On the road towards Haslingden is a real cotton factory – in fact two for the price of one.

The Helmshore Textile Museum consists of Higher Mill and Whitaker's Mill which are both listed buildings.

Open to the public and very recently restored there are displays of textile machinery from the earliest days with a working water wheel to the once steam driven mules which made Lancashire cotton the most sought after in the world.

Here is the chance to talk to the people who once worked these machines for real and what tales they have to tell.