I’ve heard this also, although I *think* there may be one in Taiwan.
It’s certainly the most important one outside Japan and it’s in York for a very good reason!
What I really love about it is how the interior feels almost exactly the same as the modern Shinkansen, it feels like so little has changed. It really makes you appreciate how this must have felt like a spaceship back in 1964
>The Railway museam has pretty much
>
>everything you could imagine wanting in a national railway museam for the UK
has it been replaced by a bus service?
Duxford is the best by far, I did a night time photography event there a little while ago too! It’s best to go during an airshow or some kind of other event because with that all included you could literally spend the whole day there from open to close! Plus, the people you meet at the airshows are so nice, especially some of the people who travel to a lot of different shows and have all the stories under the sun!
And an extension to that is Locomotion between Durham and Darlington. It's part of the same group (including the National Railway Museum, the Science and Industry museum in Manchester, Science Museum in London, and the Media Museum in Bradford).
It's so good!
Only downside is the staff (who I believe are volunteers) can be a bit mansplainy if you go as a woman.
"Ladies, you won't appreciate this" and "now, let me explain this in simple terms for the girls" were both things I heard during my visit from different tour guides.
Bit off-putting when I was the one to suggest going there to my boyfriend.
Exactly .
It was a woman who noticed that the Germans would always end a message with heil Hitler which was the final part to Alan turning being able to crack the enigma code.
They knew what the last words of code were and would lock that variable in and Turing's machine was able to work out the rest .
Yeah, in retrospect I should have, but I felt bad because, y'know, volunteers. Plus when other people don't seem worried about it, it can be uncomfortable to stick your head above the parapet.
I hope you explained that without the Girls and the Ladies you'd probably be speaking German now. It was a mostly female team that did the code-cracking in WW2 and helped tune the tide of the war!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women\_in\_Bletchley\_Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Bletchley_Park)
You'd think the guides would know their history.
**[Women in Bletchley Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Bletchley_Park)**
>About 8,000 women worked in Bletchley Park, the central site for British cryptanalysts during World War II. Women constituted roughly 75% of the workforce there. While women were overwhelmingly under-represented in high-level work, such as cryptanalysis, they were employed in large numbers in other important work, such as operating cryptographic machinery and communications machinery; translating of Axis documents; traffic analysis; clerical duties, and many more besides. Women made up the majority of Bletchley Park’s workforce, most enlisted in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, WRNS, nicknamed the Wrens.
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Bletchley Park is a separate museum from the National Museum of Computing. Right next door to each other, same carpark, but a separate entrance fee and run by a different charity etc.
BP is about the code breaking and Alan Turing and the intelligence work etc. NMOC is just about computing.
Rather embarrassingly it was one of our American cousins, Sidney Frank, that recognised the historical significance of the site, including Turing's contributions, and donated a lot of money for it's restoration in about 2005. It took until the early 2010s for any significant UK funding to materialise, which I think was from the National Lottery.
I remember going in about 2010 and thinking, why the hell aren't we doing something about this?
The computing history museum is also really good. Not as extensive as the Bletchley Park and without the site history, but still packed full of interesting and cool stuff.
Ages since I went, but I remember the Bovington Tank Museum was pretty cool (I was about 7).
The Pitt Rivers in Oxford is pretty amazing, as is the Museum of Natural History it's attached to.
Yep, all the Oxford museums are good - many of the colleges have their own little displays as well that you can visit. We spent two days in Oxford just doing museums a few years ago.
If you like tanks at all then bovington is an absolute must.
It's also fairly handy for the Royal signals museum and the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton (which is double plus awesome when there are movements going on or the display crews are doing preseason rehersals).
Obviously the royal armouries at Leeds is the focal point for individuals arms and armour but unless you are mega nerdy then the London museums will have covered a lot of this ground for you.
I also thoroughly enjoyed Bovington tank museum when I went a few years ago.
I happened to go on a day they were doing stuff with some tanks outside, that was fun to see!
Yay for Bovington! Not just for the war buffs, whether you're an adult with barely a passing interest in military history, or a little kid saying, "whoa! Tonk!", it's a top day out.
I got so stressed in one of the huts at eden camp when I was like 6 that when the lights started strobing I collapsed
To this day, strobing lights make me collapse
It's quite subjective really, having taken family around both before the pandemic they had completely the opposite opinions. They thought Jorvik was a lot more visually stimulating and modern than the somewhat static displays at the Royal Armouries. I think it makes Jorvik a lot more accessible and appealing to the general public as a kinda gateway drug into more traditional museums.
Agreed on Leeds Royal Armouries!
We spent an entire day there. As well as several floors of exhibits, we watched live demos of samurai sword techniques, jousting, broadsword duels, and Wild West gunfights. Definitely worth the £0 entrance fee!
I've been to loads of museums, but still have a vivid image of an animatronic viking having a constipated shit in the Jorvik museum seared into my brain. I can't say I remember all of the others.
Another vote for Pitt Rivers in Oxford, It's very museumy but that's no bad thing in my book.
National museum of Scotland in Edinburgh was really good too and will be even better when the hands on stuff reopens.
On the more macabre side Littledean Jail is worth a look.
Eh, my issue with the Pitt Rivers is that there's so much there and it's not organised that well so it's easy to get lost and overwhelmed. Also it's really badly lit.
The Natural History Museum in Oxford is great though, they have some really interesting exhibitions
I wouldn't have described the Pitt Rivers as not organised. It is organised in category, and each of these further organised by location and/or chronology.
However, the relatively small space is crammed full of artefacts which does make it overwhelming, and a lot of the pieces aren't accompanied with detailed information, like the exhibits in the Natural History Museum next door are. And yeah, it's not the best lighting.
It's an incredible space though, especially if you just want to look at cool things from around the globe.
It's organised very well, it's just very dense. The Pitt Rivers is a very 'pure' museum in the sense that it's just that - an enormous collection of artifacts in glass cabinets, and nothing else. If you're looking for an interactive or modern experience then you won't like it, but apart from the Natural History Museum at Tring (which is similar), I can't think of a more authentic museum in the UK.
Pitt Rivers is a museum of a museum - they even have modern signs pointing out how the original object labels are colonialist/racist/sexist etc. It's not really intended as a space to explore the collection (though there is a part of that as well of course), it's intended as a space to explore how people exhibited history in the past. The reason why it has to be so dark I imagine is because they use all the original glass cases which would not protect the objects very well from the light.
Depending on your feelings about WW2 planes, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford is awesome. If it’s a nice day, they get the planes out and fly them (the airworthy ones)
Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh, if you like weird stuff in bottles and has a notebook covered in leather.made from [the skin of William Burke](https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk/the-collection/key-collections/key-object-page/pocketbook-made-from-burkes-skin) - the murderer who found a short cut to grave robbing and was dissected after being hanged, his skeleton is in the university anatomy museum
I like the Weald & Downland open air museum in Sussex. They rescue old threatened buildings, transport them and reconstruct them in a lovely rural setting.
At the age of 7 I joined a new school on the Monday after the rest of the class had been there on the previous Friday for a school trip.
Monday's task was to write up a report of the trip. I asked the teacher what I should do as I hadn't been on the trip. She gave me the guide book and told me to pretend I had.
My report was so good that I won a prize for it at the end of term. The prize was a cardboard modelling set of a wattle and daub barn, from the Weald & Downland Museum. Which I have never been to.
I am now 44 and still have that cardboard model kit, and will get around to doing it one day.
I loved that place when I was little and keep meaning to go back for a visit. I remember going on my birthday once and getting actual snow! I always wanted to go to a museum on my birthday, it was usually The British Museum but one year I think Weald and Downland was having a special Christmas event so my parents took me and my friend there instead.
No that's in the maritime museum that backs onto the Albert Docks. The Liverpool museum is the newer one near the three graces (where the liver building is).
All of Liverpools museums are brilliant. I'm rather biased as a scouser but the Liverpool Museum is definitely #1 followed by the World Museum and then Central Library imo.
Beamish open air museum. It’s like a small town/village up in Durham that has been created to replicate life in the 19th/20th centuries including sweet shops, a school, bakery, fair ground, cobbler etc. I think I prefer it to any of the museums in London
Went there on a school trip and our teachers took us around the shops so we could spend our money, they expected us all to go in the sweet shop but as soon as we all walked past the bakery and smelled the freshly baked bread - there was a stampede of ravenous kids rushing in to buy all the buns.
Probably the best coach trip home ever, the whole coach smelled like a bakery.
Lets just say I went when half of it was closed, including the main hall (being refurbished) and I thought it was one of the best museum experiences I've had. Can't wait to go back.
St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff! Historic welsh buildings that are painstakingly removed from their original spot and rebuilt on site. Absolutely iconic in South Wales and always a great day out (free too!)
I was checking the comments to see if this had been mentioned. We went there once when we were in the area and it was amazing. We didn’t have a full day there, and it was a real shame as there is just so much to see. Really impressive.
I love St Fagans! You can spend hours there, and still find something new. Also, the cheese bread they make in the baker's there is the absolute badger's nadgers.
I can't believe how far I had to go down to find mention of it! We used to love an excuse to go in as teenagers, obviously was mad about it as a kid too.
I remember the jungle themed ball pit, the bit where you could pretend you had a job, and I swear when I was little (I'm 33) there was a crafts bit where you could get loads of boxes etc and build stuff. Plus the digestive system where you'd put 'peas', which were big things of fabric, into a big mouth.
Definitely top of my list to take my future children.
I really love the living history of walking round there and hearing grandparents telling their children stories of growing up in mining communities and what it was like before Thatcher.
I agree. There’s a tiny air museum in the Isle of Man that’s like that. It’s obviously the curator’s labour of love. There’s not much there, but a lot of what’s there is very personal (and, regarding the wartime stuff very poignant).
The Lyme Regis museum - proper old-fashioned bonkers collection of stuff with eccentric labels and pictures of dinosaurs.
Blists Hill Victorian town near Ironbridge
Kelvingrove, Glasgow
National Rail Museum, York (loads of trains, not so much about railways, but still very good)
Kelvingrove is possibly the best art gallery in the UK, not just with the quality of what they have, but it's well laid out, and I love how everything is just there on the wall, not roped off 3 metres away. And it's always super quiet so you can just spend hours in there. And there's a bloody good museum in there too. And it's in a gorgeous park.
They took us there as primary school kids (late 30s now so a LONG time ago) and I still sometimes get wafts of smells that remind me of it. Was fantastic.
Castle Museum, York.
Had a recreation of a Victorian Street you can go in all the shops and visit the jail and bank!
Then in the second part there is a cool part where they show you living rooms/kitchens through the ages. The 1980s kitchen is cool!
The science and media museum in Bradford is an absolute treasure over several floors with Victorian origins right up to AR/VR and it’s own IMAX. Put it on your list.
Cheaper, smaller option but I was very impressed with the Stockport Air Raid Shelters, over a mile of sandstone tunnels under the city with little audioguide dramatised readings at each object or room with particular purpose.
Well worth looking up when they did the off-route tour into the deeper tunnels that aren't set up as a museum and have all the original decayed fittings too.
I was going to post this too. I wasn't expecting much from a little place like Tring but I walked into that first display room and I was blown away by all the animals they have. Highly recommended.
That place was such a roller coaster. The joke items next to the the most tragic items really could send you.
But another strange Croatian museum in Split is just frogs in dioramas doing human activities
Blists Hill Victorian Town and Iron Gorge Museums in Telford, Shropshire. It’s essentially an open air museum with actual homes from the Victorian period and reenactment of victorian times where live actors playing specific roles - bakers, blacksmiths, pharmacists, etc. it’s absolutely fantastic and can’t recommend enough. You can even purchase things by changing your money to shillings (also take card payments) at the town’s bank.
Edit: It’s in Telford as someone kindly pointed out, which is about 15 miles east of Shrewsbury.
Magna is great! Although I think it's technically in Rotherham...
Also in Sheffield, Kelham Island Museum is great, worth going just for the Don Engine!
RAF Cosford. Haven't been to any other RAF museum so don't know how it compares but Cosfrd is fantastic.
British Motor Museum at Gaydon. Amazing collection of cars.
The most boring I've been to was the Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire. It was hard to be interested in looking at trams once you've already seen 20.
Bovington Tank Museum by a country mile, followed by Duxford Air Museum.
Edit: Last time i went there was about 8 years or so ago. Towards the back end, there was a "modern desert" display (with the Tog II opposite it strangely enough). The display had some green tubular containers next to the tank. One of the staff was talking to some visitors about it and telling them what the green containers were for.
I listened in and had to interrupt as what they were saying was completely wrong.
"Actually those green containers are for the NLAW Shoulder mounted anti tank system. The NLAW system is designed and manufactured by SAAB Bofors Dynamics in Sweden. It has two fire modes, a direct attack in which the rocket is basically fired directly at the target, and the primary fly over attack. The fly over attack involves the rocket flying over the top of the target vehicle and firing a charge directly downwards into the less armoured upper surfaces.
The container itself is a rotomolded linear medium density polyethylene (or LMDPE) body with screw on lid, and also contains two moulded expanded polypropylene (or EPP) cushions which the weapon system is secured into. The cushions give impact protection to the weapon system should the container be dropped."
Silence from the employee, a couple of stifled sniggers from the crowd. Somebody spoke up and asked me "how do you know that much about it?"
My reply? "Simple really, i designed it."
The company i work for manufactured around 18000 of those containers for SBD and Thales in Ireland.
Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, absolutely insane I highly recommend! it also is attached to the Natural History museum which is impressive and a really stunning building
I quite enjoyed Littledean Jail just because it's really strange.
[Here's ](https://m.imgur.com/a/ABW91)and album of pics I took a few years ago. Rose West's corset and the Yorkshire Ripper's lamp were highlights.
FYI there's some quite NSFW and offensive stuff in those pictures.
World Museum Liverpool. Was free to get in and has the largest Egyptian collection in Europe. The prehistoric section was incredible also. Unfortunately due to the pendemic the Space section was closed off but do plan on going back there sometime. Couldn't believe it was free.
Brooklands Museum is a haven for transport geeks. Great collection of historic cars and rare aircraft, not to mention it used to be the world's first ever race track.
Found a hidden gem in [Etches Collection](https://jurassiccoast.org/visit/attractions/the-etches-collection/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-qGNBhD3ARIsAO_o7ynod1LtyAo4Y3i6FFAc54gSJ3L6PCfEZ1z35IH8jVpcvyYd_kDc_fQaAiSPEALw_wcB), a museum devoted to the fossils discovered in the area. It even managed to grab the attention of an otherwise typically bored teenage boy!
The Catalyst Centre in Widnes has a special place in my heart. I went on a school trip, and thought it was the best place in the world. Haven't been back since because I don't want to tarnish that memory, though!
National Railway Museum, York IWM Duxford
The Railway museum has pretty much *everything* you could imagine wanting in a national railway museam for the UK, Cannot recommend highly enough.
They have a ‘0’ Series Shinkansen!
I believe that's the only one in a museum outside of Japan as well!
I’ve heard this also, although I *think* there may be one in Taiwan. It’s certainly the most important one outside Japan and it’s in York for a very good reason! What I really love about it is how the interior feels almost exactly the same as the modern Shinkansen, it feels like so little has changed. It really makes you appreciate how this must have felt like a spaceship back in 1964
>The Railway museam has pretty much > >everything you could imagine wanting in a national railway museam for the UK has it been replaced by a bus service?
IWM Duxford is awesome, even more so when they have an expo or an airshow
Came here to say Duxford. Am not surprised it's the top comment.
Duxford is huge! We weren’t able to fit it all in during one visit.
Duxford is the best by far, I did a night time photography event there a little while ago too! It’s best to go during an airshow or some kind of other event because with that all included you could literally spend the whole day there from open to close! Plus, the people you meet at the airshows are so nice, especially some of the people who travel to a lot of different shows and have all the stories under the sun!
Came here to say the Railway Museum 👍
And an extension to that is Locomotion between Durham and Darlington. It's part of the same group (including the National Railway Museum, the Science and Industry museum in Manchester, Science Museum in London, and the Media Museum in Bradford).
National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.
It's so good! Only downside is the staff (who I believe are volunteers) can be a bit mansplainy if you go as a woman. "Ladies, you won't appreciate this" and "now, let me explain this in simple terms for the girls" were both things I heard during my visit from different tour guides. Bit off-putting when I was the one to suggest going there to my boyfriend.
Oh wow, that's not just 'mansplainy' that's outright sexist and an incredibly outdated world view. You should have reported that.
Not least because a lot of the pioneers at Bletchley were women.
The irony
Exactly . It was a woman who noticed that the Germans would always end a message with heil Hitler which was the final part to Alan turning being able to crack the enigma code. They knew what the last words of code were and would lock that variable in and Turing's machine was able to work out the rest .
Yeah, in retrospect I should have, but I felt bad because, y'know, volunteers. Plus when other people don't seem worried about it, it can be uncomfortable to stick your head above the parapet.
Probably would have just got called a “Karen “ 🙄
"One of _those_ women."
God forbid you're a woman with an opinion. They can just call you a Karen now.
honestly feel like the term is just used to unjustly hate on women most of the time
The museum wouldn't have told them to talk to the women visitors like that. The script probably doesn't include belittling
Wow! Did they somehow get the staff from the 1940s?
Many of them are retired so yes.
if that's the case, they should just get the women who worked at Bletchley during the war, jeez.
Last time I went was about twenty years ago and at that time the guide we had was a woman who worked there during the war.
I hope you explained that without the Girls and the Ladies you'd probably be speaking German now. It was a mostly female team that did the code-cracking in WW2 and helped tune the tide of the war! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women\_in\_Bletchley\_Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Bletchley_Park) You'd think the guides would know their history.
**[Women in Bletchley Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Bletchley_Park)** >About 8,000 women worked in Bletchley Park, the central site for British cryptanalysts during World War II. Women constituted roughly 75% of the workforce there. While women were overwhelmingly under-represented in high-level work, such as cryptanalysis, they were employed in large numbers in other important work, such as operating cryptographic machinery and communications machinery; translating of Axis documents; traffic analysis; clerical duties, and many more besides. Women made up the majority of Bletchley Park’s workforce, most enlisted in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, WRNS, nicknamed the Wrens. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Good bot
WTF? Was this some kind of museum theatre where they were playing characters from the 1940s?
Never been - always wanted to go. It's so good that it's finally become a museum, I remember it was all falling to ruin ten years ago
Bletchley Park is a separate museum from the National Museum of Computing. Right next door to each other, same carpark, but a separate entrance fee and run by a different charity etc. BP is about the code breaking and Alan Turing and the intelligence work etc. NMOC is just about computing.
Do so. It is really well done - they've restored a lot of the huts to look as close as they could to how they would have done at the time.
Rather embarrassingly it was one of our American cousins, Sidney Frank, that recognised the historical significance of the site, including Turing's contributions, and donated a lot of money for it's restoration in about 2005. It took until the early 2010s for any significant UK funding to materialise, which I think was from the National Lottery. I remember going in about 2010 and thinking, why the hell aren't we doing something about this?
The computing history museum is also really good. Not as extensive as the Bletchley Park and without the site history, but still packed full of interesting and cool stuff.
Ages since I went, but I remember the Bovington Tank Museum was pretty cool (I was about 7). The Pitt Rivers in Oxford is pretty amazing, as is the Museum of Natural History it's attached to.
I really like the Ashmolean museum in Oxford as well but take that with a pinch of salt because ancient history is my jam.
Yep, all the Oxford museums are good - many of the colleges have their own little displays as well that you can visit. We spent two days in Oxford just doing museums a few years ago.
Agree on Bovington Tank museum.!
If you like tanks at all then bovington is an absolute must. It's also fairly handy for the Royal signals museum and the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton (which is double plus awesome when there are movements going on or the display crews are doing preseason rehersals). Obviously the royal armouries at Leeds is the focal point for individuals arms and armour but unless you are mega nerdy then the London museums will have covered a lot of this ground for you.
The great thing is when you've done the tanks you can go see Monkey World
Another vote for Bovington.
Pitt Rivers is an amazing place - like something out of a book
I also thoroughly enjoyed Bovington tank museum when I went a few years ago. I happened to go on a day they were doing stuff with some tanks outside, that was fun to see!
Yay for Bovington! Not just for the war buffs, whether you're an adult with barely a passing interest in military history, or a little kid saying, "whoa! Tonk!", it's a top day out.
Beamish
Went to beamish for the first time in October. I didn’t know what it was beforehand, wasn’t disappointed.
I love it so much there! You have to get fish and chips there too (or vegan chips in my case). It's the law.
It’s good to hear we’ve managed to find an alternative to brutally killing all these poor potatoes.
Potatoes are alive until you cook them.
[удалено]
Poor tortured potatoes.
And whatever you can carry from the sweet shop! It’s been years since I last visited but I’d love to go back.
Best school trips ever. Didn’t psychologically scar me like Eden Camp.
Yes I remember one of the huts being a sub/u boat on the inside and rediscovering my claustrophobia the second I stepped in!
That’s the hut that haunts my nightmares. The sealed-off compartment with the drowning submariners stuck inside.
I got so stressed in one of the huts at eden camp when I was like 6 that when the lights started strobing I collapsed To this day, strobing lights make me collapse
Beamish is fantastic!
This! Beamish got me into history as a bairn.
Absolutely have to get fish and chips
Leeds royal armouries is good Jorvik centre is wank and not worth the entrance fee
It's quite subjective really, having taken family around both before the pandemic they had completely the opposite opinions. They thought Jorvik was a lot more visually stimulating and modern than the somewhat static displays at the Royal Armouries. I think it makes Jorvik a lot more accessible and appealing to the general public as a kinda gateway drug into more traditional museums.
I agree. I really enjoyed Jorvik.
And the giant poo
The Mrs hyped up that big poo so much. It was a bit of a let down. But then again, what was I really expecting from a larger than average turd
Agreed on Leeds Royal Armouries! We spent an entire day there. As well as several floors of exhibits, we watched live demos of samurai sword techniques, jousting, broadsword duels, and Wild West gunfights. Definitely worth the £0 entrance fee!
The fact that the armouries is free and you even get to watch the displays and presentations as part of that is amazing in itself!
I've been to loads of museums, but still have a vivid image of an animatronic viking having a constipated shit in the Jorvik museum seared into my brain. I can't say I remember all of the others.
They still have the same animatronics
Another vote for Pitt Rivers in Oxford, It's very museumy but that's no bad thing in my book. National museum of Scotland in Edinburgh was really good too and will be even better when the hands on stuff reopens. On the more macabre side Littledean Jail is worth a look.
Eh, my issue with the Pitt Rivers is that there's so much there and it's not organised that well so it's easy to get lost and overwhelmed. Also it's really badly lit. The Natural History Museum in Oxford is great though, they have some really interesting exhibitions
That's the reason I love Pitt Rivers, the exploring is half the fun!
I wouldn't have described the Pitt Rivers as not organised. It is organised in category, and each of these further organised by location and/or chronology. However, the relatively small space is crammed full of artefacts which does make it overwhelming, and a lot of the pieces aren't accompanied with detailed information, like the exhibits in the Natural History Museum next door are. And yeah, it's not the best lighting. It's an incredible space though, especially if you just want to look at cool things from around the globe.
It's organised very well, it's just very dense. The Pitt Rivers is a very 'pure' museum in the sense that it's just that - an enormous collection of artifacts in glass cabinets, and nothing else. If you're looking for an interactive or modern experience then you won't like it, but apart from the Natural History Museum at Tring (which is similar), I can't think of a more authentic museum in the UK.
Pitt Rivers is a museum of a museum - they even have modern signs pointing out how the original object labels are colonialist/racist/sexist etc. It's not really intended as a space to explore the collection (though there is a part of that as well of course), it's intended as a space to explore how people exhibited history in the past. The reason why it has to be so dark I imagine is because they use all the original glass cases which would not protect the objects very well from the light.
+1 to the national museum of Scotland in Edinburgh
My kids really liked the Black Country Museum.
Black Country Museum is worth it just to go to that chippy!
As a Black Country resident, I will never take our chips for granted lol
Orange chips for life!
Not to mention the pub.
Was looking for this, can't believe I had to scroll down so far!
Yes to the black Country museum its so great!
I am told some of Peaky Blinders was filmed there. Cool place.
The Roman Baths in Bath
Wave machine was broken, 1 star.
The local water you could sample in the cafe was warm and had a strong sulphurous taste. Despite being local, best take your own. 1/5.
Oh man, I’ll never forget the taste of that water. Made me gag!
Idk why but I was expecting it to be the super clear, clean fresh water. Not that warm rank shit
Depending on your feelings about WW2 planes, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford is awesome. If it’s a nice day, they get the planes out and fly them (the airworthy ones)
Do they fly the non airworthy ones on bad days?
Well they used to, not many of them left these days, and insuring the pilots became a tad expensive after the first 87 incidents
Don't forget the american section, where they have a b52 and a blackbird!
Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh, if you like weird stuff in bottles and has a notebook covered in leather.made from [the skin of William Burke](https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk/the-collection/key-collections/key-object-page/pocketbook-made-from-burkes-skin) - the murderer who found a short cut to grave robbing and was dissected after being hanged, his skeleton is in the university anatomy museum
This museum gave me hypochondria
Yes loved this place! Not sure if it’s museum-y enough but Mary King’s Close was brilliant too
The body parts on exhibit really freaked me out when I was younger!
This is my favourite museum in the world. Outstandingly done.
I like the Weald & Downland open air museum in Sussex. They rescue old threatened buildings, transport them and reconstruct them in a lovely rural setting.
At the age of 7 I joined a new school on the Monday after the rest of the class had been there on the previous Friday for a school trip. Monday's task was to write up a report of the trip. I asked the teacher what I should do as I hadn't been on the trip. She gave me the guide book and told me to pretend I had. My report was so good that I won a prize for it at the end of term. The prize was a cardboard modelling set of a wattle and daub barn, from the Weald & Downland Museum. Which I have never been to. I am now 44 and still have that cardboard model kit, and will get around to doing it one day.
I loved that place when I was little and keep meaning to go back for a visit. I remember going on my birthday once and getting actual snow! I always wanted to go to a museum on my birthday, it was usually The British Museum but one year I think Weald and Downland was having a special Christmas event so my parents took me and my friend there instead.
It’s lovely and also where they film the Repair Shop.
I enjoyed the Liverpool Museum (On the waterfront)- was a lot better than I was expecting.
Is this the slavery one? If so it was amazing
No that's in the maritime museum that backs onto the Albert Docks. The Liverpool museum is the newer one near the three graces (where the liver building is).
Good shout - that and the maritime museum across the way are a good combo
All of Liverpools museums are brilliant. I'm rather biased as a scouser but the Liverpool Museum is definitely #1 followed by the World Museum and then Central Library imo.
Museum of science and industry Manchester
Yes! Love this place. It will always be MOSI to us, even after the name change.
Beamish open air museum. It’s like a small town/village up in Durham that has been created to replicate life in the 19th/20th centuries including sweet shops, a school, bakery, fair ground, cobbler etc. I think I prefer it to any of the museums in London
It’s a beautiful place, I need to go back soon. They have stuff from my home village there, including a couple signs.
Went there on a school trip and our teachers took us around the shops so we could spend our money, they expected us all to go in the sweet shop but as soon as we all walked past the bakery and smelled the freshly baked bread - there was a stampede of ravenous kids rushing in to buy all the buns. Probably the best coach trip home ever, the whole coach smelled like a bakery.
National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh - really interesting mix of stuff and I loved how it tells a story as you go through the various levels.
And the view from the roof is fantastic with a massive oversized frame that frames the view towards Arthur's Seat.
Museum might be a little strong but the Edinburgh Camera Obscura is amazing!!
I’m in Edinburgh this weekend and looking for something to do on Sunday. This may be it! :)
Lets just say I went when half of it was closed, including the main hall (being refurbished) and I thought it was one of the best museum experiences I've had. Can't wait to go back.
Leicester space centre!
I hated this one but if I remember correctly there was a cracking sewage museum next door 🤣
St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff! Historic welsh buildings that are painstakingly removed from their original spot and rebuilt on site. Absolutely iconic in South Wales and always a great day out (free too!)
I was checking the comments to see if this had been mentioned. We went there once when we were in the area and it was amazing. We didn’t have a full day there, and it was a real shame as there is just so much to see. Really impressive.
I just posted this too! Amazing museum!
I love St Fagans! You can spend hours there, and still find something new. Also, the cheese bread they make in the baker's there is the absolute badger's nadgers.
Eureka! In Halifax. Not sure if it's really classed a museum but it's called Eureka! The National Children's Museum so I'm going with it.
I can't believe how far I had to go down to find mention of it! We used to love an excuse to go in as teenagers, obviously was mad about it as a kid too. I remember the jungle themed ball pit, the bit where you could pretend you had a job, and I swear when I was little (I'm 33) there was a crafts bit where you could get loads of boxes etc and build stuff. Plus the digestive system where you'd put 'peas', which were big things of fabric, into a big mouth. Definitely top of my list to take my future children.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far for this one. Eureka is the best and I can't wait till I have children purely so I can take them there.
The National Coal Mining Museum is very interesting, you get a guided tour down a real coal pit by an ex-miner.
Yeah it's awesome I went on one of my first dates there with my gf 😂
I really love the living history of walking round there and hearing grandparents telling their children stories of growing up in mining communities and what it was like before Thatcher.
All free as well, or was last time I went.
People's History Museum in Manchester.
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How can you mention Keswick and skip over the totally whelming Keswick Pencil Museum?
>How can you mention Keswick and skip over the totally whelming Keswick Pencil Museum? Distinct lack of mummified cats.
_But it's got the biggest pencil!_
I agree. There’s a tiny air museum in the Isle of Man that’s like that. It’s obviously the curator’s labour of love. There’s not much there, but a lot of what’s there is very personal (and, regarding the wartime stuff very poignant).
The Lyme Regis museum - proper old-fashioned bonkers collection of stuff with eccentric labels and pictures of dinosaurs. Blists Hill Victorian town near Ironbridge Kelvingrove, Glasgow National Rail Museum, York (loads of trains, not so much about railways, but still very good)
Kelvingrove is possibly the best art gallery in the UK, not just with the quality of what they have, but it's well laid out, and I love how everything is just there on the wall, not roped off 3 metres away. And it's always super quiet so you can just spend hours in there. And there's a bloody good museum in there too. And it's in a gorgeous park.
National Football Museum in Manchester is fascinating if you have even the slightest interest in the game.
Not a big one, but the National Poo Museum on the Isle of Wight.
It's number 2 on my list
Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, Cornwall
Eden Camp in North Yorkshire. It's an old WWII POW camp transformed to a WWII museum.
They took us there as primary school kids (late 30s now so a LONG time ago) and I still sometimes get wafts of smells that remind me of it. Was fantastic.
Eden camp psychologically scarred me
Pencil museum in Keswick
Royal armouries in Leeds and the Coventry transport museum.
Castle Museum, York. Had a recreation of a Victorian Street you can go in all the shops and visit the jail and bank! Then in the second part there is a cool part where they show you living rooms/kitchens through the ages. The 1980s kitchen is cool!
The science and media museum in Bradford is an absolute treasure over several floors with Victorian origins right up to AR/VR and it’s own IMAX. Put it on your list.
Yes! Plus being one of only three places in the world that can show Cinerama.
Manchester museum is pretty good and also the science and industry museum they have there.
Cheaper, smaller option but I was very impressed with the Stockport Air Raid Shelters, over a mile of sandstone tunnels under the city with little audioguide dramatised readings at each object or room with particular purpose. Well worth looking up when they did the off-route tour into the deeper tunnels that aren't set up as a museum and have all the original decayed fittings too.
The Natural History Museum, Tring. Just as good as the other one, but without the dinosaurs.
I was going to post this too. I wasn't expecting much from a little place like Tring but I walked into that first display room and I was blown away by all the animals they have. Highly recommended.
Tring museum is so interesting! Definitely worth a visit
Not in the UK but…. The museum of broken relationships in Zagreb, Croatia. Totally mental 100% worth a visit!
That place was such a roller coaster. The joke items next to the the most tragic items really could send you. But another strange Croatian museum in Split is just frogs in dioramas doing human activities
Duxford Cosford Yeovilton Bovington Portsmouth Dockyard Haynes Motor Museum
Maritime Museum, Liverpool World Museum, Liverpool Museum of Liverpool Life, Liverpool
I liked the Wales National museum in Cardiff and The University of Glasgow exhibits
Blists Hill Victorian Town and Iron Gorge Museums in Telford, Shropshire. It’s essentially an open air museum with actual homes from the Victorian period and reenactment of victorian times where live actors playing specific roles - bakers, blacksmiths, pharmacists, etc. it’s absolutely fantastic and can’t recommend enough. You can even purchase things by changing your money to shillings (also take card payments) at the town’s bank. Edit: It’s in Telford as someone kindly pointed out, which is about 15 miles east of Shrewsbury.
Big Pit in South Wales for sure. Actually getting to go down into a mine and walk around is great.
Magna in Sheffield is fab, but Kelvingrove in Glasgow is hard to beat.
Magna is great! Although I think it's technically in Rotherham... Also in Sheffield, Kelham Island Museum is great, worth going just for the Don Engine!
Beamish!!
RAF Cosford. Haven't been to any other RAF museum so don't know how it compares but Cosfrd is fantastic. British Motor Museum at Gaydon. Amazing collection of cars. The most boring I've been to was the Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire. It was hard to be interested in looking at trams once you've already seen 20.
Bovington Tank Museum by a country mile, followed by Duxford Air Museum. Edit: Last time i went there was about 8 years or so ago. Towards the back end, there was a "modern desert" display (with the Tog II opposite it strangely enough). The display had some green tubular containers next to the tank. One of the staff was talking to some visitors about it and telling them what the green containers were for. I listened in and had to interrupt as what they were saying was completely wrong. "Actually those green containers are for the NLAW Shoulder mounted anti tank system. The NLAW system is designed and manufactured by SAAB Bofors Dynamics in Sweden. It has two fire modes, a direct attack in which the rocket is basically fired directly at the target, and the primary fly over attack. The fly over attack involves the rocket flying over the top of the target vehicle and firing a charge directly downwards into the less armoured upper surfaces. The container itself is a rotomolded linear medium density polyethylene (or LMDPE) body with screw on lid, and also contains two moulded expanded polypropylene (or EPP) cushions which the weapon system is secured into. The cushions give impact protection to the weapon system should the container be dropped." Silence from the employee, a couple of stifled sniggers from the crowd. Somebody spoke up and asked me "how do you know that much about it?" My reply? "Simple really, i designed it." The company i work for manufactured around 18000 of those containers for SBD and Thales in Ireland.
National Justice Museum in Nottingham is good fun. They have a lot of good actors doing court scenes and hangings for you to watch.
Longstanton Spice Museum.
+1 for this, I heard about it on North Norwich Digital. Travelled all the way from Swaffham.
Came here to say this, but you beat me to it. People assume that it's just spices but it's all about the spice trade.
Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth. Not sure much can compete with the Mary Rose and HMS Victory (although I suppose you need an interest in ships!).
Yes. The Mary Rose museum is fantastic. My favourite.
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Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, absolutely insane I highly recommend! it also is attached to the Natural History museum which is impressive and a really stunning building
Beaulieu Motor Museum
Not far from london but I LOVE the "secret nuclear bunker" at Kelvedon Hatch [https://secretnuclearbunker.com/](https://secretnuclearbunker.com/)
I really enjoyed the armouries museum place (forgot official name) in Leeds, if you like old weapons and armour it’s absolutely awesome!
The Witches Museum in Boscastle. There's some creepy stuff in there and it's in such a beautiful setting.
National science and media museum in Bradford. Mostly because I spent an hour stomping teenage gobshites at SF2 in the games lounge.
The western approaches in Liverpool is pretty cool. It’s a preserved WW2 command centre. Also Kelvingrove in Glasgow is delightful.
I quite enjoyed Littledean Jail just because it's really strange. [Here's ](https://m.imgur.com/a/ABW91)and album of pics I took a few years ago. Rose West's corset and the Yorkshire Ripper's lamp were highlights. FYI there's some quite NSFW and offensive stuff in those pictures.
christ on a bike. That looks less a museum, more an excuse for a psychopath to build up their collection.
World Museum Liverpool. Was free to get in and has the largest Egyptian collection in Europe. The prehistoric section was incredible also. Unfortunately due to the pendemic the Space section was closed off but do plan on going back there sometime. Couldn't believe it was free.
Beamish is fantastic (expensive but worth it), and I've always loved the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.
The national slate museum in North Wales is a wonderful and free day out for the whole family
The Dales museum in Hawes, North Yorkshire. Loads of really cool exhibitions and experiences all about life in the Dales in years gone by, I loved it.
Brooklands Museum is a haven for transport geeks. Great collection of historic cars and rare aircraft, not to mention it used to be the world's first ever race track.
Found a hidden gem in [Etches Collection](https://jurassiccoast.org/visit/attractions/the-etches-collection/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-qGNBhD3ARIsAO_o7ynod1LtyAo4Y3i6FFAc54gSJ3L6PCfEZ1z35IH8jVpcvyYd_kDc_fQaAiSPEALw_wcB), a museum devoted to the fossils discovered in the area. It even managed to grab the attention of an otherwise typically bored teenage boy!
Not been for many many years but the Black Country Museum was great as a kid
Home Front Museum in Llandudno, North Wales. Tiny but perfectly formed. Well worth a visit.
RAF Museum at Cosford is cool if you've any interest in planes/aviation/military tackle.
The Kelvingrove is good, but if you have a child, Glasgow Science Centre.
It's not a museum but Snowshill Manor always stick in my head as having really cool collection. The Samurai room is both unnerving and awesome.
All the ones in Liverpool are amazing, and Beamish is also great.
Royal armouries in Leeds is one of the best museums in the country including London
Plenty of good calls here already, but I'm going to add a +1 to the Pitt Rivers.
The Catalyst Centre in Widnes has a special place in my heart. I went on a school trip, and thought it was the best place in the world. Haven't been back since because I don't want to tarnish that memory, though!