As one of my recent birthday gifts, my parents - at my request - paid for the three of us to visit Beamish Museum in County Durham, just five miles from my home. It's a primarily open-air museum dedicated to preserving examples of "everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century" (thank you, Wikipedia ).

I remember visiting as a child in the late 1970s / early 80s, and it was always fun and interesting - but it has expanded and upped its game hugely in the intervening years. It covers some 350 acres of land, with street, village and farming scenes populated with a mix of original, trans-located (disassembled, re-sited and re-built) and replica buildings, and beautifully restored transportation.

Our tickets give us entry for the whole year, and my plan is to visit frequently over the coming months to make use the many photographic opportunities it offers. For today's visit, I took my Q7 plus 02 Standard Zoom to capture some snapshots and ideas for when I return with my main gear.

This photo shows just one of several fully restored and operational electric trams that serve as both exhibits and free visitor transportation between various sections of the museum. To the right of the tram, Barclays Bank - a recreation of a typical early 1900s bank branch. The ground floor was newly built and contains a perfectly recreated interior (with real, live, costumed staff to welcome and inform visitors), while the upper stories are from the old Park House building in nearby Gateshead.

[Tonytee]

Lovely photograph of a quaint area in England. I wonder if those two banditos got away free after robbing Barclays. )

tt

[Rees]

Great place for photography.
Well taken.

[photolady95]

Aren't you too old for your parents to still be buying you birthday presents, Mike? Mine quit when I was 16.

Nice birthday preset you got. I love visiting old places even here in the US where I live, and around the town I live. Old houses, old stores, etc. Things built in the 1800s and before.

[BigMackCam]

Aren't you too old for your parents to still be buying you birthday presents, Mike? Mine quit when I was 16.

Certainly not... We've always bought each other a birthday present. Come to think of it, those of my friends who still have living parents still receive birthday gifts, too. Maybe it's a regional thing?

Nice birthday preset you got. I love visiting old places even here in the US where I live, and around the town I live. Old houses, old stores, etc. Things built in the 1800s and before.

We're fortunate to have a lot of historical architecture in the UK. Beamish Museum is a little different, though, since it's more of a manufactured environment... kind of like Mystic Seaport in CT. But they've done a fantastic job of preserving and presenting so any aspects of regional life that might otherwise be lost to demolition and decay...

[photolady95]

More a family thing than regional, Mike. With my mom the thing was because in my family after you got a certain age, mom thought you too old to keep getting birthday presents, or may be it was cause she liked keeping the money for herself. Cause my toys got more expensive with age. She didn't drive, so we had to pay to go anywhere. And that took money she didn't have or wanted to spend on me. And she had no interest in old buildings, she was born in a time where she lived among those old buildings. I guess she didn't care about being around them as I grew up. I do wish I had questioned her about the buildings that were around when she was younger, before I was born. Now I have to rely on my oldest sister to tell me those that she remembers, she's 83.


Anyway, I'd love to go exploring old buildings here but they're getting few and far between as the city tears them down for more modern buildings. Or to build parks.

[Sailor]

Hey Mike - the museum looks like a delightful place to explore with a camera! Great shot, and have fun getting some more.

Jer

[BigMackCam]

Lovely photograph of a quaint area in England. I wonder if those two banditos got away free after robbing Barclays. )

tt

Great place for photography.
Well taken.

Hey Mike - the museum looks like a delightful place to explore with a camera! Great shot, and have fun getting some more.

Jer

Thank you Tony, Rees and Jer for your kind comments. Much appreciated

For my next visit, I'll get there for opening time. Fewer visitors should make for better photo opportunities...

[photomax7]

Very nice image with that kit...thanks for posting BigMackCam...would love to see them on the streets here again.

[BigMackCam]

Very nice image with that kit...thanks for posting BigMackCam...would love to see them on the streets here again.

Thank you

Sadly, they were before my time... My folks fondly remember them from the 50s. The services stopped in my home town in 1954, and the last of the tram lines were removed from the roads by 1959

I've used the trams in Manchester numerous times when there on business, and they're fantastic - though rather different and a whole lot more modern. It's more like travelling on a commuter train, or a very, very nice bus

[Larrymc]

Great photo, Mike, this looks like a fascinating place to visit. People in England are very fortunate to have preserved old buildings to photograph and explore.

Larry

[BigMackCam]

Great photo, Mike, this looks like a fascinating place to visit. People in England are very fortunate to have preserved old buildings to photograph and explore.

Many thanks, Larry

I guess every country and region has its good and bad points, but yes - one of England's good points (and the North East, where I'm originally from and returned to, is especially lucky in this regard) is the amount of significant historical architecture, and the amazing preservation efforts going on.

I will say, some years ago my now ex-wife, son and I spent a couple of weeks travelling through parts of New England, and one of the places we visited was Mystic, CT. I particularly enjoyed visiting Mystic Seaport Museum, which seemed to have a similar intent to Beamish (if not developed on quite the same scale), And after our visit, we had a fantastic dinner of lobsters the size of boats... something that - despite our generally excellent and varied fresh seafood up here - is difficult to find in the North East of England

[Photogoof]

As one of my recent birthday gifts, my parents - at my request - paid for the three of us to visit Beamish Museum in County Durham, just five miles from my home. It's a primarily open-air museum dedicated to preserving examples of "everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century" (thank you, Wikipedia ).

I remember visiting as a child in the late 1970s / early 80s, and it was always fun and interesting - but it has expanded and upped its game hugely in the intervening years. It covers some 350 acres of land, with street, village and farming scenes populated with a mix of original, trans-located (disassembled, re-sited and re-built) and replica buildings, and beautifully restored transportation.

Our tickets give us entry for the whole year, and my plan is to visit frequently over the coming months to make use the many photographic opportunities it offers. For today's visit, I took my Q7 plus 02 Standard Zoom to capture some snapshots and ideas for when I return with my main gear.

This photo shows just one of several fully restored and operational electric trams that serve as both exhibits and free visitor transportation between various sections of the museum. To the right of the tram, Barclays Bank - a recreation of a typical early 1900s bank branch. The ground floor was newly built and contains a perfectly recreated interior (with real, live, costumed staff to welcome and inform visitors), while the upper stories are from the old Park House building in nearby Gateshead.

What a great idea, and an even better shot!

[ChristianRock]

Very nice, it seems like a good reason to just have a good family time Priceless in that sense.