Black Country Living Museum

...decided to visit was the Black Country Museum, an attraction we all had fond memories of after visiting the museum when I was very little, ignorant of history and only stored the memories of the museums hot chips and sweeties in my brain.

The Black Country Living Museum is quintessentially a tribute of the industrial developments of 19th Century Britain and into the early 20th century. From coal works to iron centres and not forgetting ...
...NEARLY THERE YET?
The Black Country Museum is situated in the shadow of Dudley Castle, with Dudley being one of the four main locations of ‘the Black Country’. The other three towns which are focused on at the museum are Wolverhampton, Walsall and Sandwell and all of the buildings are based around shops and houses that used to be a part of their communities during the era of industrialisation. The Black Country is called so because of the ... more

It was almost time for the annual May Bank Holiday; I had extra time off from University but my Brother was going to be stuck in his Uni accommodation all on his lonesome. This distressed my Mother greatly so she decided we should go and spend a couple of days with my Brother that weekend, in the Western part of England. We decided to turn it into a mini holiday and one of the places we decided to visit was the Black Country Museum, an attraction we all had fond memories of after visiting the museum when I was very little, ignorant of history and only stored the memories of the museums hot chips and sweeties in my brain.

The Black Country Living Museum is quintessentially a tribute of the industrial developments of 19th Century Britain and into the early 20th century. From coal works to iron centres and not forgetting the incredible and vastly important manufacturing of beer, the Black Country Museum is a step back into the past; with working houses, schools and factories and characters who take on the roles that some of their ancestors may have partaken in during their daily lives in the mid-1800s and onwards. The museum is made up of many buildings, set across 26 acres of land which is accessible either by walking or taking a ride on the complimentary tram or bus services.

ARE WE NEARLY THERE YET?
The Black Country Museum is situated in the shadow of Dudley Castle, with Dudley being one of the four main locations of ‘the Black Country’. The other three towns which are focused on at the museum are Wolverhampton, Walsall and Sandwell and all of the buildings are based around shops and houses that used to be a part of their communities during the era of industrialisation. The Black Country is called so because of the pillowing, black smoke that covered the skies for miles around because of the coal works. Would it be unfair to blame Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton for the entire worlds Global Warming?!

Getting to the site is relatively easy and it’s always helpful to have someone in your car that can read motorway signposts. Basically, the Black Country Museum is located on Tipton Road in Dudley, a couple of miles away from the M5 junction if you’re arriving from the A4123 or junction 10 of the M6. Alternatively, if you’re like us and can’t quite be bothered with those terrible pieces of paper called maps, you’re likely to have a Satellite Navigation system installed in your car so the postcode you need is DY1 4SQ. If you’re reading this review in 2010 when the satellite helping all of us map hating folk has died, never fear: just keep going North of Dudley from its town centre as the museum is only about a mile away.

SETTING THE TONE FOR THE DAY...
Ok so you might be surprised that I’m going to officially start the day at Dudley with a complaint *coughcough* but one thing I cannot stand is when places have some solitary man stood in the middle of the darn car park directing people INTO a frigging space. I find it rather unnecessary and it would have provoked less controversy if the dude at Dudley had just let my Dad park about three miles away from the attraction, as per usual. Our car has fairly big doors on it so we needed a little more space than he wanted to designate us but Dad’s attempts at communication with the guy were in vain as he simply didn’t want to listen. Yet, that wasn’t our only grumble in the car park – we were quite shocked to learn we had to pay for parking. Don’t get me wrong, a pound for a day’s parking isn’t bad at all, but when it’s actually on the attractions premises and situated in a place where there is very little else to do anyway, I found it a bit cheeky.

The issue of our car and its massive doors might seem irrelevant but I do wonder how people with disabilities would fair in this situation; the bloke on the car park that day didn’t want to listen to what my Dad had to say at all and for all he knew, one of us could have required parking next to the entrance due to limited mobility.

OPENING TIMES AND PRICES
If you’re planning a trip to the Black Country Museum, I’d recommend visiting between March and October as the attraction is open daily from 10am to 5pm and, if you were dead set on covering every building, you’d definitely need seven hours to accomplish this. In the winter months, the museum is open from 10am till 4pm and is closed on a Monday and Tuesday, just so you know.

The prices I’d say are fairly reasonable for entering the attraction; adults can expect to pay £12.95 each and senior citizens get a discount of roughly £2.50. Children under five are allowed in for free but otherwise, your kiddie winkles will cost you £6.95 each. I’d only consider the museum to be adequately priced for the fact that some of the exhibits require extra money which all adds up when you take into consideration the car parking fee. We arrived at the museum around 11am and there was already a long line of people on that particular Sunday. The staff on the tills were a bit slovenly and not as friendly as I was expecting with some of them rarely managing a polite good morning! Manners cost nothing but sadly this wasn’t a requirement at the Black Country Museum...

WHAT IS THERE TO DO AT THE BLACK COUNTRY MUSEUM?
Altogether, there are 57 different sites you can visit whilst at the Black Country Museum. Of course, I’m not going to write about every single one of them (no need to look SO shocked!) for the simple fact that we probably didn’t do half of them; by the time we’d paid for our tickets and got into the heart of the attraction, it was nearly lunch time and, as my parents have come to learn, I won’t do anything if I’m hungry, and that includes walking. So, we decided to take a trip on the bus into the centre of the mock village which was at no extra charge. The buses and tram services are actually a part of the museums transport collection with one of the trams being a century old. The bus itself had clearly seen better days, which is to be expected of a vehicle that’s over fifty years old, and the ticket bloke told everyone that ‘donations would be gratefully received’ for its maintenance...

The destination of choice was the fish and chip shop, about a two minute walk away from the bus stop near the fair ground. However, after realising the cheeky beggars didn’t open their salt and vinegar engraved doors until 12pm, we decided to take a look around some of the other attractions first, including the funfair. If my recollections serve me correctly, there was a hook a duck stand (which my Mum told me I was far too old to attempt!), a house of mirrors, a merry-go-round and a helter skelter, each costing roughly 50p to a pound per go. What impressed me the most about the fun fair was just how authentic and old it looked; gone were the overbearing thuds of club music and bright lights of today’s funfairs and instead a traditional, brightly painted appearance was on the agenda and everything looked all the more appealing for being like that, particular the yellow and red stripy helter skelter.

St. James’ school was next door and, pardon the pun, one of the most educational parts of the museum and one of the best presented; everything had a very Victorian appeal to it, with the individual desks and black chalk boards, I really did feel that I was stepping back in time and back into the throttle of a school day where a ruler slap to the wrist could have been on the time table! My Mum noticed the stove which her and her classmates (not in the 19th century, by the way) used to cook jacket potatoes on ready for lunch time and the notion of pound, shilling and pence was also another clever bit of nostalgia. Unless it was ‘lesson time’ where a stern faced teacher would waltz into the classroom and teach the kids a thing or two about how schooling used to be, I did find that the characters in this area were non-existent. I’m sure if there had been a mock teacher there, the school would have been more memorable for adults as well as children but none-the-less is was presented well and had a very old fashioned feel to it.

I would have to say that the funfair and school were the two most child friendly exhibits of the Black Country Museum; the fairground rides were specifically created with children in mind and whilst it was good for parents to reminisce in the school about their days in such places, I can remember when I was younger and when we visited the Black Country Museum: the teacher who took the lesson was actually quite intimidating! There are normally three lessons in a day at the museum so if your child would like to experience school life from a very different era, drop them off here and take a short stroll to the fish and chip shop! At least you’ll be saving them from obesity...

Alas, if you were to drag your children to the fish and chip shop just in time for lunch, make sure you get there in good time as there was quite a queue the day we were there. The museum has recently moved the fish and chip shop from the ‘High Street’ and right next door to the school...must be in case any of the kids escaped from a lesson of P.E! I remember the chip shop being better positioned before as it was right next door to the sweet shop and cake store, just in case you fancied desserts. Yet the principal of cooking the fish and chips was practically the same; the cod and chips are all fried in beef dripping to create an authentic, old fashioned taste so clearly, the chips aren’t going to please vegetarians and vegans very much.

It was a surprisingly chilly day in May when we visited the attraction so we were eager for both hands to reach the number twelve on the clock so we could get inside and get ourselves a portion of chips. A lot of the food was ready but the staff – in spite of the rather lengthily queue – seemed resistant in opening the door until it was after 12 o’clock. A portion of chips costs something in the region of £1.50 (cod costs about £3.50 a portion there too) which is quite reasonable but one thing I didn’t like was the fact that you couldn’t dictate exactly how much salt and vinegar you put on your chips; I like a mixture of both but the lady who wrapped mine up also thought that my cholesterol was dangerously low and used a hell of a lot of salt on mine! Sadly it spoilt my chips for me, which would have been delicious and fairly fluffy otherwise. The space within the chip shop was very sparse with there just being a few benches, enough for about twenty people to sit down, inside the adjoining room. Obviously this is something to keep in mind if you visit Dudley in the winter months as you don’t want your chips going cold!

Moving away from the chip shop and down the road, we come to the High Street which I personally found to be one of the most visually inviting aspects of the Black Country Museum but sadly lacking when it came to staff interaction. Gregory’s General Store was one of the most well stocked buildings of the museum with lots of packets of food and different supplies so you could appreciate just how different food shopping was for a family back in Victorian and Edwardian England. Like many of the shops on display at Dudley, Gregory’s General Store was once upon a time a real outlet with the shop expanding in 1925 and the family living above the store. Such stories are interesting but sadly not always told by the staff workers as I found that out elsewhere, like in the hardware store where the two guys were too engrossed in some topic or another to talk about anything related to their jobs.

Stepping next door into the photographer’s studio wasn’t a different story either; Dudley won’t be the first place in the country that offers visitors the chance to dress up in silly, frilly Victorian style outfits and have their pictures taken in a sepia tone and it won’t be the last. However, it was another chance really for the Black Country Museum to get more money and although I’m not entirely certain of the prices, I do seem to remember that you paid per person in the photograph rather than just as a lump sum. There wasn’t a lot of information in the photographer’s studio about the difference in photography methods and none of the o-so famous characters about to discuss such developments either.

There were a couple of great characters at very different locations that deserve some praise for bringing some humour and some passion to their jobs. The first of these people was the chap at the Limelight Cinema, a little way away from the High Street. The cinema does pretty much what it says on the tin: it hosts old fashioned, black and white pictures from the Charlie Chaplin era of cinema. By nature, this isn’t everyone’s favourite genre of film and it’s not mine but Limelight is definitely worth a look as, like the school, you do get the impression that you are literally stepping back in time, as long as you ignore the fancy 21st century picture projector. Forget about plush cushioned seats in your local Odeon: a hard wooden bench was where it was at during the early days of cinema!

The lively and enthusiastic gentleman introduced the film (the name of which I can’t remember) and the audience, crouched in a dimly lit room with blaring, over the top gramophone sounding music, were set to watch a film, all about the mistaken identity of a citizen and a Prince. Like I mentioned, this isn’t my style of movie at all but it was a fascinating watch just to see how much cinema has changed over the past couple of centuries and the cinema itself really helped to create the impression that the museum was in actual fact a real, working village and emphasised just how much of a treat going to the pictures was. Just outside there were children playing on hopscotch’s and again, Dudley is a great place to take children who enjoy participation and interaction. Limelight changes its choice of film daily and, like the school, I think there are three movie show times; one in the morning, one just after lunch and then again a little later on in the afternoon so if you are at the museum, there should be an opportunity for you to visit the cinema if you so wish. Again, it’s a good idea to get to the cinema pretty early if you do have a definite time in mind as the seats do get taken rather quickly.

In stark contrast to some of the shops on the High Street, in which you would enter and either be ignored by the staff or feel like you were interrupting their conversation as my Brother learnt in the Observatory, was a lady in my favourite destination, the Tilted Cottage. The lady in that building was one of the warmest and most friendly characters I met across the whole day; she was only too willing to discuss anything about the Bradley family, who used to live in the cottage, as well as its history, to how it became a titled cottage and how the family would pass the time without simple pleasures like the internet, by cooking hearty meals for the family and making rugs out of old pieces of fabric. In fact, she was demonstrating that particular craft whilst we were there and she really was very talkative and welcoming, like another one of the ladies in Toll House who took a personal interest in my family because of our accents. This led to a discussion about the change in some of Lincolnshire’s towns and whilst it wasn’t necessarily on topic with regards to the museum, the friendliness of the staff was sometimes an excellent and memorable aspect of the day. The lady in the Toll House was cooking on one of the Victorian eras stoves, with a real blazing fire, and this again created a level of aesthetic authenticity that I cannot fault the museum for.

I would recommend men to take a visit to the vehicle display showroom; a lot of the museum I feel is geared towards women who like quaint housing and children who like sweets and fair rides, but the vehicle showroom was host to many good looking, old fashioned cars that we were eager to know more about, such as the odd looking boot at the back of some of the cars that turned out to be, uh, a seat. This portion of the attraction is right near the entrance/exit as well as the tram stop so you could visit it either first or last depending on your preference and the staff in there, like the ladies at the houses, were only too keen to answer our questions.

INTERACTIVE AND FACTUAL ASPECTS OF DUDLEY
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I wish we’d looked around the main exhibition before we went off to have a look at the mock village. After paying and whatnot is an exhibition that focuses on not only the famous people that have emerged from the Black Country area, such as Frank Skinner and Lenny Henry, but also where visitors can discover the four towns specialist forms of industrialisation. This was all laid out very well with Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton each hosting their own interactive display area where you could use computers to discover such facts as the population of workers in the towns as well as the different crafts many young men could have learnt at the time. I personally think that in light of some of the less than communicative staff at the museum, it would be beneficial to take a look at the exhibit before venturing off in search of the fish and chip shop; it would have given us more scope for the day ahead and given us a little bit more of an idea as to what we should be looking for in each of the buildings.

The educational centre on Rolfe Street also triumphed for its mix of factual written information, interactive displays and mini-mock ups of such attractions like the funfair. There was also a few television displays with the most interesting one being the cookery video; I’m not just saying that coz I’m a girl (boo chauvinism) and I like food but it was well put together, especially with the notion of which ingredients were appropriate for that era, and just in general the recipes for different stews and cakes. I don’t think children would have gotten too bored in that centre; there were a couple of interactive sections to do with the mine (I’ll get onto that in a sec) such as how difficult it would be to move from one part of the mine to another where children could lay on their backs and physically attempt to move in the cramped space.

That would be good I suppose if you had a child you didn’t particularly like who could have gotten stuck in the sparse space...

PLACES WE DIDN’T VISIT – BUT YOU COULD DO – WHILST AT DUDLEY
As I mentioned, we simply didn’t have time to look around all of the different parts of the Black Country Museum in one day however some of them I do remember from childhood. I very much remember my Mum not liking the Underground Mine; she had visions of my Brother banging his head and knocking himself out! The Coal Mine is very similar to other underground exhibits in the UK but Dudley’s is very much personalised for the notion of industrialisation; you get given a very dim torch to represent just how little light miners had during the 1850s whilst working and there are various displays from different characters to show visitors exactly what life in the mines was like. I regret not revisiting the mines again; everybody was saying how enjoyable that particular part of the museum was and, like some of the other exhibits, it’s important to remember that there are strict times that you get to visit the mine. Each trip lasts roughly 35 minutes with a designated tour guide and I truly recommend giving this one a go – as long as no one in your party is scared of the dark!

Our timing was also bad for the Dudley Canal Trips which would have been a chance to go and explore underneath the canals in replica boats from the 19th and 20th centuries. This isn’t specifically a part of the museum and you have to pay extra to go on the journeys – namely £4.95 an adult and £4.10 for children – although there are various family tickets available. To be honest, in spite of the fact that it’s not technically a part of the Black Country Museum, I did feel that once you’d paid for your entrance fees into the attraction itself that charging an extra five pounds a head to sit on a boat for a little while was a bit steep and that there perhaps should be some form of discount offered to customers of the museum as it does pick up and stop at other destinations too.

If I had to recommend either the mines or the canal trip, I would recommend the mines; it’s included in your admission price and also I think it’s slightly more relevant to the museum itself. We wanted to continue to explore the old fashioned houses and shops, not to mention meeting the piggies at the Tilted Cottage, at Dudley but if you’d never been down into a mine or to another underground attraction before, such as Cheddar Gorge, I would recommend the mine as it really creates a spooky atmosphere and you do begin to understand the reality of working in such conditions.

SERVICES AND OTHER INFO
As well as the fish and chip shop, there are a few other outlets where food and beverages can be purchased. We did bypass the bakery; the cakes looked rather stale and certainly not fresh although my Mum was tempted by the scones. The rest of us however were in search of a pub and we didn’t have far to go when we spotted the Bottle and Glass Inn just a stone’s throw away from the High Street. Now, when I want a beer or a cider, I would prefer it to be cold rather than lukewarm and the same goes for soft drinks; there is nothing more unbearable than a pint of warm, crap coke and to our dismay, other than the beers on draft, the soft drinks were actually just adoring the bar behind the counter, rather than being stored away in fridges. I know Dudley prides itself on keeping everything as authentic as possible but really, I wanted a cold drink not a warm one; it was surprisingly hot in the pub and the thought of drinking warm lemonade turned my stomach. So, we headed off to the Canalside Cafe which was literally the other end of the attraction and along the Canal river. Inside, there was a selection of hot and cold food which at least smelt edible (even if it didn’t look it) and drinks...in refrigerators! We purchased a diet coke, a bottle of mineral water and a couple of coffees for just over £6.00 which is actually fairly reasonable. There are picnic areas dotted around the Black Country Museum if you don’t fancy the faggots and wrinkly looking sausages on offer...

Accessibility for wheelchair users and pushchair owners could be better; Dudley stresses the importance of contacting them directly if you do wish for additional ramps to be supplied to get in the various displays and to bring a guest along – free of charge – who could help you with the rather rickety and uneven paths. Obviously, the museum is trying to preserve the cobbled streets as much as possible for authenticity but if you are a little unsteady underfoot, Dudley may not be the best place for you as I’m unsure if you would be able to get into places such as the mine. I don’t think the cinema had an abundance of wheelchair or pushchair space and the same can be said for the bus but I would contact the museum if you did want to stop by for a visit to see what they could do for you. If you have anyone in your family with a hearing impediment, the Black Country Museum allows you to download information for your guests and, although they’re specifically meant for children, some of the language may need to be explained to your child prior to the visit.

Finally, after realising that we’d not picked up any sweeties on our way around the museum, we stopped off at the gift shop which is conveniently situated on the way back to the car park. In the shop, there are the normal mementos such as pens and note books but they also sell many old fashioned sweets in glass jars. We bought some of the yellow and red acid drops and they taste very similar to those you normally get in old fashioned sweet shops which was lovely and the jars of sweets were very reasonably priced at £1.25 each. Some of the gifts were more reasonable than others – such as the mug gift sets which cost £5 – but others were a little steep.

OVERALL: IS THE BLACK COUNTRY MUSEUM REALLY WORTH THE VISIT?
I have very mixed feelings about the Black Country Museum: although I thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed pace we’d chose to adopt where we steadily made our way around the exhibits, if you were keen on visiting every aspect of the museum, you’d have to go at a far less leisurely pace and perhaps not take all of it in. The staff could have made the day in many ways; the characters were meant to be there, re-telling the stories of their forefathers but I found in some places, the information was scarce and some of the staff came across as caring very little about the impression they made. However, some of the ladies and gentlemen we met along the way were fountains of knowledge and really added to the occasion, donned in their frilly petticoats and waistcoats.

I enjoyed the information in the exhibit as you enter the museum as it was well presented and easy to follow, even if there was a lot to try and understand; it really gave a stronger background story to the details that were sometimes left out at Dudley. Bitterness did ensue however when you consider just how much some of the extras cost; the gifts in the Rock & Fossil Shop were extortionate but good if you wanted a special gift to take back home for anybody. Paying for parking my Dad described as taking the, uh, Mickey and I agree with him; Dudley can soon become a rather expensive day and with a lot of walking involved, I’d recommend you take advantage of the tram and bus services if you do pop by for a visit as they will save your legs immensely.

Overall, the Black Country Living Museum would be worth a visit if you’ve never been before but for us, who’d thoroughly enjoyed our visit there many years ago, it just wasn’t as pleasant or as inspiring as it had been in the past; appearance-wise, I can’t fault the place but some of the staff could have been more friendly and there were sadly a lot of hidden costs along the way.

CONTACT INFO
Address: Black Country Living Museum, Tipton Road, Dudley, DY1 4SQ
Phone number: 0121 5579643
Email address: info@bclm.co.uk
Website: www.bclm.co.uk 

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