information over load (Ironbridge Gorge Museum)

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Product:	Ironbridge Gorge Museum
Date:	17/05/01 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots to see

Disadvantages: none

I have just come back from Broseley, which is about a mile and half from Ironbridge. It was a quick break as we have so many commitments we did not think that we could go for a week. So we went for 3 nights in a B&B. It cost us £110 for an en-suite for three nights and the people where really nice.

I had already done some research on what to see and there is a lot to see. The original reason for going was that in Telford 5 miles from Broseley was an exhibition that I wanted to see. So we thought that rather than go up just for the day to stay a few.

We went up on Sunday and just had a look around Broseley. But we had already decided to take in a few museums. The Ironbridge Gorge Museums are group of 9 attractions.

We went first to the Jackfield Tile Museum. But as we about 10minutes early we went for a walk. As I knew from the map that we there where a couple close as well. The museums are all in a six square mile area so you don't have to drive for miles.

The first one that we went to was

The tar Tunnels. It is where they use to mine tar from. The price as £1 each but we bought the passports that cost £10 per adult and £30 for a family. A family if two adults and up to five children. Yes that right five children. So it is good value for money.

We where not going to go to all the museums as where only there for three nights.

A few hundred yards up the river path is the coal port museum. All about coal port china. That cost about £3.90 each. As well as the history you could look around the buildings as well. They don't use the factory any more. There were people who showing off skills. In one of the buildings was a woman making bone china flowers. It was really interesting. We stopped and chatted and watched for bout 10 minutes. You could buy the finished flowers for 30p each. They are unglazed so you can paint or varnish them.

After wandering around for about
half an hour we wandered back to the tile museum. Again I think that was about £3.90 each. It followed the history tiles. Boring you might think. But no. There were loads to look at. I never knew that lots of tiles of nursery rhymes where made up and sold to hospitals to put up in their childrens wards.

That took up all of Monday morning. Then we went to Blist Hill, which is brilliant. It is a Victorian town re-created. It covers a lot of land. And have people dressed in period costume. There is a lot to see and you can buy lots of things to. You can change up your money in the bank for tokens that you can spend anywhere in the village. We did have a good look around. As there where not many people there we did the whole village in couple of hours. But you could stay all day if you had children. The cost is £7.50 so already we have got our moneys worth from the passport already.

The we went to Ironbridge and went to Museum of the gorge. There are plenty of interactive displays to look at. The recommend about 45 minutes to look around. There is even a film that lasts about 5 minutes. It covers all the other museums that are in the group. It took us about 35 minutes. One of the most amazing facts was the flood height of the river. Only last December did they have the worst floods in hundreds of years. It even flooded in Tourist Information centre, which is now based in the TollHouse on the far side of the bridge. Until they have finished the work so they can re-open.

We did one more museum the next day, which was Coalbrookedale museum of Iron. This is about how The Darby Family had started a foundry and how they built the IronBridge which makes Ironbridge famous. Again there is lots to look at and read.

Most of the museums open at 10am and close at 5pm. There are couple that we did not go. As we said we where only there for a couple of days. And I think that we packed a lot in to it. We did have info
rmation over load. But if it was done over three or four days rather than two you might take a more in then I did.

But it was a lovely break. And the weather was overcast but it did not rain during the day. It did not matter if it had, as most of the museums are indoors.

I would recommend that you buy a passport as it will save you money. I think that it must have saved us about £10 each. And for family the saving could be double that.

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