Milestones Museum is a Living History experience laid out entirely under cover which is rather unusual but , obviously , this makes the attraction a good option to visit on a wet or a just generally unpleasant day. The whole Museum is housed within what feels like a giant Aircraft Hangar. We actually visited on a fairly decent weather day & I have to admit that we chose a day in the week that schools had just returned after the Christmas break figuring , correctly as it happened , that there would be no school party visit. If this sounds somewhat grumpy I can only say that in the past many a museum visit in the past has been spoiled by children tearing around & making a lot of noise without any apparent interest in the exhibits. Not their fault - those in charge. On entering the museum you have the ticket counter , toilets , gift shop & cafe & then you descend via stairs or a lift to the exhibition which features shops , business's , vehicles & other exhibits all relevant to Hampshire & the Basingstoke area laid out in streets paved in cobbles & brick. Some of the shops & business's are open for you to enter & browse the goods inside. A very nice surprise was the pub which opens for a couple of hours , serving local beer which we enjoyed whilst a lady bashed out old tunes on a piano. No particular period of history is adhered to so expect mainly late Victorian through to the 1960's. At the very rear of the exhibition is a good selection of motorised vehicles produced by Thorneycroft who were a big employer in Basingstoke for many decades. Here we were able to watch a very interesting video featuring an actor portraying the founder of Thorneycroft delivering a history of the company. We also enjoyed the selection of pier arcade machines , some of which you can play by cashing in some modern currency for old pennies. There is plenty here to amuse & interest children but I suspect many adults derive a lot of pleasure from seeing produce & machinery from their childhood & youth. The cafe is large & clean & serves snacks , cakes , sandwiches & drinks. Also some hot meals & pies at certain times. The choice of these is limited & if you are vegan be warned ; for you it is either jacket potato with 3 bean chilli or nothing. Having said that , it was very decent & came with salad. Counter service was a bit on the slow side despite hardly any visitors & I would be concerned about this if visiting on a busy day. Toilets very clean.

Unfortunately we found this museum a little bit "dead" considering its a "living history" museum. I expected there to be people in costume in the shops, a conductor on the bus, etc but apart from the sweet shop, there wasn't anyone. None of the exhibits had signs on to say what they were. I also thought there would be more interactive exhibits for children. Apart from the pier and dressing up clothing, there was very little for them to do. It was also very expensive in my opinion. Over £50 for a family of four. Plus you had to pay extra for the tokens for the pier, pay extra for the sweet shop, very expensive cafe and shop etc. It worked out as a very expensive 2 hours.

Disappointing visit to Milestones on Wednesday 12th April during the Easter holidays. We visited with our two Grandchildren who love the penny arcade but they were very disappointed that so many of the machines were not working. Even one that was supposed to be working swallowed one of our Grandchildrens pennies. We've always loved a visit to Milestones but they should ensure that most things are in working order when the charge the amount for admission. I will check before we make the trip in future so as not to disappoint our Grandchildren.

Do not believe the website, it says about getting there by bus, a short walk to the museum, it's not a short walk and it is uphill. I would recommend a taxi from the train station which was £8 for us, on leaving we walked to the bus stop, which was not that easy although it was downhill. The visit was good but more hands exhibits would be good.

We went with our 2 granddaughters aged 4 and 7. The museum looks great, with the houses, shops, fire station etc. But there is virtually nothing for children to do apart from look. The was one bus to climb on, but downstairs only, and half a fire engine cab! No other vehicles could be accessed. None of the exibits could be touched, not even things like weighing scales, which could have been fun. I have never seen so many "DO NOT TOUCH/ CLIMB" signs in my life. The lady on reception was swamped with a long line to enter, but no staff came to help. The supervisor came to help because my booking did not go through, and then she went away again, leaving the long line. Not a great day out.

Have been coming here for a number of years and this is the first time I have felt disappointed. First week of summer school hols 12pm but the only place that felt busy was the ticket desk. One girl dealing with long queue. We had pre-booked but still had to join a long wait. It would seem that the old penny, money changing machines don’t recognise Nat west cards (same last Oct) and a couple of 50p gift dispensing machines didn’t pay out. No hand sanitiser in ‘arcade’ gel dispenser (a must after handing dirty coins) Nothing has changed since last visit except a broken, dead looking plastic hen in Allottment area. Nowhere to eat the picnic we had brought as 5 outdoors picnic tables busy with families (lucky it wasn’t raining for them) We did buy drinks x 5 and asked if could eat in cafe. Not sure they were happy with this but conceded that as we had drinks and if we could keep a low profile, we could stay. There were a couple of ‘war time’ demonstrations going on which were entertaining and shop seemed well stocked and on point as a plus. Want this place to be better so it keeps on going, I know volunteers do a lot of work but paid staff need to earn their money a little more perhaps!?!?

Been to milestone museum a few times over the years and always enjoy it. As usual the coffee shop was nice with a good selection and the staff were lovely. The museum hasn't changed much over the years but is set out in an inviting easy way to walk around. Give your family a challenge and try and build the viaduct at Milestone lol.... Most frustrating thing to do ever The arcade however has gone downhill, a lot of the older penny machines have disappeared and there are newer mario/Packman machines for 50p a go. This was quite disappointing, bring back the older machines please lol Overall I would recommend as we enjoyed the trip and spend a few hours there, it's very clean and nicely set out.

The shops, vehicles, and old articles, are all in exceptionally good shape. There are notices everywhere explaining what everything is. There is a nice cafe, and a well-stocked shop. It all adds up to a jolly good day out, well worth a visit.

We enjoyed the set up, and wondering around the reconstructed streets. The sweet shop was the highlight due to the lady volunteering there explaining things to us. It could be even better if there were more interactive elements like this around the museum.