Step Back in Time

Make a date with the past in North East England. Board a time-travelling tram at Beamish, the open-air museum where North East life in the early 1800s and 1900s is vividly recreated. Stroll around the shops and houses of the Edwardian Town and go underground at a real drift mine in the Pit Village. Continue with the mining theme at Woodhorn Museum Archives and Country Park. This excellent attraction allows visitors to explore 700 years of history with its unique ‘Coal Town’ experience, discover mystery and folklore in the county archives and enjoy the tranquillity of the country park. The area’s proud mining heritage is also celebrated at Killhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum. Pop on a hard hat and venture down into the mine to see just what working life was like for lead miners.

Our sea-faring history stretches back through time. Learn about the world’s most famous explorer and the perils of 18th century life at sea with hands-on activities and regularly changing exhibitions at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum. Or, how about a trip to Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience? The recreated 18th century seaport, complete with costumed inhabitants and England’s oldest warship still afloat - HMS Trincomalee. Nothing makes the excitement and hardship of Napoleonic sea warfare seem closer than the dimly lit decks and creaking timbers of this incredible vessel.

As well as a nautical history, North East England has a romantic and pioneering heritage of rail travel. Located on the route of the Stockton to Darlington Railway, the world’s first public rail route, is Head of Steam, Darlington Railway Museum. This museum is home to the locomotive that started it all – the iconic Locomotive no. 1, driven by George Stephenson himself on the route’s opening day in 1825. Shildon, one of the world’s oldest railway towns, is the destination for Locomotion, The National Railway Museum, a multi-award-winning venue. Visitors view an array of engines from the national collection plus the original workshops of Timothy Hackworth, the trailblazing engineer of Stephenson’s early locomotives.