My trip to the past

Rachel Nicholson

2006

It was a dark autumn morning on the 18 October 2008. My mum woke me up at 7:30am with the usual turning the lights on and telling me to get up. My mum, dad, two sisters, Auntie Irene, Uncle Allan, two of my cousins (Chloe and Ben) and me were all going to go to the Victorian attraction of Beamish. Beamish is a large open air museum. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and went downstairs half asleep as I am not a morning person. It took us all about one hour to finally get organised and too set off.

They journey was a long and frustrating one. Two hours of being cramped up in the back of a car beside to people, your sister moaning of not having enough space, an mp3 player that has nearly ran out of battery and being stuck behind two lorries on the A69 for ages isn't my idea of a great car journey.

When we arrived there were only about a hundred other cars there except our two. We got our belongings and headed to the entrance. Once we had paid we waited for an old-fashioned tram to take us to 'Pockerley Manor'. It was an old Manor house from 1825!!

When we arrived there we explored the gardens. They had fountains, vegetables patches, flowers and barns for the animals. The house looked over the 'Pockerley Waggonway' which was an old fashioned railway. Then we went and saw were the gamekeeper and his family lived. My cousin Chloe and I went up first and there was a man in the room. My cousin and I thought that it was a statue moving so we ran back down the stairs. When the whole family went up the "statue" was actually a real man who worked at Beamish. The room was in an attic. It was dark with a small window and it was very smoky from the fire. I would have hated to live there. He told us that the gamekeeper and his family lived in the small attic room we were in and how they lived. We all looked around and then went into the main house were the owner of the land around the house would of lived with his family. The house was about the size of a big cottage. Upstairs in the house there was a very funny triangular shaped object made from tin which turned out to be a bath!! There was also a smoke room. It had a big wooden container with grinded wheat in it and small cupboard with meat hanging from the ceiling. The smell was as bad as the gamekeeper's fire!

Once we finished looking around we walked the short distance to the 1913 town. It was like walking into the past with the street of shops, houses and the park. We went into the Barclays Bank and we got to sign our names with ink and a quill. We also went into the Masonic Hall. Next we went into the old fashioned sweet shop and saw how they made cinnamon toffee. At the end we got to taste some and it was lovely!! We all bought some sweets' from the shop. After that we looked in the houses which were a dentist surgery (the tools looked horrible!), a solicitor and a typical family home. After that we got some lunch and went to see the grocery, car garage and a clothes shop.

Next we visited the 1913 Railway Station. It had steam trains and a control house. After the Railway Station we walked to the 1913 Home Farm. We saw a big bull which gave my mum a fright because she looked over the wall and it was staring straight at her. We went into the farmyard and saw many other types of animals. We looked in the farmhouse and saw a woman, who would be the farmer's wife, sewing. Outside the cottage there was a toilet which the farmer's family would have used even at night time when it was dark.

After the farm we went and visited the Colliery Village which is were the coal miners and their families lived and worked. First we visited the school where the children got taught. You got to try out using a Girth and Crook which was a metal ring with a metal pole attached. You had to run around trying to keep the wheel going through the small hole on the end of the metal pole. It was fun trying to get it going but my uncle managed it. It was a funny site watching a nearly 40 year old man running around a playground after a metal hoop! Next we went inside the school building. We went into the different classrooms for different ages. In the junior classroom you got to use slate and draw a rabbit on a slate board.

Next to the school was the church. It was nice building with stain glass windows. We went inside and looked around. Next we went into the Coal House. We saw how the workers sorted the coal out and how it was transported from the mines to the big Coal House. We didn't get to go down the coal mines as they were busy. I didn't want to go down anyway as I don't like dark tunnels especially underground. We looked about the little houses and there gardens seeing the villagers way of life.

Afterwards we got on a replica of a double-decker bus and went back to the town. Then we got back onto a tram and headed to the entrance where went back to the car and drove home.

I chose this day because I thought it would be an interesting day to write about. Also because it was a great day out with my family and it made me feel like a really was back in the past!!