I had a fascinating visit to Masson Mills - i booked the guided tour and discovered how Richard Arkwright not only invented and developed the water powered cotton spinning frame, but established the factory system, which was copied across the world and played a major part at the start of the industrial revolution. As a result Masson Mills is part of a collection of Derwent Valley Mills and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a valuable piece of textile history and at the museum you can hear all about how cotton thread was produced from its raw state with live demonstrations of the weaving machinery and what it was like to work in one of these mills. Highly recommended if you are interested in the history of the industrial revolution, weaving technology and textiles.

Fascinating slice of industrial history. Very atmospheric rooms full of old machines. The smell, the sounds of some of the machines running was all very evocative of a bygone era.

An excellent and interesting experience. You really get the feeling of how working in the Victorian and later textile industry was like. Not only is there an array of static and moving machinery but also a guide who runs some of the fabric making machines but is very informative and knowledgeable of the whole process. Great visit and highly recommended.

A very interesting museum. I spent about 2 hours here. There is guided tours every Thursday, but there are also boards and QR codes with information. There was also a member of staff there who gave us a talk and ran the machines for us. I went for a drink afterwards in the lovely cafe which had delicious cakes. The gift shop was also full of hand crafted trinkets and mill items such as bobbins as well as thread made in the museum.

Amazing experience. Amanda loved guiding us around the mill and demonstrating the looms working. Whole guided tour was about 1 3/4 well worth the visit. You have to pay for the public car park next door if you purchase items in the shop a slight reduction will be given to the car parking.