Beamish Was Great Though! by A. C. Hirst

“I don’t know what to get you for your birthday love” he said.  I thought for a while and then said – “tell you what, take me to Beamish again; we haven’t been for over ten years.”

As we now live in Scotland, it means going the day before in order to get a full day in.  We duly chose a week when the weather would be a little better and set off on the Tuesday morning armed with a list of Hotels from the internet.  (David doesn’t like to book in advance because he likes to know what the place is like).

We stopped in Dumfries for a toilet break and a coffee.  As we left, David clipped the front wing on a post.  A quick check and there didn’t seem to be any damage so off we went.  Later the car had a ticking sound so we stopped.  A piece of rubbing strip had dropped off where David had clipped the wing. 

We arrived in Chest-le-Street at about 2.00 p.m. and tried to find our first choice hotel but couldn’t get to it as the area was pedestrianised.  After giving up on that one, we travelled towards Pelton to find another.  Oh! This looks nice I said and in we went.  “Sorry! We are fully booked” he said “didn’t you know, there is an international cricket tournament at Durham and everywhere in the entire area is booked up”.  Great! We didn’t let that put us off, instead we worked through our list that we had brought with us and when nothing transpired then we were put off!

We decided to ride round the area looking for a Bed and Breakfast.  All I can say is that it can’t be a very touristy area because we couldn’t find anything but a gastro type pub which was charging £50 each for B and B. Being a Yorkshire woman I said we were not paying that for a pub!  We rode round for four hours and found nothing.  Suddenly David remembered we had passed a converted church building early on in the search advertising B and B so we decided to try to find it again.

We found it and knocked on the door (several times).  A neighbour came across and said that the lady runs a flower shop and wouldn’t be home yet.  She gave us the mobile number and David rang her.  So sorry but I’m full up with this cricket thing but I have another B and B in town which is available.  By this time we were pretty tired and fed up so we accepted it.  We paid the £25 each before seeing it on the basis of how nice the other looked (still a bit steep we thought) and she sent one of the shop assistants with us to show the way.

Well! You should have seen the state of the slum street we pulled up in.  The house next to the car had broken windows with net curtains wafting about and obviously derelict.  She took us across the road and opened the door to a terraced house that had the front room converted into a second hand electrical appliance shop.  We went down the passageway into a dining come sitting room and on into a kitchen where she deposited a carton of milk in the fridge and told us how lucky we were because we were the only ones in!  The house had a fusty smell as if no-one had been in for a while and the décor was distinctly 1940’s.  Up the stairs we went on to the landing where there were four letting rooms, a toilet and a bathroom.  The lady unlocked our room and ushered us in.  The heater was switched on and then she was about to leave when David asked about breakfast.  Oh, she said “you get that at “Asda” down the road” and left!

We were gobsmacked to say the least.  The room was clean and adequate so we went back to the car and unloaded everything! And I mean everything because neither of us expected the car to be there or at least up on bricks the next morning.

I don’t know why but I asked David to check that the back door was locked – No – and it wouldn’t lock.  The yard at the back was surrounded by coils of barbed wire.  We wedged a dining chair against the door and before we retired for the night, I put the settee across the door between the kitchen and sitting room.  The front door had a Yale lock and the inner glass door had a little cow bell hanging from the handle and a chain which we duly engaged.  Our bedroom door had a lock below a glass panel so I locked it and took out the key.  After all this I still didn’t feel safe.

Next morning I got up first and went to the toilet etc. bearing in mind that the room was not “en suite”.  When you ran the hot water there was a screeching sound from the ceiling area.  I woke David as I came back and off he went.  Just then I heard the little cow bell ring and thought “Oh, maybe she’s changed her mind and brought us some breakfast” completely forgetting that we had put the chain on!  I went out of the room to be greeted by a man coming upstairs who exclaimed “Blimey I didn’t expect to see you” at which I greeted him with the same.  Only then did I realise he must have put his hand round the door and taken the chain off.  He used the toilet and left having moved the settee and dining chair.

We quickly packed and left, taking the keys back to the shop where the man appeared and apologised for shocking us.  David was so surprised he just handed in the keys and left.

After a terrific day at Beamish (a not to be missed museum of everyday life in 1913) I asked one of the guides if it was always this busy and he said “No but the cricket has been cancelled because the pitch is water logged!”

We travelled straight home to Scotland - enough is enough!

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