Intent on spending some quality time together this week, my Dad and I promised ourselves a day out. With both of us wanting something that was educational as well as enjoyable, we settled on a trip to The Royal Mint in Cardiff.

Having opened its doors to the public in 2016, The Royal Mint Experience invites guests on an immersive and informative tour of Britain’s coin-making history. Dad and I struck gold with our brilliant and extremely knowledgeable tour guide, who showed us a short introduction video before taking us through to the minting room. Here, we saw lots of impressive-looking equipment and thousands of coins being made behind a big glass window in the production area.

Our tour guide explained lots fascinating facts about the factory and how it’s all run. Dad and I learnt that every coin in the UK is actually made right here at the Royal Mint, and that they produce seven hundred and fifty coins per minute – that’s five billion coins every year! They are the largest Mint in Western Europe, and they don’t just make coins for the UK – they in fact produce money for sixty other countries across the world, medals for service men and women, and even commemorative coins.

We chose to strike our own £2 coin to take away as a memento of our visit.

 

After our tour of the minting room, Dad and I made our way to the new interactive visitor centre that took us through the history of the Mint in even more detail. We explored several of the interesting exhibits together, learning all about the machines that are used to design and produce the coins, and how the Mint has operated in Llantrisant since 1968.

When visiting you also get to see the daffodil-inspired wind turbine that sits on a hill beside the Royal mint. Previously based in the Netherlands, the 214 foot turbine provides the factory with a source of low cost energy, and the Royal Mint are extremely proud to be going more green.

It was a great day out and a must-do activity for the whole family.

Tickets to the Royal Mint Experience can be purchased in advanced on the website

https://tickets.royalmint.com/BookTickets.aspx?eid=0011

Find out more

https://www.royalmint.com/