More for your money (Murton Park (York))

Member Name: jamie56

Product:	Murton Park (York)
Date:	20/02/01 (436 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Four Great Attractions, One price

Disadvantages: Outside Of York So easily Missed

Murton Park is a very varied day out for all with many attractions for one price all on one ten acre site only three miles from York, Yorkshire Museum of Farming, Derwent Light valley railway, Danelaw a Dark Age Village and Brigantium a replica Roman Fort with Celtic Roundhouses.

The Yorkshire Museum of Farming has a selection of farming machinery from all aspects of farming in the Four Seasons and animals in the Livestock Building and in the fields around the site.

Derwent Light Valley Railway has a selection of working steam and diesel engines, which run up a quarter of a mile of track on selected days there is also a station which was moved piece be piece from Weldrake.

Danelaw and Brigantium are both used as education sites where groups of school children are dressed up in costume and 'live' for a day as a Saxon, Viking, 11th Century peasant or a Roman auxiliary. Please note there may be restrictions to access while school groups are on site. The school groups that are regularly on site though the week do a variety of jobs suitable to the period these generally include pottery, farming, and house keeping which includes gathering firewood, grinding corn and cleaning. Finally they get to be a guard to help defend the village against danger which can include a raid on the village to see if they have learnt everything and to keep them in their toes.

Brigantium also has a small replica Celtic settlement nearby and the Celtic settlement, Roman fort and the Dark Age Village are always being improved so rarely are two visits the same.

There is also a farmhouse kitchen café offering a variety of home-made food and refreshments and a souvenir shop which has a selection of gifts mainly on the country theme.
There are also special events that happen during the year these include Easter specials and Christmas specials.
Many re-enactment societies also visit Danelaw and Brigantium, including Viking/Dark age re-ena

ctment/living history groups. Trailblazers a Wild West living history society and there has also been world war one re-enactment groups in the site there is also a blacksmith also bases himself on the site on some days. However all the re-enactment groups and the blacksmith are independent organisations/individuals and will not be there all the time.
Danelaw the Viking village has also been used for the filming of historical documentaries for BBC and SKY TV.

I volunteer my time to the history side, this usually involves dressing up in a period costume and talking/teaching people about the Vikings/Saxons/Medieval periods. However days vary as I could end up doing building work/thatching a roof or daubing the walls laying wooden roads or just doing some craft work by the firelight.

Days also vary with regards to the history site as one trip you could find the village empty and another you could find Vikings everywhere and Cowboys on the Roman fort.

So if you wish to have a varied day out and even learn a few things, then I would highly recommend Murton Park.

Summary: