Yorkshire Museum of Farming

We visit the grand opening 2015 at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming, and discover that one of the area’s best kept secrets is right on our doorstep!

The Yorkshire Museum of Farming reopened its doors to the public last month in a grand Easter weekend extravaganza, with everything to delight the visitor from newborn lambs to steam train rides. It was impossible not to be impressed at the extent and variety of things to see and do on the site.
“We have a sixteen acres of land here, with lots on it,” explains Site Manager Dave Thirlwall. “And there really is something for everyone, from trains and vintage tractors for Granddad to a playground for the kids.”
The museum’s slogan is “more than just a museum,” which just about sums it up, but the Four Season’s Gallery which houses the main displays has plenty to satisfy anyone wanting their history fix. The great thing about many of the exhibits is that they are highly accessible with clear interpretation material, making it easy for both children and adults to understand what it’s all about. Upstairs is the excellent Women’s Land Army Gallery which opened in 2013, funded by a National Lottery grant, and is definitely not to be missed!
On the rest of the site – and part of the fun is in the exploring –there’s more to discover. In the rambling collection of historical villages, costumed re-enactors were out in force for the season’s grand opening. The Viking village was alive with Norsemen and women demonstrating crafts, while cowboys were in residence in the fort, creating a real wild west experience. Characters who looked like they’d just come from the set of the BBC’s Wolf Hall were welcoming visitors in the Tudor Croft!
A further area of the site is given over to the keeping of livestock, and visitors can interact with some of the animals; on our visit, children were invited to help bottle feed two of the new lambs. The variety of animals may change throughout the season, but generally include pigs, a cow, ponies, sheep, goats, hens and ducks. There’s a nature trail on offer too, focussing on the wild creatures which live on our farms, and on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays, the Derwent Valley Light Railway provides regular short rides up and down the track. It runs a number of diesel locomotives, and a rather magically named steam locomotive – Merlin!
Even with all that’s on offer, the museum is constantly updating and evolving. New for 2015 is the Wolds Waggoners’ display, a small but carefully chosen group of exhibits commemorating the WWI army transport unit which took supplies to front line positions. There’s also a new outdoor exhibition coming up, “The Dawn of Farming” – the construction of its two pre-historic round houses is already well underway. This exhibition will look at the period when humans stopped foraging and started farming, featuring tools, equipment and ancient crops. New farm animals on site are the alpacas, and Shetland sheep will soon be arriving, a native breed of sheep, farmed in Britain since pre-historic times.
“Locals are often among our first time visitors,” says Dave Thirlwall. “We really are a hidden gem, even for those who live nearby. But if you haven’t visited us yet, then come along. it’s a great day out.”