Family fun in store at Museums Northumberland sites this Easter

Woodhorn Museum presents ‘bugs n stuff’ from April 4 to 6 and April 11 to 13 – a series of fun and interactive workshops giving children and families the chance to see and learn more about creatures from the insect, amphibian and reptile world.

Led by wildlife expert Guy Tansley, each workshop gives participants the chance to get close to some of the animal kingdom’s most unique creatures including praying mantis, giant tarantulas, insects, frogs, lizards and beetles.

Families can guess the number of legs on a millipede, find out what a snake feels like and try to find the stick insects hiding amongst the leaves.

Tickets for the hour-long ‘bugs n stuff’ workshops are free, but must be booked in advance at https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk

Families looking to get creative during the break can join one of the free Woodhorn Wildflowers craft sessions.

The Easter Bunny will also be making a special appearance at Woodhorn Museum from Good Friday to Easter Monday. Anyone that finds the Easter Bunny at Woodhorn will win a sweet treat.

At Berwick Museum and Art Gallery, which reopens on Saturday, April 1, visitors can explore a new display about the Ord Cross – a piece of Anglo-Saxon jewellery first discovered on the banks of the River Tweed in 2019 – and there are special family activities.

The small, 12 carat gold cross, estimated to have been made some time between the 7th and 10th centuries, is inscribed with the name of its owner (Eadruf) who is believed to be the earliest known named Northumbrian in the Museums Northumberland collections.

Ord was part of the large parish belonging to Lindisfarne, which sat on a popular ancient river route between the Abbeys of Lindisfarne and Old Melrose. It is here that the cross is thought to have been lost, laying undiscovered for centuries.

On Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 13, visitors to Berwick Museum and Art Gallery can design and make their own Anglo-Saxon-inspired broach using shiny foil and gems.

And on Thursday, April 6 and Wednesday, April 12, families can mold an Ord Cross out of clay and etch their own name using Anglo-Saxon Runes (symbols used by the Anglo-Saxons as an alphabet).

Also being unveiled at Berwick Museum and Art Gallery during the Easter holidays is a new display of seaside-related objects from Berwick-upon-Tweed and Spittal that celebrate the museum’s recently acquired LS Lowry painting, ‘Beach Scene’ (c1960), which depicts the beach and sand dunes in the former fishing village of Spittal.

LS Lowry was a regular visitor to the area and the painting was the first by the artist to go on permanent display in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Visitors to Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum this Easter can learn more about Northumberland’s iconic regional instruments – including the county’s own dedicated musical instrument, the Northumberland Pipes.

With more than 120 sets of pipes in the collection from destinations including Scotland, Spain, Italy, France, and Estonia, it is a treasure trove for music lovers.

Saturday, April 1 also sees the reopening of Hexham Old Gaol, which holds the title of being England’s earliest purpose-built prison.