We visited Roots of Norfolk at Gressenhall on a hot Monday in the summer break. My worry was that it would be a show place for a heap of old farm implements in which none of the family would have any interest. Nothing could be further from the truth. The museum consists of a large 18th century workhouse building, with other buildings in the grounds recreating a family cottage, two shops, a blacksmith's and a school. There are 50 acres of grounds including the farm and although we spent five hours we still didn’t get round all of it.  Kids can have fun in the adventure playground |
If we had wanted to find out all the details of the miserable lives lead by many in the 18th century workhouse which forms the central building of the museum, there was plenty of information. The history was mainly told through the recorded lives of particular inmates. This was delivered imaginatively around the site through boards, press button stories, videos, and handsets in the main building. There was also a free hour-long tour with a guide but we all found this tedious and ducked out after the first 10 minutes. Since it was our day off, we preferred to go for pleasure rather than education although we learnt some things along the way. E-mail the museum: gressenhall.museum@norfolk.gov.uk | 
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