Saturday 29 July 2017

Our Visit to the Lakeland Motor Museum - The Lake District

Following our day out with Windermere Lake Cruises, we had originally planned to take a boat over to the Lakeland Motor Museum after our cruise to Ambleside, but with Riley getting quite tired we decided to drive there the next day instead.

The Lakeland Motor Museum is housed in a converted mill and is nicely presented from the outside. It boasts a large collection of over 30,000 exhibits that cover all kinds of transportation from the twentieth century including cars, bicycles, motorbikes and even a jet ski! In addition to vehicle exhibits there is also a wide range of local history displays and recreations of old shop fronts.

The attraction was very easy to find and well sign posted from the main road. There was plenty of parking which was free of charge to museum visitors and Cafe Ambio customers. We were greeted on arrival by two lovely ladies who welcomed us to the attraction and provided the children with a quiz that they needed to find the answers to whilst exploring the museum. My children enjoy anything that involves a bit of competitiveness and so the challenge was soon on to see who could find all the answers first. We were given information on which way to work our way through the museum and we were also informed that there was an additional exhibit on The Bluebird based in another building adjacent to the main museum. With my children and their quizzes ready to go we entered the museum ready to learn more about the history of vehicles and ready to compare them to the modern cars of today.

The exhibits began with vehicles dating from pre 1930's and there were some very luxurious cars on display that had clearly been well cared for over the years. My children found the first answers to their quiz and my husband enjoyed looking around and inside the cars to see just how different they were back then. The next range of vehicles were from the 1940's to the 1950's and included both luxury and performance vehicles, which was then followed by some iconic and unusual cars from the 50's and 60's.



Adjacent to this was a recreated street scene which featured various stores including a toy shop and confectioners. My son Riley loved the old model toy shop and looking through the windows. He has a huge car collection at home but soon realised that one of the shops collections was a little bigger than his!


On the opposite side of the 50's & 60's collection were two displays that provided information on some of the industries that used to be in the area, along with a women's Land Army display which looked into the roles that women played during the world wars. Emma and Ben will be learning about World War II when they return to school in September so they enjoyed reading some of the information that was provided here.


As we made our way around the museum we then came across a selection of family classics from the 1970's. My children liked this area as they recognised a couple of the vehicles here including a Mini and Ford Fiesta. There were then some steps to the rear of this display which took us upstairs to learn more about bicycles and motorcycles. The added addition of some vintage motor themed arcade machines soon caught my children's attention and they each spent a few 20ps playing some of the games. Riley also really enjoyed the large pedal car collection which was upstairs and looked lots of fun! Ben also liked looking at some of the old bicycles and comparing how different they were to his own.


On our return back down the stairs we then explored the vehicles from the 1990's which featured some very recognisable vehicles, but also some unusual ones. Once we had spent some time looking at these and the children had completed their quiz questions for this part of the museum we exited via the shop and walked across the courtyard to the Bluebird exhibit.




This is housed in a separate building and contains a tribute to the record breaking Campbell family and their collection of record breaking vehicles. This display contains full sized replicas along with ample written information and an informative film that you can sit and watch. My children finished off their quiz booklet and we returned back to the museum entrance to hand them in and claim their medals. Whilst on the way back we also noticed a couple of old caravans which were open and so we had a little look inside those too. We used to own a static caravan and my kids were shocked at just how different it was inside compared to how ours was. However I would imagine that in it's time it would probably have been the height of luxury!



Once my kids had returned their quizzes we had a little look around the shop. Some items were quite pricey, but there were a few pocket money priced items and Riley also bought a Car & Caravan toy for £5.99 which I thought was quite reasonable.

Before returning back to our accommodation we visited Cafe Ambio for some drinks. I had stopped here about 18 months ago and had enjoyed a delicious cappuchino by the riverside and so I was really looking forward to doing that again. The cafe was reasonably priced and had a nice selection of food but as we were due to be dining out that evening we just purchased some drinks and enjoyed a nice little rest by the river.

Overall we had a lovely afternoon out and all of us enjoyed the museum. I feel that it offered something for all ages and the added addition of the quiz made it even more enjoyable for children, espeically with the reward of a medal at the end. We were here around two hours, so if wanting to make a full day of it, then I would recommend purchasing a combination ticket that will allow you to combine your visit to the museum with a lake cruise or steam train ride.

Important information:

Address - Lakeland Motor Museum Ltd, Old Blue Mill, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8TA

Telephone - 01539 530400

Ticket prices -  Tickets can be purchased online for a discounted rate, or can be purchased on arrival at the museum.

Adult 16+ On the day price £8.50
Adult 16+ Advance online price £7.70
Child 5-15 years On the day price £5.00
Child 5-15 years Advance online price £4.50
Child under 5 years - Free
Family (2 adults and up to 3 children) On the day price £24.00
Family Advance online price £21.60

It is also possible to buy combination tickets which combine the attraction with a cruise on Windermere or a trip on a Steam Railway. Please visit the website here for more details on these offers: https://www.lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk/getting-here/combined-boat-train-bus

Opening times - The museum is open between 9:30am to 5:30pm daily apart from Christmas Day.

Website - www.lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk/

Twitter - @LakeMotorMuseum

Instagram - @lakelandmotor

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LakelandMotorMuseum/


Disclaimer: We were provided with a complimentary family ticket for the purpose of providing an honest review of our experience in the attraction. All opinions and photographs are my own unless otherwise stated. Attraction information was correct at time of writing but is subject to change, therefore please always check the most up to date information on the attractions own website before visiting.


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