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Bailiffgate has delivered several outreach projects in recent years within and in cooperation with the local community. The most recent was the Out of Town Museum (OOT) Project, celebrating the rural heritage of Coquetdale; capturing the stories of people who live in this beautiful, remote part of Northumberland through oral history interviews, photographs, songs and objects.  The OOT Museum is a National Lottery Heritage funded project and since 2019 has been recording memories and stories from residents, showing what life was like in the valley within living memory. It found reoccurring themes around schools, work and social life, shopping, travelling, farming, the weather and learnt quite a bit about dancing!

An exciting exhibition toured Coquetdale in spring 2023 before being hosted at Baillffgate Museum  and then at the National Park Discovery Centre at the Sill on Hadrian’s Wall 

Together the recorded stories alongside music, films, photos, documents, and artefacts give a trip down memory lane, as well as encouraging people to find out more about the families in the valley and how they lived. 

OOT also partnered with the Northumberland National Park to run free “Walk in their Shoes” walks, using the stories collected along the route.  

The objective was to celebrate the rural heritage of Coquetdale and create a permanent record of a former way of life before the memories have gone forever.  The stories collected are being lodged in the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn, at Bailiffgate Museum  and online on the OOT Museum website, leaving a lasting legacy of life in Coquetdale, told by local people featuring their daily lives. 

To access material produced by the OOT Museum project go to  www.ootmuseum.co.uk