NEW galleries at a museum will be named after its founder's ancestral home.

The Streatlam Galleries, in Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, will open on Saturday, March 31.

The name of the galleries refers to the former home of the museum's founder, John Bowes, an ancestor of the late Queen Mother.

They will introduce visitors to the collections in a user-friendly way while explaining how the museum categorises, interprets and presents the objects in the collections.

The museum's head of exhibitions, Vivien Reid, said: "Emphasis has been placed on easily understood text, interactive elements for children and changeable displays introducing the main areas of the collections via key objects."

The suite is divided into four areas -an introductory corridor with explanatory graphics, a few selected objects and an interactive section; a gallery featuring items from the textile and costume collection; one focusing on furniture and furnishings; and another outlining ceramics and paintings.

Several walls that divided the area into small offices, workrooms and staff rooms have been taken down.

The galleries, transformed by architects Niven and Niven, have been fitted out in a contemporary style, while new lighting and monitoring equipment has created an environmentally stable set of rooms.

Objects will be displayed in showcases, on consoles or on open display. Many will be exhibited in cases bought by John and Josephine Bowes in Paris and recently refurbished by cabinetmakers Anthony Nixon Furniture, of Barnard Castle.

The galleries have been funded by development agency One NorthEast through the County Durham Economic Partnership, the European Regional Development Fund, The Foyle Foundation, The County Durham Foundation and the Friends of Bowes Museum.

* Go to the museum website at www.thebowesmuseum. org.uk