Beamish is a village in County Durham in northeast England. The village is just a straggle of miners' houses and the only reason to visit is the extensive open-air museum.

Stanley is a former mining town two miles west, with a population of 19,427 in 2021.

Get in

Beamish is on A693 five miles west of the main north-south transport corridor, with the A1(M) and East Coast main railway line. The nearest railway station is Chester-le-Street.

Go Northeast Bus 8 runs every 30 min from Sunderland via Washington to Chester-le-Street, from where it takes 15 min to Beamish museum gates and continues to Stanley.

Bus 28 runs hourly from Chester-le-Street to Beamish then meanders north via Birtley and Gateshead to Newcastle.

Bus X31 runs hourly from Newcastle Eildon Square and takes 40 min to Stanley, where you need to get off at East Street just over a mile from the museum entrance. It alternates with Bus X30 which returns to the city via East Street.

Get around

The museum is actually big enough to have its own tram network.

See

• 1 Beamish Open Air Museum, Beamish DH9 0RG (off A693), ☏ +44 191 370 4000, museum@beamish.org.uk. April-Oct daily 10AM-5PM. Excellent open-air museum, recreating life in the area from 1820 to the 1950s. Adult £28, conc £22, child £17.25. (updated Apr 2024)
• No Place should not be marked on any mortal map, but it's the little settlement half a mile south of the museum around Mary Inn. The origin of the name is unknown, maybe it was Like Home. In 1983 the council tried to change it to Co-operative Villas, but were told where they should go.
• 2 Tanfield Railway, Old Shed, Marley Hill NE16 5T, ☏ +44 7508 092 365. March-Oct Su 10AM-5PM. Standard-gauge heritage railway, it's been variously horse-drawn, rope-winched by static steam engines, and from 1881 steam-hauled. On Sundays trains puff 3 miles between East Tanfield and Sunniside, with the main display of locos and rolling stock midway at Marley Hill. Day ticket adult £15, conc £13, child £5.. (updated Apr 2024)

Do

Beamish museum trams

• Golf: courses are Beamish Park by the hotel, Roseberry Grange, South Moor and Hobson.

Buy

• ASDA Supermarket in Stanley is open M-F 6AM-midnight, Sa 6AM-10PM, Su 10AM-4PM.

Eat

• Shepherd and Shepherdess, Cranberry Bog Road DH9 0RS (at museum entrance), ☏ +44 191 370 0349. Daily 11:30AM-10:30PM. 18th-century pub and restaurant. (updated Apr 2024)
• Il Cancello, Station Rd, Beamish DH9 6RNS, ☏ +44 191 370 1009. Tu-F 5-10PM, Sa 4-11PM, Su noon-9PM. Reliable Italian. (updated Apr 2024)
• Mary Inn: see Sleep.
• The Fish Inn is a fish & chips takeaway in the centre of Stanley village, open M-Sa 11AM-10PM, Su 4-10PM.

Drink

• Hill Top is on East Street in Stanley, open daily 11AM-11PM.
• Ball Alley, Board Inn, Blue Bell and South Causey Inn are others in Stanley.

Sleep

Tanfield Railway

• 1 Beamish Hall, Coppy Lane, Beamish DH9 0YB, ☏ +44 1207 233733. 18th-century country house, now a comfy hotel. B&B double £190. (updated Apr 2024)
• 2 Mary Inn, No Place DH9 0QH, ☏ +44 191 392 0543. Old coaching inn on a bypassed loop of the main road to Stanley. (updated Apr 2024)
• 3 Hotel 52, Joicey Square, Stanley DH9 0PG, ☏ +44 1207 263 790. Clean friendly budget hotel. (updated Apr 2024)
• 4 Beamish Glamping, Woodland View, Beamish DH9 6RJ, ☏ +44 7708 720 701. Glamping in old railway vans on a quiet friendly site. Open all year. (updated Apr 2024)
• 5 Beamish Holiday Park (formerly Bobby Shafto), Cranberry Plantation DH9 0RY, ☏ +44 191 370 1776. Open March-Jan, with static caravans for long and short stays, pods and pitches for touring caravans. The access lane is poor and the site slopes, bring a few bricks to level up. Tent £30, hook-up £35, pod £50. (updated Apr 2024)
• 6 Beamish Park Hotel, Beamishburn Road, Marley Hill NE16 5EG, ☏ +44 1207 230666. Comfy mid-price hotel in a quiet spot off A6076, a mile north of the museum. B&B double £170. (updated Apr 2024)

Connect

As of April 2024, Stanley, Beamish and their approach roads have 4G with O2, Three and Vodafone, and 5G with EE.

Go next

• South to historic Durham, with a well-preserved medieval centre.
• North to buzzy Newcastle, and a surprisingly elegant townscape.
• Gateshead south of the River Tyne has the Baltic Gallery.
• East to the 1964 new town of Washington. George Washington's family originated here.