Newcastle’s Seven Stories announces free Winterland experience opening soon

A free Winterland gallery experience will open at Seven Stories on Saturday December 3, as a “welcoming warm space for families to make memories this festive season”.

Winterland will be open 10am to 5pm every day except Wednesdays until the end of January for free, and will feature “never-before-seen” winter-themed artwork and stories from the Seven Stories Collection chosen by authors, illustrators, staff and partners of the charity.

There will also be a ‘selfie sleigh’, activities for children including letter-writing to Santa, and free refreshments for visitors at intervals throughout the day.

Wendy Elliott, CEO at Seven Stories, explained: “It is absolutely critical that families in the North East have access to high-quality, memorable experiences in warm places without the pressure of high prices.

“This festive season we will be sharing our fantastic building with as many visitors as possible through our free Winterland gallery experience, with free refreshments and activities, as well as our other free galleries and cosy reading areas. Visitors are welcome to stay as long as they like and enjoy our building this winter.”

In addition to Winterland, a new Lauren Child gallery will open in December featuring artwork from her book Clarice Bean: Think Like an Elf, which links to the theme for Fenwick Newcastle’s Christmas Window this year. Signed copies of the book are available to purchase from Seven Stories’ independent bookshop.

Four floors of galleries will be open to the public this winter including the Betty Larom exhibition which has been refreshed with festive original items from her archive, as well as the first ever comic strip illustrations of Dr Who from the 1960s.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea exhibition has new additions including a play kitchen and new artwork, and in the permanent exhibition ‘Where Stories Come From’, a new section featuring Sita Brahmachari’s work has been installed for visitors to discover the inspiration behind her stories.

Wendy added: “In addition to the free activities and fun in the building this year, new items will be live on our sevenstories.online website which is the largest display of the amazing items in our collection available for free anywhere, anytime.

“The site was built for children to explore independently, and adults too, and has activities, videos and stories to discover – a perfect school holiday activity!”

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily