Milestones Living History Museum
This unlikely gem is well worth a detour off the M3
BEFORE YOU GO inside the Milestones building in Basingstoke, Hampshire, just stand back, look at it and try to understand why the county council architects who designed it liken the exterior to a Victorian railway station. They do this even though it is built from aluminium, stainless steel, glass and slate, and 85,000 tons of chalk were excavated to a two-storey depth to reduce the visual impact on the grassy hillside. The resulting insulation minimises the cooling and heating required in the building even as huge areas of glass provide ample natural light.
Once inside, aim for the lower ground floor to collect an audio guide. There’s a surprise under the stairs: a Keeble K3. You’ve probably heard of the the Gordon Keeble (another Hampshire product), but this K3 was designed in the ’90s by Jim Keeble as an affordable car with the performance of a high-powered motorcycle. It featured a one-litre BMW motorcycle engine along with a spaceframe clad in aluminium bodywork (production cars would have used glassfibre), a sequential automatic gearbox, self-levelling suspension, gullwing doors and just three wheels. Keeble envisaged a top speed of 125mph and acceleration to match, but he fell ill before the prototype was completed and so it was finished by friends. The K3 was donated to the Hampshire County Museums Trust in 2003.
Next, head upstairs into the main museum. There you walk from the 1890s to the 1930s along cobbled streets lined with shops, factories and most things you would expect to find in an old high street. There’s a GWR railway station, a fire station, a sawmill, a tram shed and shops offering wares from cameras to hats.
You’ll also encounter an air raid shelter, the Baverstock Arms pub and Webbers Garage, with two Morris Eights – a tourer and a van – in the showroom. Vehicles are parked in every street, including over 25 commercial vehicles built near the museum and a group of Thornycroft cars. The Basingstoke steam-truck manufacturer began building cars in 1903 and made nearly everything in-house, including carburettors and any kind of body that the customer wanted. It was determined to quash the notion that foreign cars were superior to British ones, and the company opened a showroom in London’s West End in 1908, but by 1913 the demand for its commercial vehicles had brought an end to car production.
Thornycroft’s car-making activities are largely forgotten, but the Maurice J Liming Motor Works and Garage at Milestones brings them to life. Inside is a 1903 Thornycroft with its vicar owner, who is discussing it with the mechanic. You can hear them on an audio system.
All the while you almost forget that you are indoors, such is the magic of the Milestones atmosphere. You find yourself walking aimlessly among the displays, just happy to be there.
Children will find plenty to interest them in the teddy-bear museum, the pier amusements and the penny arcade. And when all are sated, there are the gift shop and the Rooftop Café to visit. The Milestones staff are happy and helpful and who cares if it rains? With that Victorianreferencing roof, it’s always fine at Milestones.