Craven Museum II

On a recent trip to Skipton, we stopped in at the Craven Museum again on our way back to the car. Previously we didn't get much beyond the first few exhibits. This visit got us much further into the museum.

Last visit, Lucy was the one who did the dress up activity. This time, Jacob wanted to try out something new. He found something appropriate for a boy that was thematically quite old.

Caveman grinds grains for flour!

He wore the caveman skins the whole time. He enjoyed grinding flour, especially explaining to me how it was done. But that is not all that we saw.

Curious about his own caveman past, he tried out the archeological excavation exhibit, where children can dig through some small rocks to discover pottery and other artifacts that are glued to the bottom of the display (keeping people from making off with valuable replicas of actual artifacts). Lucy and Jacob enjoyed digging.

The only challenge was the awkward angle for taking pictures

We saw more recent technology, like this washing machine.

We couldn't quite figure out how to work it

More familiar was a pair of pianos. The sign told us not to touch and our budding musicians resisted their natural urges to play.

Cavemen have cool songs, just ask Fred Flintstone

Jacob also liked the model locomotive on display.

Where was Lucy? She was still excavating!

The star attraction of the museum is the Shakespeare First Folio. Printed just seven years after his death, it is a single volume edition of 36 of his 38 plays. At most 750 copies were printed. Only 230 survive today. Fewer than fifty are still in the British Isles. Impressively, this copy is one of only four that are on permanent display in the entire world. It is kept in low lighting in a glass case. Patrick Stewart (who hails from the Yorkshire area) recorded an audio-interpretation (including some speeches from plays) that plays as the curious onlookers look on the amazing book.

Open to Julius Caesar

Downstairs in the town hall, a small craft fair was being held. The crafts were not so interesting to us but the tea and snacks lured us in. Jacob, Lucy, and I shared a slice of cake and had drinks for each of us. It was a nice refreshment before our journey home. It was a great visit to the museum.