The Streetlife Museum, Hull, Yorkshire

What a great little museum this is!

On a chilly day, the thought of spending an hour inside somewhere warm that wasn't a shop really appealed. As it turned out, this museum brightened our day.

The surprise when I entered the pharmacist's shop above, was that feeling of nostalgia, not because of how the shop looked inside (I'm not that old!), but because of the scent. It took me straight back to the old style independent chemist shop of my childhood in the late 1960's and early 1970's - pre Boots. A time when chemist shops just dispensed medication, over the counter products were things like Fennings Little Healers and cooling powders, and hot water bottles. I was holding my Mum's hand, sat on a hard wooden bench waiting for our prescription. It's amazing how a smell can recall a memory like that!

One of the other attractions that impressed me, was a simulated stage coach ride. As I watched historical dramas, I always wondered what riding in a carriage might be like, and now I know. It's not comfortable at all, a real bone-shaker of a ride.

I took some of my family history information, as some family in the 1850's lived in Hull, but I had no intention of dragging the family around a strange town trying to find a street. No need!!!! Hull looked like a large city, but as we walked out of the museum, the sign for THE street was on the right, near the swing bridge. The houses had been demolished and re-built, but there was the street name. How lucky was that!