Welcome to the museum
From the devil’s porridge to the Shropshire Olympics: why the worlds of Britain’s little curiosity shops make a delightfully dotty focus for a walk.
AS AN INVETERATE countryside rambler, I find villages a fount of promise and potential. Perhaps they’ll have an ancient church to nose around? Or a low-beamed pub in which to seek refreshment? Or, best of all, a museum? Often little more than a room or two, these temples to the parochial are typically imbued with the love and devotion of a band of loyal volunteers. Among the handwritten signs and often idiosyncratic exhibits, I’ve found myself educated, enlightened and entertained.
Britain rejoices in scores of village museums, most of them hidden away and unheralded (and many with hours as quirky as their collections, so do check). Here are 10 little gems to get you started, and each in cracking walking country.
1 Bomb Shelter Beer, Devon 5½ miles/9km
As museums go, there can’t be many odder than the Bomb Shelter (beervillage heritage.org.uk/bomb-shelter). Even its name is a clever joke, for this is not a place to shelter from bombs but a shelter for a bomb. The museum also has a curious strapline: ‘Come and see the bomb that didn’t fall on Beer during WWII.’ Only by visiting will you unravel the story behind the night Beer was spared. You might also be touched by the kindness the event brought about. Not only is it free, it’s possibly the only museum in the land that encourages people to visit even if they ‘just want somewhere quiet to sit and read a while’ (there are Devon Archaeological Society papers if you’ve not brought your own material). The shelter also hosts occasional art and history exhibitions.
A very pleasant loop around other places the bomb didn’t drop can be had by leaving Beer via Mare Lane and along paths to the village of Vicarage. A lane takes you down to Branscombe Mouth, where a sumptuous section of the South West Coast Path leads back to Beer.
2 Pendon Museum Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire 6½ miles/10.5km
Walking a loop parallel to the Thames (or Isis) in Oxfordshire brings with it a joyous discovery in the village of Long Wittenham. Head west from Appleford-on-Thames railway station, following footpaths to the ancient settlement of Sutton Courtenay with its fine church and historic houses. A byway swings back east to Appleford Crossing, from where a short stretch of road and a bridleway will see you to Long Wittenham.
On the western edge of this village stands Pendon Museum ( pendonmuseum.com). The proprietors promise visitors ‘a glimpse of English rural life around 1930’ via a series of charming dioramas of pastoral landscapes. Miniature steam trains chuff and hoot their way through Dartmoor, the (fictional) Madder Valley, and a huge and historically accurate depiction of Oxfordshire’s own Vale of White Horse. An audio guide interprets the scenes and helps visitors gain an insight into georgic life between the wars. After your foray into the distant reaches of the 20th century, simply take footpaths back along the southern side of the Isis the short distance back to Appleford.
3 Mundesley Maritime Museum Mundesley, Norfolk 7½ miles/12km
If you were to head due north from this stretch of the Norfolk coast, the first landmass you’d meet would be the Arctic, so this is a great walk for blowing away the cobwebs. Appropriately for a stroll along the coast, the museum (01263 722068) you’ll encounter is based in a former coastguard lookout station and focuses on the maritime history of the area. Despite being one of the smallest museums in England, there’s also room for information about the local (long lost) railway and, even more intriguingly, the Mundesley minefield.
Start at Trimingham’s curiously named church, St John the Baptist’s Head, and take the England Coast Path south-east to Mundesley. To return, head along the waymarked Paston Way. This will take you inland to Gimingham and on footpaths and quiet country lanes back to Trimingham.
‘The Olympic Games are a pilgrimage to the past and an act of faith in the future.’
BARON PIERRE DE COUBERTIN,
FOUNDER OF THE MODERN OLYMPICS
4 Much Wenlock Museum Much Wenlock, Shropshire 9 miles/14.5km
Cast your mind back to the 2012 Olympic Games and you may recall that the one-eyed mascot was called Wenlock. This was in honour of Much Wenlock, the small Salopian community that launched its own version of the Olympic Games in 1850. Still held annually (pandemics permitting), the games inspired the creation of the modern Olympics after Baron Pierre de Coubertin paid a visit to see them in 1890. The little museum (shropshiremuseums.org.uk/much-wenlockmuseum) that celebrates this game-changing event tells the story using lots of hands-on and interactive features.
To get yourself into the Olympian spirit, head south-west from Much Wenlock along footpaths and a short stretch of road to the manorial village of Bourton. Climb gently to the Cross Britain Way and onto the hamlet of Presthope from where the Jack Mytton Way will take you along a wooded ridge and a holloway back to Much Wenlock.
5 Cae’r Gors Rhosgadfan, Gwynedd 5 miles/8km
Once the home of author Kate Roberts – known in Wales as ‘Brenhines ein Llên’ (‘The Queen of our Literature’) – the evocative Cae’r Gors (cadw.gov. wales/visit/places-to-visit/caer-gors) is a fascinating place to immerse yourself in the hard lives and grinding poverty of Snowdonian quarrying folk. Roberts was born in 1891 and grew up in this quarryman’s cottage. Her novels and short stories draw from her own experiences and transport the reader into her world. She herself saved the cottage from dereliction in 1965 but it’s only in this century that it’s been restored to the state in which she would have known it as a child. Behind the cottage there’s now a heritage centre full of interesting information about the writer and the harsh industrial realities of her childhood. Then you can take a dip into the domestic life of a late Victorian quarrying family by exploring the cottage’s pitifully minuscule rooms.
Combine a visit to the museum with a trip on the marvellously restored Welsh Highland Railway ( festrail.co.uk) which runs from Caernarfon to Porthmadog. Alighting at Plas y Nant Halt, climb up through the woods of Tros-y-Gol to sheepfolds before taking footpaths beneath the disused quarries on Moel Tryfan. Near Hafod Ruffydd Farm, strike west along lanes into Rhosgadfan. After your visit to Cae’r Gors, follow the footpath north-west for a much shorter stroll to Tryfan Junction Halt and a steam train home.
‘...a fascinating place to immerse yourself in the hard lives of Snowdonian quarrying folk.’
6 Thomas Shop, Penybont, Powys 5½ miles/9km
In these days of supermarkets and almost universal self-service it’s easy to forget that things were not ever thus. The Thomas Shop (thomas-shop.com) takes visitors back to an age when customers were really looked after. With many of the original features of the village shop that thrived here between 1805 and 1958, the building has become a folk museum, displaying an eclectic range of artefacts, many donated by people from the area. Locally-made arts and crafts can also be seen in the Laundry and Pressing Room galleries. Entrance is free and the museum has its own café in a room where a steam engine powered a laundry a century ago. When the sun’s out, you can even take tea by the river in a living-willow pod – something not even the fanciest museum in London can offer.
For an exploration of some of the hamlets that surround Penybont, first take the footpath west out to Llwyn and a very minor road to Cwm-yr-hendy. Head east then north-eastwards to cross (with care) the A44, the railway line and the Afon Ieithon to reach The Rabber. A brief climb and descent on a footpath will return you to Penybont.
7 Devil’s Porridge Museum Eastriggs, Dumfries & Galloway 5½ miles/9km
How could one not visit a museum (devilsporridge. org.uk) with such a compelling name? The Devil’s Porridge in question happens to be a nickname for cordite, an explosive mixed at HM Factory Gretna, once the largest munitions factory in the world. The award-winning museum devoted to it has grown from a tiny exhibition in the village church and tells the story of the two world wars and the Cold War through artefacts, film, photographs and oral histories.
From Annan railway station, head south-east out of town along Seafield Road to Whinnyrig on the coast of the Solway Firth. Walk along the beach to Battlehill and then take a footpath all the way to Dornock Fishery. Turn inland along a track beside the huge munitions depot to Eastriggs, and pass through the village to its eastern edge where you'll find the museum. To return, take the frequent 79 bus (stagecoachbus.com) for the 10-minute ride back to Annan.
8 Swaledale Museum Reeth, North Yorkshire 5 miles/8km
Tucked away, off the magnificently large village green at Reeth, sits a museum (swaledalemuseum. org) that unveils the rich and surprising histories of Swaledale and neighbouring Arkengarthdale. The lead mines that once flourished here helped create a fascinating culture. The museum brings it to life, going way back to the formation of the dales over 270 million years ago. There are lots of hands-on exhibits here, including tools used by the hardy lead miners. You can even have a bash at playing a Sunday school harmonium.
Starting at Grinton’s Bridge Inn, cross the River Swale and take the footpath and road to Reeth.
After enjoying the museum, head south-west out of the village to a footbridge. Cross the river again and head upwards by footpath and bridleway to Harkerside Moor. The flanks of the hillside are littered with the remains of mine workings, as well as prehistoric earthworks such as Maiden Castle. At Old Hush, bear sharp left and return to Grinton along footpaths running east of Grinton Gill.
9 Cromarty Court House Museum Black Isle, Highland 4 miles/6.5km
On the tip of the Black Isle, where the Cromarty Firth meets the North Sea, the village of Cromarty enjoys an enviably picturesque location. The eyeeasing scenery sits in stark contrast to the rough justice often meted out at the graceful courthouse established there in the 18th century. The innovative museum (cromarty-courthouse.org.uk) that now inhabits the building allows you to ‘visit’ one of the prisoners once held here on remand and take part in a trial whose key exhibit is a mysteriously broken fiddle. Community-run and staffed by volunteers, the museum displays local collections and often plays host to exhibitions by local artists and craftspeople. Entrance is free too.
From the museum, in Church Street, walk down Miller Lane to Shore Street and head east. A footpath beside the shoreline climbs through woods to give wonderful views above Charlie’s Seat. Continue along the coast beneath Gallow Hill to reach cliffs festooned with caves, and here turn inland, passing a farm to return to Cromarty.
10 Amberley Working Museum Amberley, West Sussex 5 or 11 miles/8 or 18km
It was the author Jerome K. Jerome who quipped ‘I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.’ And at the Amberley Working Museum (amberleymuseum.co.uk) you can do just that. The history of the nation’s nine-to-five is laid out here in a wealth of buildings. Among the highlights are a wheelwright’s shop, wood yard, machine shop, fire station, bus garage, telephone exchange, radio station, blacksmith, pottery, cobblers and besommaker as well as an industrial narrow gauge railway, nature trails and a very welcome café.
Start at Arundel railway station, following a section of the Monarch’s Way through the glories of Arundel Park. Come off near Houghton to walk alongside the River Arun into Amberley – the museum is just beyond the railway station. After your visit you can either take the train home or return to Arundel via a footpath to the hamlet of North Stoke then over the Gurkha Suspension Bridge to South Stoke. Follow the river to Burpham and Warningcamp before piggybacking the Monarch’s Way back to Arundel.
‘Jerome K. Jerome quipped ‘I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.’ Here you can do just that.’