Dales Countryside Museum — Attraction in Hawes

An excellent smaller museum but with loads to see, spread over three floors and at the old station platform, a display in several railway carriages.

We had a good welcome from the staff on duty, with an explanation of the museum layout plus a simple, one-sheet laminated map to guide us.

Mining, farming, local customs & traditions plus a history of the hand knitting industry in the Dales. There was a whole series of displays around sheep, their breeds and wools. It also covered the series of processes to knitting wools and making up.

This was only the start, really. It is well laid out with great information boards and practical examples. The round gallery at the end had marvellous display of local knitting from local wools and textiles.

There is a good cafe with indoor and outdoor seating and bike shop. All the usual accessible loos and facilities were also there. Inevitably, there is a gift shup, sure but it's a good one with some decent local products.

There you are! Good paid-for parking too, though if you park at the museum and pay and display you get £1 off entrance. A 5-star visit for us! I think someone told me, the ticket...

Fantastic little museum with a few fairly dated interpretation boards in the areas on the train, but some nice hands on activities for very young children elsewhere much better and brilliant staff especially education who were supportive and welcoming to all comes s facilitating us to make fantastic Saxon brooches, interesting exhibition on the Dales unique landscape in particular Peat and the nature it supports and its importance in acting as UK equivalent to the Amazon rainforest. Your ticket is just a receipt but hang on to it because it's valid for 7 days, the cafe shuts before the museum so go earlier if that appeals to you. There's a little steam locomotive, rural life exhibits and a lot to discover about the area above and below ground and about the local dialect and...

Superb museum. Friendly reception and plenty of information. Parking directly outside, no height barrier (£3.50 for 2 hours). Brilliant railway carriage with exhibits all the way through, mainly about this locality, but with lots of interesting anecdotes. Inside the main building is a small mine shaft to walk through, information and speaking earphones, an abundance of old craft tools and machines. Tinsmith, cheesemakers, weavers and knitters to name only a few. There's a exhibition upstairs about keeping heaths, farmlands etc safe - with some colouring activities for children. Toilets, tourist information, gift shop and walk through to a seperate cafe all inside. Well presented and really interesting. Around £5 each (a £1 off if parked in the carpark alongside...