Beamish at Christmas: planning the visit

There are two quite different ways to enjoy Christmas at Beamish Museum, and they’re booked separately. We’ve set out how they differ below, including which one your museum pass covers, so you can choose the visit that suits you. 

Here’s how it works this year, and what’s worth sorting out before you travel.

Daytimes and Evenings are separate

 

 

That fifth row is the one that catches people. A Beamish Unlimited Pass or Friends of Beamish membership gets you into the daytime festive event as part of your normal admission, and does not get you into the evenings. Evening tickets are a separate purchase and they can’t be bought at the gate.

Evening tickets also went on general sale back in June. By the time you’re reading this they may well be limited or gone for the dates you want, so check availability before you build a trip around a particular evening. If the date you wanted has sold out, the daytime event runs every single day from 21 November to Christmas Eve, and it’s genuinely good.

Check the day of the week before you book

Beamish isn’t open every day through November.

Until 20 November the museum is open Wednesday to Sunday only, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. From Saturday 21 November it switches to open daily, 10am to 4pm, through to Christmas Eve.

So if you’re planning a mid-November break with a Beamish day in it, make sure that day isn’t a Monday or Tuesday. It’s the sort of thing that’s easy to miss and difficult to fix once you’ve arrived.

Over Christmas itself the museum is closed on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, then open daily from 27 to 31 December. Boxing Day catches people out most years.

Book the extras separately

Alongside general admission, several things need booking in their own right: Grotto visits, Breakfast with Father Christmas, and Paws with Claus, which is new this year.

These are separate from your admission ticket and separate again from evening tickets. If you’ve got a child expecting to meet Father Christmas, book it rather than turning up hopefully.

Current availability and full details are on the Christmas Daytimes pages.

Dress for a very large outdoor site

Beamish covers 350 acres. The exhibits themselves are mostly indoors, but getting between them means being outside, and in December that matters more than it does in July.

The museum’s own advice is to watch the forecast and wear suitable footwear, which we’d echo. Proper boots, more layers than you think, and gloves. There are trams and buses running around the site, which help a great deal, though you’ll still be waiting outside for them.

The evening event finishes at 9.30pm, which is a long time to be out in the cold if you’ve come underdressed.

Where we come into it

We’re in the village of Plawsworth, near Chester-le-Street, and Beamish signposts its route from the Chester-le-Street junction of the A1(M), which puts us on a straightforward run over.

Parking here is free and on site, so you’re not paying twice in a day. That matters more than it sounds when a family trip already involves admission tickets and a grotto booking.

The bigger thing is what happens afterwards. A December day at Beamish sends everyone home cold, and often damp. Coming back to a cottage or apartment with central heating, a sitting room and somewhere to spread wet coats out is a different end to the day than a hotel room. Every property has a washer and dryer, which is the unglamorous detail that makes a two or three day trip work.

The kitchens are properly equipped too, so you can put a hot meal on the table at six o’clock rather than looking for a restaurant with a table free in December.

If you’re doing an evening

Tell us when you book. The evening event runs until 9.30pm and you’ll be getting back here later than a normal day out.

We can arrange a self-check-in if you’re arriving after our office closes, and it’s far easier to sort out in advance than on the night. If you’ve got small children who’ll be asleep in the car by the time you’re back, ask us about a parking space close to your door.

Cots, high chairs and safety gates are free of charge if you need them, though they need requesting at the point of booking so we can have them in place.

Planning your dates

Late November and December are busy here, and the evening event dates in particular concentrate demand.

Sort the Beamish tickets first, then ring us. It’s much easier to find you accommodation around a fixed museum date than to move a museum booking around accommodation. Do check current opening times and availability on Beamish’s own planning pages before you commit to anything, since dates and hours are theirs rather than ours.

Have a look at our cottages and apartments or our frequently asked questions, then get in touch or ring us on 0191 371 0251.