Site That Inspired Beatles' Song "Strawberry Fields Forever" Opens To The Public
The real Strawberry Field is opening its doors as a tourist attraction and a youth center where visitors can learn about the Beatles forever
Santiago Gonzalez
The Salvation Army children's home made famous by the Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields Forever" has officially opened its doors to the public as a tourist attraction and youth centre. The site will now include an exhibition of Beatles memorabilia where visitors will learn about the history of the place and its connection to what is perhaps the greatest rock band of all time.
According to the Strawberry Field official website, "each visitor will enter into a world where ‘nothing is real’ plunging into the 1860's era where Strawberry Field began as a Victorian house, before it transformed into a safe place where The Salvation Army supported and homed some of Liverpool’s vulnerable youth. Visitors can then experience through archival footage, photographs and timelines and our specialist media guides the world where John Lennon played as a child and what happened behind the famous red gates."
Strawberry field was a children's home from 1936 to 2005, when it officially closed its doors. Between those years, John Lennon, one of the four of history's most famous Liverpudlians, frequented the site during his childhood to play with the kids staying at the site's house. His sister remembers Lennon clambering over the wall to this "special place" as a child, while Lennon's Aunt Mimi, who helped raise him, remembered "John would jump up and down shouting 'Mimi, come on. We're going to be late.'"
Lennon, together with the Beatles, immortalized the children's home with their song "Strawberry Fields Forever", a reference to the real place, albeit made up of psychedelia-influenced lyrics. Many people believe the former Salvation Army children's home is part of Britain's heritage, so it's only natural that they want it open to the public for all generations to home. Finally, we'll get the Strawberry Field forever.
Cover by: @pluckymaidens
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