Alfie's day at Sunderland Museum

Alfie Joey BBC Newcastle presenter

The museum entrance is a welcoming sight for all

BBC Newcastle's Breakfast Show presenter, Alfie Joey, made his first visit to Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

Having never paid a visit to the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens before, he didn't know what to expect.

But as many of the visitors have found, the free entry is a bonus - especially with a family.

Alfie found a great deal to interest him, especially when it came to the humorous side of life.

Someone once said: "There's no such thing as a free lunch", but I prefer the old adage, "The best things in life are free".

In fact, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise and the first surprise was that it was free!

The dramatic plants seemed to envelope much of the building

The Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens are beautifully located beside Mowbray Park and, on the day I went it, was bathed in sunshine, the ducks idling their way on the pond, people escaping for their lunch breaks to soak up the colours and the greenery.

The museum has two facades joined together, old and new.

The old being a more traditional stone frontage welded to the modern glass entrance.

This sums up the museum - a great fusion of Sunderland's past, present and future!

My heroes

A rich vein of history is found with the miners' banners

It is a cliché to say that there is something for everyone, but that fits the bill at this visitor attraction.

If you want to wallow in our glorious nostalgia and heritage, there are sections devoted to our north-east of England industries: glass, textile and mining all have fitting tributes.

A whole area is devoted to Sunderland in the 20th Century.

The art rooms had me most interested as I am a fan of L.S. Lowry (who himself was a fan of holidaying in Sunderland).

There is a fine collection of his matchstick men, and matchstick cats and dogs, but as this exhibit beautifully demonstrates, there is a lot more to him than that.

There are always temporary exhibits providing something for returning visitors.

When I visited, I saw the collection of black and white photographs of British comedians from the 1940s.

Exhibition publicity is always up to date - keep an eye open for it

It was quite something for me to be surrounded by so many of my TV and movie heroes.

Before you visit the gift shop or the café, you must pop into the Winter Gardens.

I've pencilled this down as a fine area suitable for sitting down and gathering your thoughts or reading a book while surrounded by tropical plants, waterfalls and coy carp swimming peacefully in the tastefully designed pond.

Sunderland should be proud of such a welcoming, well thought out, relaxing facility!