Take no notice of the mini-map - it is wrong. The museum is located on Grand Parade. The address is…read morecorrect. We visited on a drizzly June Sunday in 2010 and were pleasantly surprised. Admission was cheap and it passed an hour or so. The exhibits remind you of a bedroom quickly tidied with the arrival of visitors. There is no logic to the displays, they simply are. Famous names sit next to anonymous teddy bears. Virtually every type of toy is represented. Modern toys and games sit alongside favourites of days gone by. We were able to show our 11 and 8 year olds toys which we had as children. The museum is well worth a visit.

Great day out packed full of interesting things to see. I've been coming here since I was a kid,…read moreand always enjoy a visit, learning something new about the local history each time. With free entry, and in town, it's definitely worth including it in your day travels.

Another nice and interesting museum in Newcastle, definitely a city of cultural delights. The…read moreDiscovery Museum mostly focuses on telling the story of the city and of the Northeast in general. It goes through the good times and the bad times in the city, including the coal mining boom, the poverty, the World Wars, the politics, everything is covered. There are real life examples- interviews with real Newcastle people over the years, and plenty of interesting memorabilia as well. It's a very cool place. There are also sections devoted to science and technology, and the discoveries made by people from the area. There is a good café with excellent prices, and a nice little shop too. A big advantage of this museum for families is that the exhibits are quite interactive, and should keep children interested as well. Best of all, it's all free. However, if you can, please do donate to keep important institutions like this one accessible to all.

We visited the Beamish Museum 7 years ago and came back for the second time. It is a great living…read morehistory museum. We visited this time specifically the 1900's and 1950's villages. Most houses and shops are accessible with people in period outfits providing explanations. Of course, we also bought stuff in the vintage shops. Getting around happened on the great vintage bus and tram service. Altogether, a great day out. Note: tickets are not cheap, but valid for a year. Do book online to avoid the queue.

Wow! I visited from Edinburgh and had the best time! Beamish museum is such a magical place, like…read morebeing on a movie set with people all in traditional clothing walking around, working in the 1900's chemist where you can buy soaps, lip salve, and other things, the confectionery shop and bakery for pies and cakes and sweets, sit in the sun inn pub for a pint, ride on the many trams for free as the conductor yells 'hold tight' as you travel very slowly around the town, jumping on and off at various tram stops eg: 1900's town, Rowley station, 1900's pitt village, 1940's farm, 1950's town and farm where you can go into an air raid shelter and visit the homes and some of the residents. There is also the 1820's colliery, Pockerley waggonway, old hall and the transport depot all to explore. It is such an experience and I found myself grinning from ear to ear the full 6 hours I was there. Everyone keeps in character that at one point when i was visiting the community hall the lady was sweeping the floors talking about cleaning up after entertaining children and I couldn't tell if she was playing a character or if it was real as there were schools of children visiting that day but thats how it is, its a full immersive experience and I honestly loved it!

When we went in the staff were really friendly, I really found this place interesting not as much…read moreto see as i thought but worth looking at. A bit expensive to get in though, you can get discount if you go to the botanic gardens first, which we didnt find out until after. Some really beautiful pieces of history in this museum, you can tell these items are really good quality and I am sure they would be expensive to buy. I would definately recommend this place.

This place is smaller than I first expected. It has always been very quiet when we have visited and…read moreis a place whre you do need to keep a very close eye on children. There is a dressing up box for children and some hands on exhibits. Occassionally there is live music which is fabulous.

Just of the metro this is a great fort with a musuem and a contrsuted batch house, this is pretty…read moremuch where the wall ends and you can walk around the fort though there isnt much there compaired with other places along hadrians wall what there is is the excellent musuem with display of artifacts and loads of intereactive games to play They have recontrusted diffenent parts of the barracks so that you can see rooms as they would have been. Outside they have contrusted a full bath house with hot and cold rooms replica toilets and plunge baths The tower house has great views of the surronding area where the ships used to be built the musuesm also has a gallery on the coal and ship building industry of the area. There is a nice little cafe and a good shop full of nice jewelly books and games for children

Anyone interested in Roman History should visit this site.Literally the end of the Roman Wall,sited…read moreat Wallsend on the banks the river Tyne.This site was uncovered when the old Simpsons Hotel was demolished.Swan Hunters shipbuilders clock stands at the entrance (another sign of times gone by)There are the foundations of the Roman buildings and a fully reconstructed bath house as well as a portion of the wall itself and a section of the wall reconstructed that you can actually walk upon to get the true feeling.They have an observation tower and a museum.Throughout the year there are special events when the Romans come alive and centurians walk the surrounding areas.There is the usual tea room and gift shop.Easily reached from Wallsend Metro approx 500yds up the road.Well worth a visit for young and all.

I accidentally stumbled upon this place on a day trip from Hadrian's Wall. Really cool little…read moremuseum with gruesome and interesting history. I like places that are off the beaten path, so this satisfied my curiosity. They have cool exhibits with wax figures, costumes you can try on, and part of an old dungeon. They also have good student discounts. The Gaol is situated in old Hexham, right by the Abbey. Go ahead and satisfy your macabre sense of humour!

Built in 1311 it was one of the first buildings that was built to be a proper jail. you can get…read morestuck in the stocks outside or go down to the dungeon though not for long. There is a commentary from people who used to live in the times of the border reviers which comes on autmotically and lots of info about the jail break here in the 1600 and the lives of the prisoners It also has the border libary and a film on a riever raid, you are much better going to one of the bastles or towers on the borders to get a fee of what it would be like in riever times it has a nice little shop in it a intersting place to learn more about the history of Hexham but it is very hard to imagine being imprisoned here The only eerie thing is the skull of Sir john fenwick a jacobite who was beheaded for treason

Very good free museum at the University of Newcastle. The Great North Museum focuses on natural…read morehistory for the most part, with interesting sections on world cultures as well. The exhibits are interesting and informative, but also interactive enough to keep everyone's attention. When we visited, there was a special exhibition on the amazing Gertrude Bell. It tells her life story, including her fascinating archaeological work in the middle east, and her efforts to establish a National Museum in Baghdad. A truly interesting woman. There is a good shop and a café on site, so you can definitely spend a few hours here and not get bored. Highly recommended in Newcastle.

Fantastic free museum for adults & children. Well worth a visit if there m the city. Some…read moreinteresting items on display. Shame about screaming kids during school holidays!

With well-preserved parts of Hadrian's Wall nearby, we stopped at the Chesters Roman Fort and…read moreMuseum to pick up an information booklet after checking out Hadrian's Wall. But while we were there, how could we say no to some cream tea? Especially since we happened to be there when the weather was beautiful, with clear skies above, where you can bet your but we enjoyed some tasty cream tea in perfect weather. So while we didn't buy a ticket to check out the exterior structure (the Roman Fort), we went into the museum instead. Probably weren't supposed to do that without a ticket, though there wasn't anyone at the museum. Which kind of... surprised me, because there were some seriously neat things inside of it. (The current rate is £6.60, btw, which is different to what others previously posted.) The museum was reallllly neat. Pillars, grave stones, milestones, altars, building stones. And a lot of these items weren't behind glass; they were propped up in shelves or just straight there on the floor. You could touch them, though I'm sure that's frowned upon. Their inscriptions read stuff like, "Building stone with relief of bore." Vindalanda. Or "Dedication to the Goddess Covventina by Titus D. Cosconianus, prefect of the first cohort of Batavians. The Goddess holds a water lily leaf in her right hand, and water flows from a pitcher by her left elbow." And "Tombstone of a Longinus a trumpeter (bucinator)." The museum is called the Clayton Museum, and he was an antiquarian whom excavated sites along Hadrians Wall, which were stored and displayed in the museum. Like I said, very interesting! We spent about 20 minutes exploring this place, and even that was a pretty thorough exploration of the museum. Definitely check it out if you have a particular interest in old architecture.

An interesting set of Roman remains with a small museum and cafe and shop. The site is one of the…read morebest-preserved fortifications of Hadrian's Wall and commands a fine view of the river Tyne. Some of the interpretation is in poor condition.

Housesteads is the remnants of the Roman barracks and fort on Hadrians Wall in Northumbria…read more You get a free entrance if you are a member of either National trust or English heritage - haven't seen many places that accept both. You also have to walk up to the entrance point from the car park, about 10 min or so. The site consists of two parts: a museum, where you get a bit of history and a short education film and fort (or ruins of fort), which is a much bigger area. You also get to see the wall!

During our visit to Hadrian's Wall, we stopped at the Housesteads Roman Fort & Museum. The…read moreHousestead's Fort is the best preserved of all the Roman forts along Hadrian's Wall. Construction on Hadrian's Wall began in 122 AD and was completed in 6 years time; it spans 73 miles and was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. It separated Roman Britain from the barbarians of the North. Hadrian's Wall was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. It's definitely cool to see in person as the wall spans miles and we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The museum is a short walk up from the parking lot where you can learn about the story of the fort and its garrison. There is a visitor's center near the parking lot as well with restrooms and a gift shop. There are light bites and hot drinks available at both.