SIGHTS and sounds will come alive at Ellesmere Port’s National Waterways Museum every Sunday this summer as the attraction is transformed into a historic Canal Town.

The event will see costumed characters, working heritage boats, demonstrations of a blacksmith forge and steam engine power hall, which will all help to give visitors a glimpse into their rich maritime and canal past.

Cared for by the Canal and River Trust charity, the large museum site has been used as a location for the TV drama Peaky Blinders and has just won a Tripadvisor 2022 Travellers’ Choice Award.

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At the junction of the Manchester Ship Canal and the Shropshire Union Canal, it offers stunning views across the River Mersey and provides the perfect location for visitors to enjoy an interactive window into life at the historic port.

Supported by players of People's Postcode Lottery, the weekly 'Canal Town' programme cruises into the summer calendar with a host of special themed Sundays from Steampunk Victorian sci-fi fantasy (supported by Cogwarts) (24 July) and the First World War (31 July) to 1920s Afternoon Tea (14 August) and Astounding Inventions (11 and 18 September).

Dogs are welcome on site and get their own special event with a Village Fete and Dog Show on 28 August, plus a Peaky Pooches competition, with the winner taking home a doggy hamper and pet portrait.

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Chris Done, visitor services manager with the Canal and River Trust, said: “Ellesmere Port owes its existence to its location at the trade interchange between the inland waterway network and the global port of Liverpool. We want to embrace the town’s rich history and replicate how it felt to live here when the port was a buzzing hive of activity.

“This was the thinking behind the Canal Town idea – to get dressed up, go traditional, create some theatre and bring the site to life by getting our historic boats moving up and down the locks. We want our visitors to step through our doors and get that feeling they have been transported into another world.”

The museum is open seven days a week, 10am – 4pm.

For more information, visit here. Adult tickets cost £9.75, concessions £8.50, children £6 and families £25. Tickets give free entrance for a year.

To find out more about People's Postcode Lottery, click here.