St Fagans: National History Museum in Cardiff is ‘The UK’s Favourite Tourist Attraction’ according to research by consumer champions Which?.
In May 2011, Which? Travel magazine asked 3001 members of the public for their views on UK visitor attractions they had visited in the last two years. Respondents were invited to give answers for up to three attractions they’d most recently visited, giving a total of 7754 visitor reviews for 72 sights.
Not only did St Fagans: National History Museum come top of the ‘Museum and Art Galleries category’ but a customer score of 90% based on overall satisfaction and the likelihood to recommend made it the UK public’s favourite attraction. The Museum was awarded “Which? Recommended Provider” status alongside Colchester Zoo, Essex; Chester Zoo; Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh; Leeds Castle, Kent.
More than 600,000 visitors a year come to the open-air Museum on the outskirts of Cardiff which makes it Wales’ most visited heritage attraction. St Fagans contains over 40 buildings that have been moved from locations all around Wales and re-erected at the beautiful grounds of a 16th Century manor house; they include a working corn mill, woollen mill, saddler’s workshop and smithy, a medieval church, a Victorian schoolroom and a 1940s aluminium prefabricated bungalow. Entry to the Museum is free, thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.
Bethan Lewis, Head of St Fagans: National History Museum said:
“We are delighted that the public have helped us get this award which confirms our position at the heart of the UK tourism offer. We pride ourselves on the range of events and the quality of our facilities and it means a great deal for our staff to have their hard work recognised.”
“It is a very busy time for us at St Fagans; by the end of the year we will have completed several new attractions that include a medieval merchant’s house, a clogmaker’s workshop and 19th century Calf Cots. We are also working on exciting plans to completely transform the visitor experience and make St Fagans the home of Welsh history.”
In March 2010, the iconic open-air museum was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant to develop detailed plans for the future of the 63-year old Museum. The project named ‘Making History’ includes aspirations to redesign the current main entrance, build more gallery spaces and improve some of the Museum’s facilities. St Fagans aims to extend the narrative timeline in order to tell even more of the stories of the people of Wales.
This is the latest in a series of visitor accolades won by the Museum. In 2010, users of travel web site TripAdvisor voted St Fagans one of their top 10 free sites across the UK, and in July the million members of netmums.com voted St Fagans as one of the top free places to go in South East Wales.
You can view more photographs of St Fagans at http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshicons/sets/72157626825505970/
