Regional Resource Centre - Accessible toilets only.
Information for dog owners: Dogs are welcome at Beamish but must be kept on a lead at all times. Only assistance dogs are allowed into any of the buildings (except the Entrance Building) or into the catering areas.
Within historic areas we have files of photographs and information which can be viewed by visitors unable to access an exhibit.
Induction loop systems are installed in the following exhibits of the Town: The Sun Inn, The Garage, Barclays Bank, Number 2 and 3 Ravensworh Terrace, The Co-op, The Masonic Hall, the Sweet Shop and the Print Shop.
Our staff undertake disability equality training and seek to provide honest, helpful advice.
Admission concessions are available for groups of disabled people. Please telephone the Bookings Team on 0191 370 4026 for more information.
Booking Information
0191 370 4000 (9.00am - 4.00pm, Monday-Friday)
You can also book online on the Beamish website
Directions
By car: From the North and South - Follow the A1M to Junction 63 (Chester-le-Street exit), then the A693 towards Stanley for 4 miles, following the signs.
From the West - Take the A68 to Castleside, near Consett, and follow the Beamish Museum signs along the A692 and A693 via Stanley.
By Bus: Service buses run regularly from Newcastle (Eldon Square) and Sunderland (Park Lane) to the Museum Entrance Gates (five minutes walk to the Entrance Building).
From Newcastle upon Tyne (Eldon Square Bus Station) No. 28/28A via Gateshead, Low Fell, Birtley, Ouston.
From Sunderland (Transport Interchange, Park Lane) The X8 (Monday to Saturday) via Grindon Mill Inn, Washington and Chester-le-Street or 78A (Sundays) via Grindon Mill Inn, Shiney Row and Chester-le-Street.
By train: The closest main-line station is Newcastle upon Tyne, with Service buses running from the city centre to the Beamish Entrance Gates.
