A socialist ideal (New Lanark World Heritage Village)

Member Name: bartystix

Product:	New Lanark World Heritage Village
Date:	14/09/01 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The beautiful scenery

Disadvantages: Quite isolated

The New Lanark Mills “Experience” is truly a magnificent one. I went there to attend a wedding reception last autumn and came away wishing I had another day to spare.

Location, location, location!

It’s situated on the bank of the River Clyde in what appeared to be world of it’s own. It’s fairly close to Glasgow and Edinburgh. It took our party just over an hour to get there from Glasgow. We returned by train to Glasgow from Lanark station, which was about 5 minutes taxi drive away.

The History:

The village of New Lanark was founded in the 18th century. It was to become a village of a socialist ideal through the proprietor, Robert Owen (‘father of English Socialism’). His idea was of self-help; communities of co-operatives. He advocated education to all children and would them to work in the mills until they were a minimum of 10 years old.
The hotel itself is the recently restored cotton mill..

Accommodation:

We stayed in one of their six two bedroomed apartments (there’s two more with one bedrooms), which was behind the main hotel, known as the Waterhouses. It cost around £60. The entrance led through a hallway to a large kitchen and separate lounge area. The two bedrooms and bathroom were downstairs. Bizarrely the larger room had twin beds and the smaller had a double. I woke up with river running past my window – it was truly awesome.

There are 38 bedrooms in the main hotel (around £75 for a room) and apparently the views are also stunning. In addition, there’s also a Youth Hostel offering 60 beds.

Things to do:

If the peace wasn’t enough, there are plenty of places to go. The millennium experience takes you on a ride hosted by Harmony, a fictitious girl who decides to travel time to discover the history of New Lanark. There’s also a visitor centre and the children’s school planned to
open this year.

In addition, there’s various village style shops, working craft areas and houses from the past, including Robert Owen’s.

All in all…

It can start to feel like a history lesson after a while, but all you have to do is go back to the hotel bar to remind you you’re not at school anymore. The food is fine, although some might find this a bit pricey as there are not many other options for you. You can also start to feel a little isolated and it’s definitely a wedding reception venue, a getaway venue or historical interest site. However, that’s what it was meant to be and if you are going for any of these reasons, it’s the perfect place.

Summary: