Crich and the National Tramway Museum

As 'something to do' mum suggested that we could head over to Crich for the day.  Now, I haven't been to Crich since I was very young.  It's a small town (more of a village, to be honest) but is home to the Tramway Museum, which rather predictably looks after a range of old trams.  We were definitely up for a day out, so we jumped in the car and headed over the hills.

Arriving at the museum, we found a car park with no spaces and a series of rather ominous black clouds hanging overhead.  In order to allow time for the car park to clear we opted to go to the nearby Sherwood Foresters memorial for a while.  However, within a minute of parking up the heavens opened and we were confined to the car for about a quarter of an hour while a series of pea-sized hailstones attacked the car.  Summer in England!

Venturing down from the memorial, we decied to take the opportunity ot grab a bite to eat at a nearby pub.  They stocked some local beers, which we tried out, and served good 'homely' pub grub.  We all knew we wanted a light snack as we had plans for an evening meal, but when my sausage, egg and chips from the 'light bites' part of the menu arrived it was clear that I wouldn't be eating much in the evening!

From the pub we headed up to the museum, which had emptied quite significantly since the hailstorm.  It's a large complex developed in an old quarry, and allows their extensive collection of old vehicles to do a mile-long run along properly laid track.  We went on a couple of trams, and really enjoyed looking around their workshops and sheds.

If it wasn't for Graham stumbling upon it we'd have easily missed the best-displayed area of the museum that was inside a massive exhibition hall hidden away without any signs saying what was inside!