Mallaig heritage centre (Mallaig Heritage Centre (Scotland))

Member Name: mumsymary

Product:	Mallaig Heritage Centre (Scotland)
Date:	08/09/08 (134 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good to visit

Disadvantages: not any

We were holidaying on the west coast of Scotland this half term while waiting for the ferry to the islands we visited the Mallaig Heritage centre.
The Mallaig heritage centre is a smallish building near the train station. The Harry Potter express runs from Fort William to here.
This centre is open from9.30-430 weekdays July august and September 12am till4pm at the weekends November till March it is open Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday 12-5pm. April May June and October it is open Monday to Saturday 11am till 4 pm. There was a small admission charge, can't remember how much now it was about 2 pounds I think.

This centre is a single story building access for disabled visitors seems good,
There is an entrance area with a pay desk and a few things for sale, videos, books postcards souvenirs and information sheets both about the displays and the area. Then there was just the one large display room.
Family history archives are kept here if you wish to do research then book a visit if possible phone 01678 462085.

We had our grandson aged 5 and our 2 and1/2 year old granddaughter with us. There was a children's quiz sheet available free and best of all for our children there was a play area (unsupervised)This was only a small corner of the room but to our grandsons delight it had a wooden brio train track , I suppose this related to the railway line just outside . The Harry potter steam engine runs to sadly we missed seeing it at Mallaig but did see the train in fort William just down the lion, There were a few other toys available to play with in this area too cant remember what it was but my granddaughter found something to amuse her for a short time but she was happiest just walking around the room.

The displays around the room were interesting when you realize that just over 100 years ago this area was really inaccessible most transport was by boat the mountains so large around this area. There is an information bourd about the railway and how a track was forged to fort William. There are lots of Photos of every day life and photos (some dating back to 1900) of the mountains and the sea. There is information about fishing industry in Mallaig . Stories and information about the Mallaig lifeboat brave men going out to save those that needed rescuing at sea.
There was an information board telling how hundreds of people were evicted from their homes on Knoydart and forced to Emigrate to Canada.

In another corner of the room there is a video set up, it gives a tour of the west highland landscape.
This was an interesting visit the displays and information well set out took us about 30 minutes to look around. It could have taken a little longer but we had the children with us.

Yes I would recommend going there.

Summary: A small museam