The Puzzling Place

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Address: Puzzling Place, Museum Square, Keswick, Cumbria, Postcode: CA12 5DZ Email: click here to make an enquiry Telephone: 017687 75102 Website: http://www.puzzlingplace.co.uk/ Google map Click here Multimap.co.uk satellite map Click here

Description Welcome to the Puzzling Place Keswick "Do you believe your eyes"? It is free to enter ‘The Puzzling Place’, as at the top of the stairs is our shop which is stuffed with puzzles, gadgets and curiosities and is guaranteed to have something to amuse, entertain or puzzle you. At the far end of the shop is our ‘Puzzle Area’ which again, is free to enter. Here you can give your brain a work out trying to solve the puzzles and brain teasers which are set out for your entertainment and frustration! Although the shop and ‘Puzzle Area’ are definitely worth a trip on their own, it’s the main attraction where the boundary between illusion and reality starts to blur. The Puzzling Place’s ‘World of Illusion’ takes the theme of Illusion and runs with it. It is home to our ‘Anti-gravity Room’, ‘Ames Room’, ‘Hologram Gallery’ and ‘Eyelusions Exhibition’. It’s a fascinating, fun and social excursion into the wonderful world of optical illusion, which will leave you quite literally, not believing your eyes! As the appeal of optical illusions crosses all age ranges the ‘World of Illusions’ is an ideal place to be enjoyed and experienced with friends or family however young and old. It’s generally the older generation of the family who are left surprised by how much they’ve enjoyed their visit! Anti Gravity Room Being the only room of its kind in the country, the ‘Anti-Gravity Room’ is a fun and social excursion into the wonderful world of sensory illusions. Balls roll uphill, water flows at an unnatural angle. In the room, every one appears to stand at an impossible slant and lean effortlessly into space without falling. Even when you know the secret, the effects are no less amazing. There is no smoke and mirrors here, the illusions are all in your mind but happening to everyone present. The room is completely static but when you enter the room you will feel strange as your brain and eyes come into conflict and make sense of it all. It’s an experience which needs to be seen to be believed. Prepare to be amazed! Ames Forced Perspective Room See and experience how your brain can be tricked into believing that people are growing and shrinking as they walk across a room! Watch yourself visibly grow and shrink or make a friend look tiny alongside you. The only one in the country, the Ames Room is a deformed room that creates an astonishing illusion. When you look inside, although the room is heavily distorted it appears completely normal with parallel walls and horizontal floor and ceiling. This is because the brain has been conditioned to assume that walls of rooms are parallel. The assumption is so strong it completely overrides the fact that people are changing size, even though in the real world this obviously doesn’t happen. Here your brain is willing to accept it as the assumption of parallel walls is much stronger! Eyelusions exhibition The Eyelusions exhibition makes up the remainder of our ‘Puzzling World of Illusion’. Many of the best optical illusions around can be explored through interactive exhibits, artwork and sculptures. In it you’ll find the ‘Anti-gravity Drip’ and our 'Chair of Illusion', as well as our ‘Interactive Pond’. You can walk through a giant impossible triangle, shake your own hand, rub out your friend and watch your skin crawl. You’ll come across impossible objects that defy common sense, static images that move and straight lines that bend. You can see yourself as others do, look down the bottomless chest and be tracked by our following faces! With over 50 exhibits and ‘pieces of strange’ to unleash a moment of astonishment for you, you’ll be left rubbing your eyes in disbelief! Admission Prices Adults £3.75 Children/Concessions £2.90 Family (2+2) £11.75 Under 5’s Free We are committed to keeping our price as low as possible, therefore we would prefer to increase visitor numbers rather than increase our price. Word of mouth is the best way so please help by leaving your comments here. Opening Hours All School Holidays: Open 7 days a week, 10am to 5.30pm Winter Hours 1st Nov to 20th March:Open 11am to 5pm but closed Mondays Open weekends only in January Summer Hours 21st March to 31st Oct: Open 7 days a week 11am to 5.30pm Discover The Lakes likes The Puzzling Place, fun but thought provoking too and therefore well worth a visit for people of all ages. It is also noteworthy as an attraction with a really great shop which in itself is great to browse around and we could have spent a lot of time and cash in there. On our list for a proper visit soon and it should be on your list too!