Timeless pleasure at beautiful Beamish

Beamish Hall Hotel

For as long as anyone can remember Beamish, belying its size, has always been a remarkably industrious part of the world.

White hot forges that produced iron and mills that ground flint for Sunderland ware pottery pulsed and pounded alongside the hustle and bustle of no less than four pits giving this small Durham village a mining legacy spanning 200 years and more.

Small knots of houses straddled a A-list industrial railway line that fed iron ore to Consett steelworks and carried coal by return to North East ports and power stations.

But, while Beamish was busy it was also beautiful; its round-the-clock hive of heavy industrial activities set amidst rolling landscapes and ancient woodlands.

Coal may have been King but, luckily for Beamish and everyone who knows this lovely part of the world, the power behind this throne was undoubtedly Mother Nature.

Beamish’s natural charms provide a perfect setting for Beamish Hall, home to an assortment of land and colliery owning ‘aristocracy’ before becoming the headquarters of the National Coal Board between 1953 and 1967, a residential college and now a hotel (more later).

In the early 1970’s, just a few years after the closure of the community’s last links with heavy industry – Beamish Mary colliery – it became the focus of an audacious new plan that would pay homage to the North East’s industrial past.

Beamish Museum - Hardware Shop.

Nearly 40 years on and Beamish is home to an open air museum that is an international success story (a former European Museum of the Year award winner) and a lasting tribute to the men and women who fashioned our unique North East identity.

Sitting comfortably in 300 acres of outstanding countryside (Mother Nature, I am pleased to report is still the boss) the museum is a microcosm of local life as it was around the years of 1825 and 1913.

If you want to experience first hand how people lived and worked in those days, the machinery they developed and equipment they used, Beamish lets you do it – first hand.

Beamish Museum - Coal Mine.

You can don a miner’s helmet and go down a mine, ride a tram and pay a visit to the dentist (volunteers always welcome here!).

Over the years, you name it the museum has salvaged and reconstructed it, brick by brick. The old town has shops, a Co-op, a printing business and a typical pub from 1913, the Sun Inn run by Joanne and John Taylor of the Bull Lane Brewery in Sunderland – and just getting to back to that North East identity (of which humour is such an important part) I have to mention their tribute ale for Sunderland AFC’s saviour Niall Quinn called ‘Sauce of the Niall’.

The site also has a Victorian railway station, Old Rowley transported from Castleside near Consett and painstakingly rebuilt, a Masonic Hall from Sunderland and, most recently, the famous ‘Westoe Nettie’ in South Shields.

Beamish, in the best traditions of equality, has gone one better than the painting immortalised by artist Bob Ollie by including the ladies as well as the gents in the reconstruction – a sitting tribute you might say.

On a more serious side, Beamish runs the Heritage Cubes, a project that stores and cares for donated collections and material from community heritage groups and individuals. These are kept in temperature controlled environments and are accessible for research.

Over 300,000 visitors a year make the trip to Beamish Museum and I am sure it’s an education to all – especially the 62% who come from the rest of the UK.

Many of those who visit Beamish will also have Beamish Hall, much, much more than a very fine hotel these days, on their must visit list. As a private home its previous residents include former Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and ‘Bonnie’ Bobby Shaftoe of nursery rhyme fame.

There’s nothing to suggest that architect David Craggs copied the Victor Kiam school of thought (your remember he was the chap who liked the razor so much he bought the company) but having lived close to Beamish Hall all his life, when it went onto the market, he jumped at the chance.

The multi-million pound deal has proved a life changing experience for him, wife Hilary and children Katie, Aron and Amy. All now have hands-on responsibility for one or more parts of the hotel operation.

Four years after the takeover they have transformed the hall and surrounding acres into a 46-room (and 1 apartment) hotel, a top location for live entertainment, a birds of prey conservation centre and a treetop ropes activity centre.

Beamish Hall Hotel

Managing director at the Beamish Hall Country House Hotel is 25-year-old Amy Craggs who said: “We have worked hard to broaden the appeal of the hall and all the new ideas have come from family brainstorming sessions.

“The first big task was to improve the hotel facilities. We took the number of rooms from 10 to 36. This was followed by the birds of prey and treetop walks marketed as Beamish Wild. Now we are developing a pub that will be served by its own on-site micro brewery,” she said.

The raptors and owl aviaries are spacious and blend in with the surrounding woodland. “We want this to be strong on conservation as well as a visitor attraction. We are developing breeding and study programmes for some of more endangered raptors including the development of an in-depth study programme for the Honey Buzzard.

“Flight demonstrations are held daily in the grounds of the hall and it is always spectacular to watch these magnificent birds,” said former graphic arts student Amy.

Completing the ropes walks course takes around 90 minutes to two hours (depending on fitness) and ends with the ‘Leap of Faith’, a 35ft drop to terra firma which is said to be not for the faint hearted.

This is proving a challenge for all ages including a request to take on the course from a group of female 70-somethings who form a group called Adrenalin Concessions. “The ropes are a real challenge and we have a lot of requests from clubs and organisations,” added Amy.

n Beamish is 12 miles north west of historic Durham City and 8 miles south west of Newcastle upon Tyne. 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.