Travel: Coatbridge

THE long yawning Easter holidays beckon. Chants of “I’m bored, mum” usually start immediately. So I find it’s wise to have a couple of days out tucked up your sleeve.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Mar 2012, 00:00 BST

One of my favourite options is a visit to Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life in Coatbridge. Pack up a picnic for a great day out.

The main exhibition hall, a former Hydrocon Crane works, provides an excellent space for the displays. It even features working machinery, including a huge cable winding engine from the Cardowan Colliery. My girls Eve (9) and Hope (6) loved the old-style school set-up. Graham, my partner, confessed to being naughty at school once, and getting the tawse. I think the girls thought he was making the whole thing up.

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Eve’s friend, Cara (8) enjoyed the policing memorabilia. In one corner there’s an 18th-century portrait of a wealthy family from nearby Airdrie, the Rankines. We paused to count hats, ponies and dogs and decide who looked the grumpiest.

Outside you can view the archaeological remains of the site, from its 1830s incarnation as an iron works. Alternatively, you can look down from the futuristic viewing pod. The site covers around 20 acres, and you can wander at will. We hopped on the electric tram to make our way round to the miners’ row, passing the sawmill. It was worth the £1 for adults and 50p for children. I was amused when our driver put his grandson to work, switching the direction of the tram’s chairs at the end of the journey. Who said child labour was outlawed?

We had a nosey around the miners’ cottages, which depict the living and working conditions of Lanarkshire miners and their families throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Costumed interpreters bring it all to life and I defy anyone not to become nostalgic at the sight of the 1960s house and sweetie shop.

Next we braved the reconstruction mine tour – you need to book a time slot for this activity. It’s not one for anyone scared of the dark, although you can be escorted out at any time if it gets too much. It demonstrate the appalling conditions in mines of yore. Continue along the cobbled street and a short walk brings you out at a restored branch of the Monklands Canal, which leads to the play park and picnic area.

Summerlee, Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, Coatbridge, tel: 01236 638460, admission free, www.visitlanarkshire.com/attractions/historic-heritage/Summerlee-The-Museum-of-Scottish-Industrial-Life/