Framework Knitters' Museum

I decided to take my Mum here as a mother's day present, something a bit different as she loves crafts and knitting. It was a fab day. We arrived just after opening, paid £8 for an adult and £5 for a student (me 31 year old undergrad) First stop we needed a coffee, the cafe has a beautiful choice of cake, some lovely soft drinks and wide choice of hot drinks and a nice little menu (we had delicious lunch later on absolutely beautiful food and lovely staff) we then had a talk with one of the workers who guided us to the museum, showed us the map and gave some background info, I am so sorry I forget her name but she was lovely, we looked around the workers cottage and the owners cottage followed by the knitting frames, a fabulous employee/volunteer name Gill talked in depth about the machines, the original machine, the history behind it and showed us how they work, she was absolutely fantastic, so good at retelling the history and explaining how it works, then one of the male workers came downstairs and worked on a machine for us to have a live demonstration, it was really interesting. We went over to the other side and worked on the circle knitting machines and chatted with the lady who worked in there. We got to take some of our work home too which is really fun, we can craft something out of the wool. At the end of our tour around Gill grabbed us to show us the display in the Chapel, it was fascinating to see stockings worn by Queen Victoria, and hand written letters from the Queen discussing her stockings. I had such a lovely day, it was so interesting to learn the history, Gill absolutely shone out of the staff there with information and enthusiasm. The whole site is lovely, all staff knowledgeable and keeping the history alive. Absolutely recommend, a really nice day out, we spent from 11 till 3.30 there, a couple of cafe breaks and the rest of the time in the museum.
Thanks so much, fab fun day with my Mum x

Serendipity can bring unexpected delight. In search of lunch, we were pointed in the direction of the museum's cafe where we found a tasty selection of veggie friendly offerings and outstanding coffee.
Sitting in the charming garden, we were curious about the cottages which make up the museum.
After buying tickets, we were taken around the cottages and workshops by volunteer Anne and her colleagues whose welcome and knowledge brought this living museum to life. They couldn't have been better in making us feel welcome and engaging our granddaughter.
This place is a great cultural asset, that is an important social history resource and is rightly cherished by its custodians
All this AND it's dog friendly.

Major and sympathetic upgrading of areas open to the public have made the world of difference to this museum. It is modern, bright and welcoming, with an extensive cafe. This has indoor and outdoor seating. Exhibits and film footage can be seen while seated indoors.
What was so impressive was the availability of reasonably priced foods, soups/ savouries and pastries/ cakes. I was asked very carefully if I had any allergies, a good thing to be checked on - thank you.
Many knitted items can be found in the shop - all lovely and well priced.
An additional display was being exhibited too; this was the focus of our visit today. We will have to visit again to go around the knitters museum further as we last visited three years ago.
A lovely place.

An absolute treat! On a very wet and windy half- term day we visited this fascinating museum. Our party consisted of 4 adults and six children (7 to 15 years old). The mixture of hands on experiences, knowledgable staff and beautifully presented exhibits meant all of us were kept entertained and informed for nearly 2 hours (the only reason we left was our parking was running out).

The enthusiastic volunteer guide Jill gave us an in-depth tour of this fascinating museum. Men, this is something for you if you are into working machines. Jill is one of only 12 people in the world who can work one of these intricate machines and gave us a demonstration of its complexity. Children can make a colourful knitted scarf in no time. I can recommend the cafe as well for cakes and healthy salads . The original cottages complete with furniture and beautiful u
Items of handmade underwear in display drawers show the level of exquisite hand sewing of these hardworking women. Please go and see fir yourselves.

Kids (4 &7) really enjoyed seeing how local children used to live in the recreated bedrooms and family houses from 1890’s as well as how people worked. Our guide was knowledgeable and explained things really well for all the family and brought out the right things to get the kids interested. It was great to be able to poke around in the drawers and cupboards to explore. We all enjoyed making scarves on the vintage knitting machines and eating the cakes in the cafe. It will be lovely in summer with the garden. Kids have already put in a bid to go back. It’s a really engaging way to find out more about local history.

What a wonderful day we had at the museum! Gill, who showed us around was full of enthusiasm and information about the history of the museum and industry. She was so full of interesting information that we came away buzzing 😀

We also experienced a great time in the hands on knitting circular machines section and came away with a tube of knitting we had produced which I turned into a beautiful scarf.

We had a tasty lunch of leek and potato soup, sausage rolls and coffee which was yummilicous!

Thank you for the staff and volunteers. ❤️ A day out I would recommend to everyone.

My wife and I recently enjoyed a day out at the European Award-Winning Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington, Nottingham. The staff, including smiling volunteers, were very enthusiastic which, I must add, means that you need to allow a full day to get the maximum benefit from your visit. There is a café serving delicious refreshments to break up your visit and souvenirs for your memories.
There are many interesting things to do and see. You can try your hand at framework knitting, see the fascinating objects that have been made by visiting schoolchildren and read a time line from 1589 to 1990 full of interesting facts. In the old chapel you can read that an application to turn the premises into a strip club was turned down some years ago.
Overall, a very enjoyable and informative visit, highly recommended!
July 2022

This fascinating museum is an absolute must for anyone with an interest in knitting and even those who do not! The volunteers were all very knowledgeable and brought the history of the craft of framework knitting alive - from the living conditions of the workers to the actual use of the (beautiful) framework machines. Oh, and the cafe was excellent too. Overall, highly recommended 😀

Lovely small living museum that has just had a major face-lift thanks to lottery funding. The staff were all very helpful and enthusiastic. We had a personal guided tour to most of the exhibits including demonstrations of the frame knitting machines and even got to use the auto knitters to make stocking material that the lady let us take home.
Followed the visit up with a nice cup of tea and a slice of locally made cake in the new cafe.
Parking for the museum is on the street which is limited (but we got lucky) and accessibility might be hard for some due to the tight steep stairs in the cottages, but that is to be expected in such tiny old buildings.
We found enough to do and see for a decent length visit. Give yourself at least two to three hours although obviously you could spend as long as you like. Especially if you get as hooked on the rotary autoknitter as I nearly did (no pun intended)