A short walk from the centre of Nottingham is the Brewhouse Yard Museum. This is a wonderful museum depicting life in Nottingham over the past 300 years.

The museum is set in a row of five 17th Century cottages and is a collection of rooms with each one depicting a different aspect of local life. The rooms are set out as original rooms from Nottingham homes, or as local shops such as a chemist, a cobblers, a pawnbrokers, a music shop and a hairdressers.

The items in the rooms and shops are all original and are set up in such a way to be totally realistic. In the living room you can even smell the coal burning on the open fire. At the back of the houses the rooms have been extended into the sandstone caves which depict how the local people used to use the caves for storage and living in.

The whole museum is very interesting and often you find yourself thinking, we had those when I was a young lad. The museum is over three floors and in total there are about 30 different rooms that are set out in different scenarios. Also next door to the cottages is a separate building with a Victorian school room, with lift up desks, ink wells and of course a cane. Also in this building is an old toy shop with many great traditional toys and original games displayed in glass topped drawers.

During the week admission to the museum is free and at weekends and Bank Holidays admission is £1.50 for adults and 80p for children. In front of the museum is a large grassed area where you can have a picnic, with plenty of seating, a play area and toilets. Some weekends there are special events held on this grassed area.

There is a small shop in the museum selling gifts and souvenirs. Overall the museum is very interesting. There are a lot of hands-on exhibits in the rooms, which the children enjoy. Also you will hear older visitors reminiscing about Nottingham and their youth and often some of these discussions really add to value of your visit.
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I can highly recommend a visit to this museum.