Masson Mills — Attraction in Derbyshire Dales

I entered expecting a typical dusty museum experience and got a much more lived and engaging one than that. This mill is notable for being very well preserved and well stocked, and for still being partly operational - some examples of the thread mixing machines, looms and so on are still maintained and used. Hydroelectric has replaced straight water wheel power, but it is otherwise all genuine 19th century technology in working condition.

The staff include a brilliant and highly knowledgeable young lady who (in period-accurate attire made on these exact machines) will fire up, demonstrate and explain the looms for you. I went from having no idea how a loom works to feeling like I had a pretty good working grasp of it in about 5 minutes, and the intricacy and engineering prowess of these machines is something you just can't appreciate until you see one in action. The Wallace & Gromit complexity and savage industrial frenzy made me grin uncontrollably, and I'm not even into textiles or mill history per se. This is probably the only heritage site that would hold a small child's attention, at least in the rooms where the machines are moving.

There are interesting info plaques throughout, and a few safety notices and materials from the time that are darkly comical to a modern eye. There are also some terrifying machines which no longer run, whose appearance and design will turn your stomach and give you an appreciation for how obscenely dangerous mill work was.

The staff and materials don't shy away from the very ugly historical realities of slavery, child labour and worker endangerment that underpinned the industrial revolution, even while highlighting its innovations and craft. They are sensitive to the tensions here, which serve as a thumbnail for the modern tensions in Britain's self-perception generally; the mechanical ingenuity, vision, industriousness and grit, on the one hand, and the exploitation, callousness and human cost on the other. This is as good a site on which to ponder these historical ambivalences as any, and unlike most heritage sites, this one has a collection of 680,000 vintage bobbins. And a nice café and gift shop. In which you can, if you choose, buy a...

Quaint one stop shop with a cafe, museum and play centre in the basement.

The 3☆ is based on the Gin Tasting Night. The option included mocktails which half our party opted for. Upon arrival there were lovely prepared welcome drinks in lovely glasses waiting for the 'gin tasters,' whereas non drinkers had to pour their own.

Gin tasters had a variety of items to sample. Mocktail drinkers had a fruity or mint option. To make matters worse our glasses were small, there was no thought or creativity process in the presentation and mocktails were sparse. The jugs were not kept topped up, so we could not even keep our glasses topped up whilst the others were sampling various gin infusions!

Yes it's a Gin tasting night, but if you put mocktails as an option and we are paying (albeit £5 less than gin drinkers), be creative! I expected a variety of cute mocktails! Instead I had Sprite with mint and Sprite with a fruit squash?! Poor, very poor.

Gin tasters got several toffee gin, vodka ice creams, jello shots, mocktail drinkers got 1 vanilla ice cream with sherbet on it.... ZERO effort and disappointing.

The buffet was ok, but again no information on sandwich fillings for dietary requirement purpose, limited items, no serviettes/napkins/paper towels, anything to wipe hands with after...

The host was knowledgeable and had a good sense of humour. The night could have been better if the mocktail drinkers were more included and not an...

One of the more eccentric museum experiences. Museum is through Edinburgh Woollen mill shop, down 2 flights of stairs and there is a small office where u buy tickets. Cash only btw. Price said £6.50 on website but £10 on door (£5 per adult and kids under 16 "go free"). Museum is a working one in that it produces textiles for sale and has qr codes if you want to enhance your self-guided experience. It even has free WiFi to help you with this. That saved us some hassle with children as they were not really interested in fabric production. A demonstration was held by one of the workers to show how the fabric is woven and (if you've seen the movie Wanted where he catches the shuttle) how the shuttle weaves the thread. You can walk around the back to the outside and see the weir that provides the hydroelectricity for the mill and the old steam powered turbines. Other than that there is a cafe where if you have parked on the Mill you can get some money off a tea or coffee. It is curious because it's a working museum that is inside a shop, inside another shop with a cafe. It was a nicely different...