Loved it. The oldest working steam engines still performing their original job and the most pleasantly instructive steam museum I've visited yet. The volunteers are well informed and also supremely keen to be helpful. We'll worth the trip. Reccomend
Fascinating place to visit. Friendly staff ,who have great knowledge & enthusiasm for this wonderful machine.
Plenty of parking ,lovely clean loos. Great Tea & coffee with cake served by the lovely tea ladies
A beautiful place with some of the best volunteers I have ever met. It was fascinating and I really enjoyed it. If I had visited as a child I would have been an engineer by now, it is extremely inspiring.
Great museum run by dedicated, helpful volunteers. Café no longer running but you can still soak up the atmosphere on the picnic tables overlooking the canal and railway.
Would recommend to go on a steam day.
It was amazing seeing the engines working.
Fascinating place to visit. Excellent knowledgeable volunteers. Pity they are being advised to use different coal...
Very interesting place to visit lots to see and read, the cafe is very reasonable cake was nice too. We took a guided tour which is probably the best way to learn about the history as the guides are great.
If you are interested in the Industrial Revolution this is a must see. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Great place to visit particularly when they are steaming, all of the volunteers were very friendly and happy to talk about the engines. Our three year old son loved watching the beams moving and the water coming up from the pumps. The surrounding countryside is beautiful too.
Interesting museum slightly out of the way. Fairly quiet when visited, but suspect when the boilers are working and the world's oldest working steam engine is running it will have a steady stream of visitors.
Built to service the canals which traverse the landscape but need replenishing with water the beam engine pumps water up to the highest point on the canal to be stored in a large pond for use later in the locks.
Each lock uses about enough water to fill a few baths ... about 2000 or so!
Very scenic area overlooking the canal and main line railway from London to Penzance.
Worth parking in their (pay & display) car park having a good look around the museum and then going for a walk down along the canal and pond (yes I know its technically called a pound not a pond).
Great place if you are interested in steam engines etc.
Definitely go on a steaming day to get the full experience. You can stay for ages asking loads of questions, or you can go a bit quicker there is no rush.
Probably not a full day activity though. And not suitable for wheelchairs or prams inside the buildings as there's only stairs to access the 2nd & 3rd floors.
My review might be biased as we arrived expecting the engines not to be in steam, based on their timetable, but they were! In fact both engines were in steam due to some problems with pumps on the canal meaning they'd been asked to help out.
The volunteers were brilliant, passionate and knowledgeable. We learned a lot.
Very interesting to see these working and understand the function.
Really worth a visit if you're into old mech eng and steam. The oldest example in the world that still runs. Beautiful old 19th c engineering. Modest cost to gain entry, the staff are excellent, and you know you'll be supporting a really interesting piece of history for the future. It still runs - it steams 2 or 3 times a year.
What an amazing place & amazing knowledgable volunteers. Always happy to answer your questions. We were so lucky on our visit, both beam engines were in steam, due to someone leaving a lock gate open & the failure of the modern electric pumping system, the beam engines were needed to pump water from the well to top up the canal. Awsome experience.
A fascinating place. The dedication of the volunteers keeps this little gem going. It's history and working pumps are spot on. There's a lovely cafe but if you're going with a family it may be worth your time to take a picnic. Lovely walks and places to watch the world go by.
Andrew “Roo” Earl-Park
+5
Exelent tour and lovely coffee, quite a few stairs but that's the nature of the beast regardless the tour guide is happy to wait and accommodate people with slower mobility. Overall very impressive and a great family activity
Fairly interesting to walk around and nice views and atmosphere for a picnic.
We lucked out as it was free on the day we came (though we had to pay for parking); not sure I’d be happy to pay too much for our family to walk through the engine rooms, etc.
They had a few sheets for the kids to do which was nice (though some of it a bit above our 4 & 6 year olds).
It was great to see both these fantastic old beam engines working. Everything looked well presented and maintained. The volunteers were very helpful and knowledgeable. We had a very enjoyable visit.
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