Bringing the past to life with historic buildings and costumed guides has revitalised the museum scene across the country
Winning tip: Highland Folk Museum, Cairngorms
My daughter loves the school at this living museum at Newtonmore (on the Highland train line). She is taken back to when granny was at school, with a strict teacher overseeing proceedings. The challenge is completing the writing test without smudging the ink, avoiding the dreaded Tawse (the thick leather belt that sends a shiver down her granny’s spine). The school is just one of 30-odd buildings – relocated to the 32 hectare site – from different eras of Highland life from the 1700s onwards. You might also be lucky to see red squirrels scampering up surrounding scots pine trees before you retreat to the excellent cafe for hot chocolate and cake.
• Open from 3 April, free, donations welcome, highlifehighland.com
Keith McCarthy
Skye Museum of Island Life
Near Kilmuir on the Isle of Skye, this is an incredible portal to an ancient way of life. A village of thatched croft houses on clifftops accommodate a fascinating collection of artefacts and information that documents the crofting life of the late 19th century. At £3 for adults and 50p for children it’s a bargain and you can easily spend the best part of a day there. I’ve found the ideal time to visit is a wild winter’s day when the wind is howling and you can appreciate the warmth of a peat fire.
• skyemuseum.co.uk
Matthew Wood
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Beamish Museum, County Durham
This open-air living museum near Stanley is immersive and theatrical, from the transportation you can catch around the site to the costumed characters you’ll meet. A ticket is valid for as many visits as you can make in a year and it’s always worth queuing early for the fish and chips (cooked in coal-fired fryers) in the pit village, trying the gingerbread in the town bakery and calling into the traditional sweet shop for a treat. Steam trains, gallopers and shuggy boats … it’s a lush day out.
• Adult £19.50, child £11.50, family ticket (2+2) £51, tickets valid for 12 months, beamish.org.uk
Vix Leaney
Ulster American Folk Park, County Tyrone
There are more than 30 buildings to explore here, starting off at cottages warmed by peat fires, hearing tales from the residents and seeing workers demonstrate their trades. Then the transition from Ulster to America is highly impressive: after seeing evidence of the potato famine you “board” a ship, experience the conditions (and smells) suffered by those who emigrated, then disembark in the New World. The park’s homes and actors now deploy period Americana, allowing you to see how the settlers integrated themselves into towns in the US.
• Adult £9, child £5.50, family (2+2) £25, nmni.com
Ruth
Blists Hill Victorian Town, Shropshire
Our visit here felt like going on a trip to the beginning sequence of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony! You have to change your money for pounds, shillings and pence, which can then be spent in the shops in the town. We visited a school house where the strict Victorian teacher made my daughter cry because she was wearing nail varnish (he apologised profusely!). Blists Hill is one of the Iron Gorge Museums.
• Adult £17.95, child £10.90, annual passport family ticket (2+ all children) £66.50, ironbridge.org.uk
Tim Hopkin
Black Country Museum, West Midlands
Feel like a real Peaky Blinder with a visit to the Black Country Living Museum(they were from Birmingham, up the road, but some of the series was filmed here). The massive site has plenty of re-erected buildings to peek inside and hands-on activities to try, like a trip down a coal mine, a Victorian lesson in the village school and watching a silent movie in the tiny cinema. There’s lots of delicious Black Country grub available too, and no visit is complete without a portion of what are surely the best fish and chips in Britain. Entry is just under £20, but if you travel by train you can sign up with the National Rail’s Days Out Guide to get 2-4-1. For an even fuller day you can add a boat trip through the Dudley canal tunnels right next door.
• Adult £18.45, child £9.45, family (2+2) £47.40, tickets valid for 12 months, bclm.co.uk
Ruth
St Fagans, Cardiff
This place has got to be among the most inspiring living history museums in the UK. You’ll find more than 40 original buildings that have been transported to the site and re-erected, including a chapel and school where you can experience a strict Victorian classroom and houses with lovingly recreated interiors. Other highlights include the gardens, working traditional bakery and the chance to watch craftsmen demonstrating traditional skills. I spent many a happy school trip here when I was in primary school in Wales in the early 1990s and still love visiting to this day – there are new things to discover every time.
• No entry charge, museum.wales
Imogen
Weald and Downland museum, Sussex
This is a surreal and idyllic haven in the South Downs where historic buildings that have been rescued from destruction are given new lives in an educational setting. All or most of the buildings have been dismantled, loaded onto trucks, rebuilt like giant jigsaw puzzles and restored to their original condition. You can enjoy 16 hectares of farm and woodland, experience the reality of life in a Tudor farmhouse or replica Anglo-Saxon Hall house and get involved in seasonally themed events.
• Adult £14, child £6.50, family £25-£38, wealddown.co.uk
Angela Williams
Historic Dockyard Chatham, Kent
Lots to see and do at the dockyard. We loved the Hearts of Oak – an interactive, walk-through exhibition, which transports you to 1806 and gives a real sense of how ships were built and all the different people and skills involved. The ropery is also fascinating, a 1,000-foot brick building from the Georgian age, still making rope today. We learned a lot from the guide (so many nautical sayings in our language), and our children helped with making some rope – hard-work but fun.
• Adult £22, child £13, family (2+2) £58, thedockyard.co.uk
Ali
Cosmeston Medieval Village, Vale of Glamorgan
During the development of Cosmeston Lakes Country Park in Glamorgan in the 1980s, excavations uncovered the remains of a 600-year-old settlement. A medieval village has since been painstakingly reconstructed on the site. For £5, visitors can explore the tithe barn, Reeve’s house, bakery, swineherd’s cottage and herb garden, in the company of costumed “residents” to gain fascinating insights into their lives. We were escorted by Margaret the herbalist whose humorous and informed commentary, perfectly pitched for adults and children, added depth and context to the experience.
The Guardian
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