You know when something is so naff, that it comes full-circle and actually becomes quite cool? Yes? Well, that's the pencil museum.
It's a museum. And it's full of pencils.
We went along because it was raining, and we needed something to keep us out of the pub for an hour.
On entering and paying your £3, you receive a free pencil. Now, how many museums give out demos of their exhibits like that, eh? The last time you walked into the Natural History Museum, did they hand you the thigh bone from a woolly mammoth to take home and decorate your mantel with? I'll bet not. Point 1 to the Pencil Museum.
Clutching your cedar-smelling new pencil, you walk through a kind of papier mache tunnel (graphite mine) into the museum: a small set of rooms with case after case of pencils. From the humble origins (writing with dirty lumps of graphite), through the evolution of the wooden holder, and on to the colourful array of pencils we all take for granted today.
I know. Case upon case of pencils - I can see you stifling a yawn - but, remember, it's got to be truly rubbish to be able to swing round full circle.
Highlights: clever secret war pencils with maps and compasses inside, and a big photo-opportunity pencil to stand next to with a sign saying 'This is me a the Cumberland Pencil Museum'. Brilliant. read more