New Lanark Visitor Centre ~ Review

Recently I discovered a lovely opportunity on Facebook for bloggers to visit New Lanark. Naturally I signed myself up for that. As a family we are regular visitors to the World Heritage Site (admittedly we usually tramp around the grounds and walks on sunnier days complete with a picnic), the chance to see the "touristy" bits was quite exciting.
Contact with Melissa Reilly the marketing and PR officer was smooth and very helpful. My tickets were waiting for me at the front desk, along with stickers, yup I'm sold now.

First off we went straight for the main building containing the Annie McLeod Experience, textile machinery and roof garden. The ride was in a comfy 2 seater bubble with speakers, it was informative and entertaining for all ages, the hologram effects and mirrored sections were well done and looked very professional. 

The village scenes were well crafted and showed solid attention to detail, and though they looked a little dated they still captured a 5 year old's imagination.

Next stop we toured around the textile machinery, New Lanark mill is still a functioning mill. They can lay claim to producing products for the Harry Potter franchise and even used but Chanel in their garments. The machines add a fantastic architecture to the space.



The roof garden, deserved a better day for a visit, was a quirky paradise of discovery with little animals tucked away in the covers just waiting to be found. The views were a little lost in the dull February setting, but having explored the area lots I can vouch for them being absolutely stunning.





I found the main trick to exploring New Lanark is to check all corners and take the road less travelled. For example this mosaic is found just off the roof garden, take the stairs down not the lift and you find just inside next to an open loft display. If you look up at this point you will also see some lovely boot prints on the underside of the roof, these fascinated my youngest, who believe they must have been there for hundreds of years.



Robert Owens School is a treasure trove of slates, globes and a solid collection of olde-worlde educational equipment. The giant globe, the lectern and abacus all formed a magic atmosphere for my children. (I neglected to mention the harsher realities of education in previous centuries!)

There's even an opportunity to dress up in the school pinafores, and pose with cut outs in various locations.Another clever way of sharing across modern day social media, plus the children (and adults) seem to enjoy them.



We took in Robert Owen's house, which seemed quite modern compared to what I would have expected; lights, wallpaper, carpets. The atmosphere in the house was quite stilted, not the sort of place you could find relaxing. In comparison the Mill workers house was definitely more crowded, bare floors and wall along with the press of bodies, made it appear a busier place. Watch out for the toilet in the mill workers house, the creepy statue made me jump.



We rounded off our day in the New Lanark Tearoom, which was mobbed (bank holiday at lunchtime!). Then wandered around to enjoy the views some more (and walk off the cake).

I'm looking forward to the next school holidays and some proper exploring of the refurbished Clearburn park and the Falls of Clyde walkway. 

In addition, as part of 'Year of History, Heritage and Architecture', LEGO Brick City will be coming to New Lanark from 28th June – 9th August 2017. Brick City is a celebration of some of the world's favourite buildings and urban icons including ten World Heritage Sites. This will be the first real-life World Heritage Site it has visited.