A mixed bag this one, visited for the first time on the bank holiday weekend at the end of April.

Excitement of seeing tram lines and trolley bus power lines was quickly extinguished when it became evident they haven’t run for some time and there are no plans to do so in the future.

Entering the museum the meet and greet chap outside was friendly enough. Approaching the sales counters, reasonable greeting, quick friendly service. As we saw with another family, you are loudly informed if you’re receiving tickets for a one off visit rather than the yearly return variety - I can see some being offended by this.

Into the museum, the map provided is poorly detailed and very small text is used. There’s a notice board on the left with the days event times on.

The museum is a free to roam site with no specific routes and exploring will take you to own doors in places you would not expect. This is two fold in that there’s a surprise around every corner but it’s also easy to miss a great deal.

It’s worth noting a great deal of the displays and demonstrations were not in operation on the day of our visit with no signage and no obvious way of knowing if or when they would reopen.

90% of properties have a fixed barrier preventing you from entering and offering a peek via an open door. The odd one had volunteers in character who were engaging and knowledgeable of the property they were located in.

We visited the school and took part in a lesson, absolute quality by Mr Griffiths. Entertaining, funny and engaging with all students - possibly the best part of the museum.

Transport wise, there was a single bus travelling around a very very short run between two stops only. This doesn’t show off the site or provide any useful purpose to be honest.

Food - there’s a bakery in the attraction that sells actual food, a very small square slice of a variety of cakes will cost £2.50 per portion or an Eccles cake for £2 each. There’s a fish and chip shop on the upper level, good quality cooked fresh but by god it’s expensive for the portion size - £9 gets you a single portion of fish & chips, they do not sell extras such as peas or gravy. There’s no other way of saying it - it’s overpriced, also noted the attached waiting / seating area was in a poor state and dirty with food leftovers on every seat. The main cafe in reception only sells sandwiches- be warned, that’s your lot there are no other food options here.

Overall, it’s limited in size and content, a couple of hours worth if you take your time. The site has so much to offer but just doesn’t appear to be used. There are plans for future developments but this means large portions of the site are fenced off for construction.

Value - not really, it’s expensive for the offering and let down by the lack of food, entertainment and engagement.