Whether or not they have ever actually visited, many people in North East England have at least heard of Beamish Museum. This open air museum recreates scenes - through use of historical buildings and various people in appropriate historical garb - of three particular periods of British history. However, being keenly interested in the Georgian period and, in particular, the period of the Napoleonic Wars, it is the section of the museum dedicated to recreating life in the 1820s that particularly appeals to me. Here are some of my experiences and opinions of it...
Almost like walking into a Jane Austen novel...
One of the earliest but most lasting impressions I have had of this museum is just how wonderfully relaxing it is to spend time in. This certainly seems to be encouraged by its relatively remote location; located in a largely rural area between Newcastle and Durham, it is surrounded by many beautiful fields, while the relatively few people I have seen and met here have been wonderfully warm and welcoming. Like County Durham in general, it has a lovely mix of beautiful historical buildings and rural scenery - and seems to strike a pleasant balance between being sufficiently busy to be intellectually stimulating and sufficiently quiet to feel very peaceful.
The buildings in the museum's 1820s section were also relaxing to spend time in and near, helping to recreate as they do a world often only seen today in TV and film adaptations of Jane Austen novels. A particularly nice touch was the appearance of people in period garb casually working and chatting in the buildings, including one particularly friendly man in the kitchen who welcomed me as I first walked into the building called Pockerley Old Hall. This building's bedrooms and nearby luxurious garden were also particular highlights, as was the moment I used a feather pen - the type commonly seen in depictions of William Shakespeare - to write my name, Georgian style.
So many different things to see at the Georgian Fair
There was certainly more than enough for me to enjoy in this Georgian section even on a quiet day; in fact, I would go as far as saying that the relative quietness of the place added to its historically authentic feel, considering that North East England would naturally have been much less populated back then than it is now. However, that doesn't mean that, in May, I didn't enjoy the Georgian Fair - an annual event in this part of Beamish Museum, and one which presents a great opportunity to develop a greater feel for what this part of England was like to live in in the 1820s.
In just a few hours, I watched wooden items being made at 'Peter Wood Woodcraft', saw a falconer with birds of prey including a falcon and a barn owl, saw various men with guns and red-and-white uniforms of the Durham Light Infantry, browsed Georgian-themed stalls offering oranges, pineapples and other foods and listened to some guitar-based and violin-based Georgian music. What undoubtedly encouraged the Georgian feel was that all of this happened near the permanent attractions, including Pockerley Old Hall and St Helen's Church, of the 1820s area.
And that's not all...
I've been able to write a lot about my time in the 1820s part of Beamish Museum... but this is just one relatively small part of a much bigger museum! This should give you an idea of just how much there really is to see and do at this much loved and visited attraction in County Durham, a county which provides something of a treasure trove for history buffs.
No comments:
Post a Comment