Back to the old school! (Chesterfield Museum & Art Gallery)

Member Name: lolly23

Product:	Chesterfield Museum & Art Gallery
Date:	25/05/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting, cheap day out.

Disadvantages: none

Chesterfield Museum & Art Gallery is situated in the centre of Chesterfield. It is a 5 minute walk from the station and a couple of minutes walk from various car parks. It is also next door to the Pomegranate Theatre and across the road from the famous Crooked Spire.

Admission is free and it is open 10-4pm mon to sat (closed wednesdays).

Upon entering you will find a 14th Century windlass which was used when building the Crooked Spire. It is like a huge hamster wheel that was used to transport construction materials to the top of large buildings.

You will then find a gift shop with various toys, books and historical trinkets.

They have permanant exhibitions such as The Story of Chesterfield and one about the life of George Stephenson.
They also have different sections that tie in to things that are going on in the area.
For instance, Chesterfield is historic market town and regularly have a Medieval Market day so the museum will have an exhibit that explains a little more about this.

They have many things to see such as old coins, pottery, and bass and silver trinkets, plus whatever they are showing at the time.
They currently have a 'Hidden Gems' display which is a changing display of items from the museum's store. They also have events throughout the year. They recently had a Tudor display and had a 'real life' Tudor come and tell tales of the olden days.

On 28 May, they will enjoy a visit from Aeschylus of Eleusis who will explain about life in Ancient Greece and on 28 July, medieval music will be performed by Hautbois (this ties in with a Medieval Market day in the town centre).

On 29 October Captain Jack Vincent will be discussing life as a Pirate! My son can't wait for this one!

There is also an art gallery upstairs which is a small room with around 20 - 30 paintings - very boring for me as I don't really like art but some people love it. This room mostly contains art from local artists, past and present.

The museum is quite small but very interesting and is well worth a look. Even little ones will enjoy it, I take my 4 year old and he doesn't get bored like you might expect he would visiting a place such as this.

If you are in the area you should check it out; it is easy to find as the town is well signposted and it is only two roads away from the train station and close to many car parking facilities.

Overall: a great, cheap day out for all the family!

Summary: Recomended!