Europe Travel Blog

With its National Media Museum, elegant Victorian civic buildings set alongside old mills built from local sandstone, and some of the finest Indian food in the UK, Bradford in Yorkshire, England, is a wonderful city for a great day out.

Long a centre for the woollen industry and textiles, Bradford became prosperous during the Industrial Revolution, with textile mills turning out worsted cloth and other fabrics. Like many of the traditional industries of the UK, the heydey of the textile industry in Bradford is now passed, but the city is hopefully in the process of regeneration, and the textile industry leaves its own particular legacy.

Use of colour and dyeing was important in the development of the textile industry, and the educational Bradford Colour Museum is unique in the UK, and is run by the Society of Dyers and Colourists.

The National Media Museum is one of the most visited museums in Britain outside of London, and has three cinemas, including a gigantic Imax screen. In the museum there are displays of photography and cameras, including a fabulous camera obscura which gives you an image of the street outside the museum. You can also see old televisions, and learn something of the technology that makes them work. You can also see old television commercials, and programmes, as well as see a few typical sets for the shooting of programmes. You can even see some of the figures used in Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit animations. There are many different types of lenses and mirrors, including the old “hall of mirrors” favourites, where distorting mirrors give you versions of yourself fat and thin. This museum is definitely of particular interest if you have an interest in optics, which forms part of most physics courses – but it gives you the fun stuff as well. And talking of fun, don’t forget the museum gift shop where you can buy some pretty wonderful toys – for yourself, not just the kids.

Filed under: Museums, Architecture, Food, England