The ‘portal to the past’ with a Victorian village and actors that is one of Time Out’s Best Museums in the UK 2026

If you live in or around northeastern England and haven’t been to Beamish, well, what are you doing? The Living Museum of the North, based in County Durham, won Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2025 – basically the most significant prize for cultural institutions in the UK. 

If that alone wasn’t enough to convince you to book a day trip, this year Beamish also made it onto Time Out’s list of the country’s best museums. Yep, the open-air attraction is among our top nation-defining hubs and local cultural exhibition spaces for 2026, sitting alongside centres like Leeds’ Thackray Museum of Medicine, Bristol’s M Shed and Margate’s Crab Museum. 

So what can you expect from a trip to Beamish? Well, the living museum takes its visitors on a journey through the history of England’s northeast, from the Georgian era through to the 1950s, with live costumed actors and immersive exhibits. Take a turn through an 1820s farmhouse, hit the books in an 1890s school or watch on as actors reconstruct post-war town life. There’s even a 1950s hairdresser who will actually give you a new do. 

Our only advice: be ready to throw yourself into it. When we say Beamish is all for historical accuracy, we mean it – sights, sounds, smells and all. There’s a 1940s farm with real animals, a working tram, an old cinema and even a pub. After a pint of, well, the old stuff, head to Middleton’s Traditional Fish and Chips for some Spam fritters.

Plus, for anyone who’s been to Beamish before and is thinking ‘been there, done that’, think again. Last year, the museum launched its Remaking Beamish project, bringing together 32,000 community members, 14,338 schoolchildren, and 35,000 volunteer hours to create 31 new exhibits within the museum.

You’d be hard pushed to cover the whole museum in one trip – a fact the museum’s owners know all too well, which is why each ticket will score you free entry for an entire year. Expect to pay £35 for an adult ticket, £26 for seniors and £20.50 for children aged 5-16.

🏛️ The best museums in the UK in 2026.

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Plus: the best beach in Northern England has pristine sand, excellent birdwatching and ‘Outstanding Natural Beauty’.