February: | February | 22nd, 23rd |
Easter: | April | 20th, 21st |
Early May Bank Holiday: | May | 4th, 5th |
Spring Bank Holiday: | May | 25th, 26th |
Summer Bank Holiday: | August | 24th, 25th |
September: | September | 27th, 28th |
November: | November | 1st, 2nd |
Miniature Steam Engines: | June | 14th, 15th |
Model Railway & Engineering Exhibition: | July | 12th, 13th |
Land Rover Day: | August | 10th |
Heritage Open Days: | September | 13th, 20th |
Non-steaming days: 11:00am & 1:00pm - meet in the Stokers Rest Café
Let our expert knowledgeable guides tell you all about the station, answer your questions and take you to a couple of special off-limits locations.
People sometimes wonder what's the difference between a Steaming Weekend, and static viewing. Static viewing you can do any time our double gates are open; we'll be happy to welcome you, let you wander round or give you a guided tour, but you won't see the thing that makes Claymills come alive; the engines working.
We raise steam 7 times a year; if there's a Bank Holiday, our weekend is Sunday and Monday, if not, plain old Saturday and Sunday. It takes 3 days of hard work by the boilermen and £1,000 worth of coal per day to raise that steam in our 30 ft Lancashire boilers - they've been known to appreciate visitors taking a hand at stoking!
The steam drives our Victorian workshop, all 4 five-storey-high beam engines that used to pump all the sewage and brewery waste away from Burton, (don't worry, we don't do that any more,) more than 25 other smaller ancillary stationary engines, our working dynamos, (the oldest in the country,) and even heats the water in our Victorian bath-house.
Whilst the boilermen are raising steam, the front of house team are preparing the children's activities, welcoming visiting exhibitors, and making sure that our Stoker's Rest café is well stocked with snacks and cakes.
You can stop for a cuppa and get a light meal before (or after) walking around the site taking in the sights, sounds and smells, (hissing steam, hot oil, our Whispering Giant beam engines,) and talking to our very knowledgeable volunteers, who, of course, are the ones who bring the place to life at a steaming.
As from the 6th April 2006 the rules broaden so that more charities can benefit from Gift Aid Donations.
This means that if you're a UK taxpayer:
• You pay a bit extra on the admission prices listed above. • We give you a visitor information pack worth £2.50. • The government gives us an extra 25% on top of the full amount you paid. |
It's called a Gift Aid visit and it makes a massive difference to Claymills.
A little more really means a lot. Please become a Gift Aid visitor.
To qualify for Gift Aid, what you pay in income tax & capital gains tax must at least equal the amount that all the charities you donate to will claim in the tax year.
Other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify.
Higher rate taxpayers should include the total paid on their tax return to obtain further tax relief.