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Municipal, Medical and Military Museums in Chester

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In Brief. Well known for its historic walls and cathedral, Chester also hosts several museums for rainy days. Located close together in the compact city centre, the Grosvenor Museum is a traditional museum that includes the story of Roman Chester, Sick to Death is a modern museum on disease and healthcare for those who are not hypochondriacs, and the Cheshire Military Museum provides extensive coverage of the long history of Cheshire regiments. Reconstructed WWW1 trench in Cheshire Military Museum What's Here? The Grosvenor Museum is a municipal museum in a custom-built Victorian building named after the nobleman who contributed to the establishment of the museum. Much of the ground floor focuses on Roman Chester, including a collection of tombstones that were unearthed during excavations of the city walls; these are complemented by artefacts that support the description of life in a Roman garrison town. Other exhibition spaces are more focused on arts and crafts, including two...
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Hoghton Tower: a Lancashire Manor House with a missing tower

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In Brief Hoghton Tower is an imposing 16th Century Manor House and Garden on an elevated site approached by a straight driveway of at least a kilometre. One of its towers fell victim to an ammunition explosion during the Civil War, so although entry is by a robust gatehouse tower, its tallest tower is no more. Largely refurbished in late Victorian times, the house features impressive oak interiors, and a guided tour provides a narrative on the evolving building, royal visits and the family that has owned the estate since the 12th century. Approaching Hoghton Tower What's Here? Most human contact at Houghton Tower is with enthusiastic volunteers, and guided tours run regularly through the day. I took one of these, and it was certainly helpful for bringing the house to life. Having been vacant for over a century, the refurbishment in the 1880s means that the interiors are in uniformly good condition, with wood panelling, and some earlier furniture and fittings. There are various fin...
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Powis Castle and Garden

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In Brief. Powis Castle is a 13th century fortress near Welshpool looked after by the National Trust. Though it occupies a lofty, and thus surely defendable position, the castle has been a country house for several centuries, and features fine interiors from widely different periods. The elevated position provides views over the terraced gardens that lead down to lawns, other formal gardens and some woodland walks. The Castle and 17th century Yew trees from the top terrace. What's Here? Occupying a hilltop, the castle tends to be viewed from below, with steep terraces leading down to a large lawn and some formal gardens, before the grounds rise again to a wooded area. Although the gardens are interesting in themselves, the eyes tend to be drawn to the red castle that towers over them. The courtyard The castle itself is accessed through a courtyard that offers views over the gardens and hosts the cafe and the Clive Museum. The museum holds a remarkable collection of artefacts from I...
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Martin Mere Wetland Centre

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In Brief. The Martin Mere Wetland Centre occupies a substantial rural site in Lancashire, to the East of Southport, run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust . This site includes a relatively managed area that hosts the cafe, visitor centre and its own collection of birds (and otters) from around the globe. The bulk of the area, however, consists of habitats for wild birds, including the mere itself and a reedbed, which can be visited from a network of paths and observed in several hides. A Coscoroba swan on an impressive nest. What's Here? The area occupied by the wetland centre has had a complicated history, having once been a large lake that was drained for farmland, and which has more recently been converted into habitats for wildfowl. Thus, like various Royal Society for the Protection of Birds sites, such as St Aidans , the landscape looks like it could be natural, but in fact is carefully managed.  The Mere from Discovery Hide As many of the residents migrate, there are differ...
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Niche National Museums in Sheffield

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In Brief. Sheffield hosts two national museums, which are 10 minutes walk apart, just to the north and east of the City Centre. The National Emergency Services Museum is located in a police and fire station dating from 1900, and includes a wide range of displays and artefacts on the history of these and other emergency services. The National Videogame Museum contains a single large space occupied by arcade games, gaming consoles and computers, providing an opportunity to try out computer games from the last 50 years. Not all the characters at the Videogame museum are digital. What's Here? The National Emergency Services Museum has a low-key exterior, in the form of a historic redbrick building adjacent to the recently redeveloped Riverside district. However, the building is deceptively spacious, and the museum uses features of the building as to support its narrative. So, for example, the area on the police focuses on the history of policing, and uses the original cells to review...
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Car Factory Tours at Halewood

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In Brief. The Halewood car factory in Merseyside has been manufacturing Ford and, more recently, Jaguar Land Rover vehicles since the early 1960s.  Guided tours of the factory lead small groups through the manufacturing process from pressing of metal sheets into car body panels, through assembly and fitting-out, to final quality assessment and testing.  The factory is large and impressive, with cars made to order following a just-in-time manufacturing process, and the tour provides a detailed and informative run through. The JLR Experience Centre What's Here? Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) provides factory tours  at both its main manufacturing sites, at Solihull and Halewood. Halewood has been making JLR products since the Jaguar X-Type in the early 2000s, and at the time of my visit was making both Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque models at the site. These share the same underlying platform and engines, and vehicle models can alternate through much of the prod...
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Science, Media and Industry Museums in Bradford

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In Brief. Bradford hosts the National Science and Media Museum in a large modern building in the city centre, which features engaging hands-on science exhibits and comprehensive spaces on aspects of the media, such as the history of photography, and media technologies and their uses. The Industrial Museum  occupies a former mill building, and is more conventional in basing exhibits on important collections of steam engines, textile machinery and motor vehicles. Science and Media Museum What's Here? The National Science and Media Museum is a large, engaging and modern museum.  The focus seems to be more on media than science, with a substantial and varied Sound and Vision exhibition across two floors covering a variety of media related topics from hardware to special effects.  These include items such as cameras and props, and a wide range of focused areas, for example on sound recording and the Cottingley Fairies . There is also a floor on the history of photography and ...
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