The Devils Porridge Exhibition

The Devil's Porridge Exhibition is an amazing exhibition which tells the story of arguably the Greatest Munitions Factory on Earth, which was constructed on the Anglo-Scottish Border between scenic Dornock in Scotland and bustling Longtown in England. During 1915, Britain was at a massive disadvantage in the early part of the Great War through lack of a decent and consistent supply of quality ammunition.

That isuntil 30,000 women and men travelled from all over the world to come and work in this one massive factory, purpose built by the government on the northern shore of the Solway Firth specifically to mass manufacture cordite: a smokeless explosive usually made from nitro-glycerine and nitro-cotton that would go on to turn the battle around! Within 2 years this one uber factory was producing 1,100 tons of cordite a week, which was more than all the other munitions plants in Britain put together!

It's a fascinating story even young kids can comprehend, and set in as family friendly an environment as they can manage. There is of course a very serious undercurrent to the whole thing being war based but it's not got any harrowing detail involved so almost all kids can handle the idea of working to protect your country etc. You may need to prepare yourself for some serious conversations afterwards though, but better those get generated by educational resources rather than schlocky films. Kids can get stamps as they go around the factory plus there's a refurbished fireless locomotive outside so it's not all just dry facts and education!