Day Trips from Manchester

In Brief. The Museum of Making  is a modern museum, opened in 2021, beside the River Derwent and near the centre of Derby across a small park from the cathedral. The museum entrance is into a grand civic hall that includes a suspended Rolls Royce jet engine and a disassembled Toyota car. The museum has a variety of exhibitions on making and manufacturing, often themed by the material used, though perhaps "making" is rather a broad remit, leading to a somewhat fragmented narrative. The Museum of Making What's Here? The Museum of Making is an ambitious modern museum in a historic silk mill. This is a museum based around objects rather than a central activity such as a particular industry, though there is a small exhibition on silk making and on the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site, which was supported by a friendly volunteer on my visit. The entrance opens into the airy Civic Hall, which features a Rolls Royce jet engine and a Toyota car, both suspended from the cei...

In Brief. Jaguar provide a number of experiences , one of which is a tour of the Castle Bromwich factory .  The Jaguar factory is in a sprawling historical site, originally built as an aircraft factory just before the 2nd World War, and is currently used to manufacture F-type, XE and XF models. The tour includes some history of the site, but focuses on all aspects of the manufacturing process, from pressing body panels to a rolling road for testing the finished product. Jaguar Experience reception. What's Here? The tour starts at modern reception building that includes some recent Jaguar cars and assorted meeting facilities.  The tour I joined involved just three visitors with a friendly and well informed guide (Dave) who took us from building to building across the site, of course by way of a Jaguar product for getting from place to place (an I-Pace). The factory was used in the 2nd World War for manufacturing Spitfires, and the tour includes a visit to the morgue (the factor...