Buxton’s Unique Visitor Experience
The Buxton Crescent Experience is a unique visitor attraction, located in The Buxton Crescent, an impressive Grade I-listed masterpiece dating back to the 1700s! The fun filled experience shows why Buxton’s spa waters have been attracting so much attention and thousands of visitors for centuries!
This multi-sensory journey is great for solo travellers, couples, families, and groups, taking you through nine of The Buxton Crescent’s impressive exhibition rooms, using a variety of technical effects to tell this fascinating story of water, history and architecture!
The Buxton Crescent Experience has been cleverly tailored to keep the whole family involved with interactive exhibitions, created to be touched and explored. It’s upbeat, engaging, and arguably the best indoor activity in Buxton!
The Pump Room is another impressive building, which now serves as Buxton’s Visitor Centre, where you will find helpful staff who are on hand to provide a wealth of information about Buxton and the surrounding area. Here you can also enjoy a bite to eat and a coffee, or grab yourself a souvenir or gift to take home!
The Impressive Story of Water & Virtual Balloon Ride
The core of the The Buxton Crescent Experience is the story of the water. You begin by following the 5,000-year journey of a single drop of rain. The exhibition uses light and sound to show how water filters through the deep limestone of the Peak District, warming up as it goes, before it eventually bubbles up at St Ann’s Well.
The undisputed highlight for most visitors is the virtual reality hot air balloon ride. You put on a headset and “take off” from the slopes, soaring over a digital recreation of Georgian Buxton. Flying over the rooftops of The Crescent and the Great Dome gives you a great perspective on the town’s scale, which brings the 18th-century architecture to life.
As you move through the rooms, the history gets more hands-on. You can play with interactive apothecary jars to learn about the bizarre and often terrifying medical treatments prescribed by spa doctors. You can hear directly from the characters who lived and worked here, from the 5th Duke of Devonshire to the ordinary people who bathed in the thermal waters.
The whole self-guided experience can be enjoyed at your own pace, which usually takes around 90 minutes. If you prefer, you can be led by a knowledgeable group leader. The experience keeps you moving, ensuring that kids stay interested and adults learn something new along the journey.
The Pump Room
Directly across from the main entrance to The Crescent is The Pump Room, a Grade II-listed Victorian building, which now serves as Buxton’s Visitors Centre, with a cafe and gift shop.
This was where the crowds once gathered to drink the mineral-rich water, and today, you can still sample the thermal mineral water and even take a bottle home.
After you have finished the walk-through experience, the onsite cafe is the perfect place to refuel. It’s stylish and airy, serving quality tea and coffee, a delicious range of cakes and bakes from local producers and craft beers and other drinks from local brewers.
The gift shop is also worth a look with a fabulous selection of items that reflect the local area, including jewellery made from Blue John stone, which is unique to the nearby Castleton area, local art and homewares, souvenirs, maps, guides and of course………water bottles for you to fill with the world-famous Buxton Spring Water!
The Pump Room also hold regular workshops and events, so be sure to keep an eye on The Buxton Heritage Social Pages.
Visit their What’s On Guide here: https://buxtoncrescentexperience.com/whats-on/
You’ll be pleased to hear it’s dog-friendly too!
Exploring Buxton and The Surrounding Area
The Buxton Crescent Experience sits right at the heart of everything. Once you emerge back into the 21st century, you are just steps away from the Pavilion Gardens, a 23-acre park with lakes and miniature trains that is perfect for a stroll, and the famous Buxton Opera House where you can watch a great range of plays, musicals, etc. If the weather is clear, you can even hike up to Solomon’s Temple for a view of the town you just saw in the VR balloon or go deep underground at nearby Poole’s Cavern.
Buxton is the perfect starting point for further adventures. The Buxton Crescent Experience gives you the history and the flavour of the town, making the rest of your visit feel much more connected to the landscape.
You will be spoilt for choice for countryside walks to explore, and of course, the staff at The Pump Room will be able to provide you with lots of routes and guides! For those who want to venture a little further, you’re close to many other popular Peak District destinations, such as Castleton famous for its caverns, Bakewell where you can sample the original Bakewell Pudding, and the fascinating historic plague village of Eyam.
Contact The Buxton Crescent Experience
For more information, please contact The Buxton Crescent Experience, who can’t wait to take you on this fascinating journey!
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