Beamish Museum - Great Research Tool And New Writing Projects

Now that Lycan Lamia - Book Four in the Beyond Series is almost edited and ready for publication and can happily turn my attention to two new writing projects I've been itching to start. The feeling of releif when a writing itch is finally scratched is AMAZING!!!

Mink Coats is an History true life novel based on my both my grandmothers lives whom I promised to write about and they both lived astonishing lives. I also have a huge interest in all kinds of history, especially early twentieth century history so when I had the opportunity to visit an open air working museum set in Tyneside close to Durham I jumped at the chance. Not only was this an enjoyable day out, but for me it was an opportunity to experience what it was like to live in a northern town from 1900 right through to the Second World War.

So here is my tour of the Beamish Open Air Museum, and boy was it brilliant! I took a lot of photo’s, I loved it that much, but basically it is a working museum, where you catch a tram to a 1900’s coal mining Village of Beamish, which has mostly crumbled and collapsed into the mines, but what’s left has been beautifully preserved.

A typical looking early twentieth century Northern town.

The traditional bakery smelt AM-AZ-ING! They’d just finished baking hot cross buns and the scent of cinnamon and bread baking made my tummy rumble… so I bought a warm loaf…. Mmmm!

 Every building had been dismantled brick by brick and moved to Beamish. I caught the tram to 1900’s town, which according to Barclays Bank Manager all of it has been built from original buildings that were to be demolished from elsewhere, taken down brick by brick and rebuilt at the museum.

Barclays Bank just like one I worked in during the 80's

 Dentist Surgery

I had a nosy in the Dentist Surgery and he told us some gruesome stories about pulling teeth, so I went to the Music teacher’s house and she’d just baked some cherry cake in her wood burning range…. Mmmm! All that food we needed to wash it down in the local pub and warmed up by a roaring fire then headed to the sweet shop where they’d just made some lime and sherbet boiled sweets…. Mmmm!

 Clothes shop.

 Parlour

 Grocers just like the one my mum began her working life in.

 Kitchen and Hearth

 War time Britain and the Land girls cottage -A working farm preserved in 1940’s Britain, with your very own Home Guard and Land Girl to answer any questions and bake some very lovely cheese scones in an old wood burning range. Mmmm.

Nursery - So Cute!!

 Parlour- with a lot of stuffed animals!

Early Century Public House

 1900 School

 School Classroom

 Solicitors Office

Sweets!

By this point I was getting some serious cases of Déjà vu and it was bugging me so much I asked the tram conductor if they had ever allowed filming of period drama’s there and it turns out they have. Catherine Cookson? I enquired and I was right. The Sweet shop was the giveaway for me and as I love the Catherine Cookson films that are made for TV I was really chuffed to say, I’ve been on a film set of The Wingless Bird! Which made me even more excited, I've been on a film set!!

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