Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Fifty selected museums in Britain

The London daily paper, the Independent, asked a panel to choose the best museums in Britain, defined chiefly as those that are fascinating places to spend an autumn afternoon. The result is ecclectic, biased towards south east England but interesting, and I copy it now. I have laid out their list geographically. Your search engine will find all or nearly all of these museums, but please tell me if you fail, and I'll add detail. NOT ENGLAND The Burrell Collection of china, paintings, furniture, and glass. Glasgow. 01412 649 7151 Scottish Fisheries Museum, Fife 01333 310 628 Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Holywood, 01232 428 428 Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans, Cardiff. 01222 573500 THE NORTH EAST OF ENGLAND Josephine and John Bowes Museum of textiles, furniture, china and paintings, Barnard Castle, CVounty Durham. 01833 690606 Beamish North of England Open Air Museum, with mine, farm, cottages, pub. North of Durham. 01207 231 811 Castle Museum of 18th century shop, streets and jail, and a Sixties cafe. York. 01904 653 611. Ereuka! The Museum for Children. Designed for children under 12 to enjoy science and technology -- why are fridges cold ? Halifax, West Yorkshire. 01422 330 069 Thackery Mediucal Museum, Leeds. 0113 244 4343 Elsecar Heritage Centre, Power, energy, and a railway. Barnsley. 01226 740 203 Snibson Discovery Park and Museum. Colliery, fashion, textiles, transport, engineering. Coalville Leicestershire. 01530 510851 The Galleries of Justice. The Victorian laws, courts, and puniushments. Nottingham. 0115 952 0555 THE NORTH WEST Merseyside Maritime Museum. Includes the Slave Trade. Liverpool. 0151 478 4499 Liverpool Museum. Rainforest, space, mummies, and much else. 0151 478 4399 Ellesmere Boat Museum of canals and boats. Ellesmere Port, South Wirral. 0151 355 5017 Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. 0161 832 2244 Macclesfield Silk Museum. 01625 613210 THE MID:LANDS Ironbridge Gorge Museums. Workshops and houses of Victorian Shropshire. 01952 433 522 Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery. 0121 303 2834 Black Country Living Museum. Cottages and workshops of 1850 to 1930. Dudley. 0121 557 9643 The Pitt Rivers Museum of Anthropology, Oxford. 01865 270 927 THE WEST COUNTRY Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. Home and work of the 20th century sculptor. St Ives. 01736 796226 Exploratory Hands On Science Centre, chiefly for children. Bristol. 0117 907 5000 The Bath Museum of Costume. 01225 477 789 THE SOUTH EAST Bckinghamshire County Museum and Roald Dahl Children's Gallery. Aylesbury. 01296 331 441 The Fitzwilliam Museum of paintings, furniture, and applied arts, Cambridge. 01223 332 900 Kettles Yard. Twentieth century art. Cambridge. 01223 352 124 Duxford Flight Museum, Duxford Airport, Cambridgeshire. 01223 835 000 Beaulieu National Motor Museum, Brockenhurst, Hampshire. 01590 612 345 Weald and Downland Open Air Museum. 35 Sussex buildings rescued and rebuilt. 01243 811 348 The Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingam, Kent. 01634 406 397 LONDON Many readers of this group know these, and they're all in the phone book, so I'll simply list them from west to east. South Kensington: Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert South London: Museum of the Moving Image, Imperial War Museum, Cuming Museum, Horniman Museum (of Africa, Asia, and Music) Bloomsbury and Convent Garden: British Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, London Transport Musdeum, The Cabaret and Mechanical Museum (of automata) Near Tower Bridge: Old St Thomas's Operating Theatre and Herb Garret, Bramah's Tea and Coffee Museum, Design Museum East End: Bethnal Green Museum, The Ragged School Museum, Geffrye Museum (of historically furnished rooms) Ben Haines, London