Everything You Need to Know About… Heritage Open Days in Newcastle
Make the most of Heritage Open Days in Newcastle with our handy guide
Heritage Open Days, England’s biggest community-led festival of history and culture, returns from 6th-15th September.
It’s a fantastic opportunity to explore your local area like never before and Newcastle – a city rich in both history and culture – embraces the festival wholeheartedly, with dozens of venues and organisations offering all kinds of interesting activities.
To help you make the most of Heritage Open Days in Newcastle, we’ve put together a handy guide – from which city centre venues are taking part to what kinds of events and activities are happening.
What is Heritage Open Days?
Established in 1994, Heritage Open Days is a free festival that sees thousands of volunteers and organisations across England host events, activities and tours that highlight their local community’s heritage, history and culture.
Each year, the festival is centred around a different theme and this year’s is ‘Routes-Connections-Networks’ – a celebration of the ways in which people and ideas have travelled around and come together throughout history.
When is Heritage Open Days taking place?
This year, Heritage Open Days takes place from Friday 6th September to Saturday 15th September – that’s 10 whole days to soak up the city’s rich history and vibrant culture!
Where is it happening?
Heritage Open Days is an England-wide event and there’s lots happening in the North East, plus plenty to enjoy in Newcastle city centre.
What events and activities are happening?
There are so many interesting things to do during Heritage Open Days in Newcastle that you’ll be spoilt for choice!
Many legendary local venues are throwing open their doors to the public and hosting exclusive guided tours. You could explore the Victorian stage machinery at Tyne Theatre & Opera House, discover what’s behind the door of the Grade I listed Alderman Fenwick’s House, or learn about Blackfriars’ rich history as a former Dominican friary.
Plenty of walking tours are taking place too if you fancy stretching your legs a bit during Heritage Open Days. Explore locations like Leazes Park and the East Quayside or take tours focusing on specific aspects of our city’s makeup and history including its defensive town walls and the historical contributions of its African population.
But wait, that’s not all! If you’ve ever wanted to take a deep dive into the collections of some of the city’s most iconic venues and museums, now is your chance. The Common Room, for example, invites visitors to explore its mining engineering-focused collections while Discovery Museum is embracing the ‘Routes-Connections-Networks’ theme with a behind-the-scenes tour of its shipping, railway and transport archives.
Fancy something a bit more hands-on? Head to Tyneside Cinema and get crafty with a film poster-making print workshop or join a local artist on a sketch walk of the city and create your very own illustrated ‘chapbook’ of local landmarks.
See? We weren’t lying when we said you’ll be spoilt for choice!
How much does it cost?
One of the best things about Heritage Open Days is that all events and activities are completely free. However, some do require booking so it’s best to check individual event listings on the Heritage Open Days website for any booking details.
We’re lucky to live in a city with such rich history and culture, and Heritage Open Days is the perfect excuse to soak it all up. For more information about Heritage Open Days events in Newcastle city centre visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk/whats-on/printable-area-lists/newcastle-upon-tyne.html.
Main image: Newcastle Castle, Photo by Hans Peter Schaefer, GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
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