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Three adults standing between storage racks. One is wearing blue gloves and holding a silver candlestick Three adults standing between storage racks. One is wearing blue gloves and holding a silver candlestick

Give an unforgettable Museum Gift Experience.

Our museum experience packages are a present guaranteed to wow that special someone. As well as making their day (or maybe treating yourself), you’ll also be giving an important gift to your museums – raising vital funds to help keep them free and open for everyone to enjoy, all year round.


Whether the lucky recipient is head over heels about Sheffield heritage, a nature lover or an art aficionado, we’ve a got Museum Gift Experience that’s sure to delight, amaze and inspire them.

You can book a Museum Gift Experience today – there’s no need to specify a date straight away, we’ll be in touch after the festive period to find a time that suits whoever’s going to be joining us. 

Large group of adults and children looking at the River Don Engine.
Large group of adults and children looking at the River Don Engine.

Run the Mighty River Don Engine

Join our Historic Engineering team and discover the ins and outs of operating the most powerful working steam engine in Europe.

Round out the day with a truly unmissable experience – the hands-on thrill of running the 12,000 horsepower engine.

£250 per person

To ensure the best experience for you, these exclusive, hands-on sessions have a strictly limited capacity. This experience  accommodates two people – if you're booking a single place, you'll be joined by another participant.  

9am-2pm, lunch and refreshments included.

Guests must be able to follow instructions, be comfortable working at height and able to climb up and down steep ladders.

Find out more & book
Detail of a water powered wheel with toothed flywheel in the background
Detail of a water powered wheel with toothed flywheel in the background

All About Abbeydale

***This gift experience is currently unavailable due to essential maintenance being carried out on the dam at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet***

 

One of the world’s first factories, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet was the largest water-powered works on the River Sheaf, manufacturing crucible steel and a wide range of agricultural tools.

During this busy morning, join the Historic Engineering team, who’ll share their in-depth knowledge of the site, and help them run and maintain the huge waterwheels still in operation today.

£250 per person

To ensure the best experience for you, these exclusive, hands-on sessions have a strictly limited capacity. This experience  accommodates two people – if you're booking a single place, you'll be joined by another participant. 

9.30am-2pm, lunch and refreshments included.

Two adults looking at a collection of framed paintings mounted on a sliding frame
Two adults looking at a collection of framed paintings mounted on a sliding frame

Collection Store Curator Tours

Enjoy an exclusive behind the scenes introduction to the city’s museum collections with our expert curators.

See the stars of Sheffield’s collections not currently on display close-up and delve deeper into the stories behind them with our knowledgeable team. We’ll tailor the tour to the theme of your choosing – pick from:

  • Visual Art

  • Natural Sciences

  • Sheffield History

  • Metalwork & Industry

£150 per person

To ensure the best experience for you, these exclusive, hands-on sessions have a strictly limited capacity.

Tours have a four-person minimum to run, so for bookings of less than four we'll liaise with bookers to find a suitable date for a shared tour.

9.30am-11.30am, light refreshments provided.

Find out more & book

More Great Gift Ideas:

Three adults in conversation in an art gallery
Make Friends with Sheffield Museums

Give the gift of a Friends or Friends Circle membership and your friends or family will enjoy exclusive exhibition launches, Friends only events and experiences, and the joy of supporting their favourite museums.

Find out more
Turn a Living Room into a Gallery with Prints on Demand

Make gift giving a work of art. You can take home hundreds of works from the city’s art collection thanks to our Prints on Demand services. Just purchase your favourite and we’ll post it right to you.  

Find out more

 

 

Your support makes a huge difference

 

Sheffield Museums is a charity. Every year we have to generate £1.5 million in addition to the funding we receive to run the sites, care for the city’s collections, deliver exhibitions and events and provide a wide range of learning opportunities for Sheffield’s schools and communities. Every Museum Gift Experience, Friends Membership and Print on Demand you order helps us do that.

Thank you.