This place is a hidden gem! You wouldn't think of Keswick as being a tourist destination that attracts car enthusiasts, more the sort of place for hillwalkers, cyclists, lazy walks in the country....
One of the other museums in the town is dedicated to pencils for goodness sake! But This one is a cut above the rest. Granted it is not very big, and they don't have the space to display all of their vehicles at any one time, but you are always guaranteed to see a good few of your favourite cars from the movies and tv programmes.
The museum is easy to find, as is signposted in several parts of the town, and is located only a minutes walk from one of the main car parks. This makes it an ideal part of any excursion
to this part of the lake districts, especially on days when the weather is not so good.
The time I was there, the cars on show included "Kitt" from Knight Rider, one of the batmobiles, the Mad Max bike, The flintstones car if I remember rightly, and the stylish Volvo P1800 from the Saint.Perhaps most notably, though, the yellow Reliant Robin, made famous by Only Fools And Horses is a regular feature on the museum floor.Along with a huge collection of original Bond cars, covering a wide range of films from the earlier- middle period of the series.
But as I said before, the cars on show are always being rotated to showcase them all. So when visiting you are not always guaranteed to see an exact car you are interested in, but certainly get to see some amazing machines you will recognise. And you can always phone them up in advance to inquire about the current fleet on display.Their number is on their website "www.carsofthestars.com" along with loads of other useful information.
It is quite a strange experience though seeing them in real life. And being able to stand right next to them and walk round them from various angles is really cool. Some are not quite the same as you would imagine them to be. For example, "Kitt" is far smaller than i expected it to be, or remembered it as being from the show. And the Batmobile is enormous. I think it is the one from the original series.
There are some really odd ones on show though... like the massive Thunderbirds FAB1. The car that Lady Penelope was always seen riding in in the tv show. There was also the car from Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang the last time I was there.
I think this place makes for a really good day out, and although entrance is not too steeply priced (£4 adults and £3 children) if you take very young children, you should be prepared for them to either get bored easily, or start climbing all over the exhibits! When I was there, some of the cars seemed wasted on children, as they are from programmes not shown on tv for years. But they will certainly recognise some of the more recent cars.
If however you are like me, and old enough, just about, to remember a lot of the shows and films the cars are taken from, then you will be spoilt for choice as to what to look at first.
I love the way you are allowed to just walk right up to the cars and peer inside, even though these are all nearly priceless cars, as many were one offs.
Another good thing about this attraction is that it is unusually quiet, well it was when I was there a few summers back anyway. Though things may be slightly different now.
One of the most surprising things in the building is actually on your way out. Instead of the usual commercial nightmare of a giftshop, there are simply a few items in a display cabinet, and instead the walls are dotted with loads of genuine signed photographs of celebrities such as the stars from the films and programmes that the cars are taken from and other very well known names, some of whom have sadly passed on since signing the photo. Many of these are available to purchase, for varying prices, ranging upwards from around £25. They are all smartly mounted and framed, ready for display.
Apparently they cater for larger group visits as well as being open to the public 7 days for the entire Easter-December, and weekends during December until Christmas.So if you are ever in Keswick and wondering what to do next, you couldn't go far wrong with a visit to the "cars of the stars musem". It really is well worth a visit, and it's surprising to find such an unusual and interesting place of interest in the middle of the Lake District.
I recommend this place to anyone who has in interest in the cars of the movies or television, and of the stars who drove them.
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Nov 18th, 2006
(Apr 18th, 2007)
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