I love museums. I have been incredibly privileged to visit many in my short time on this planet. However, last week last week I may have visited the best museum ever?

Honorary mentions

To be fair those other museums I have visited (and to demonstrate I’m no newbie to the museum world), they deserve a honorable mention . The National Museum of Scotland will always be dear to me. With its soaring glass ceilings in one and the  labyrinthine hallways and rooftop viewpoint of the other building, it is certainly impressive. It showcases many fascinating items, even some of Orkney’s neolithic artefacts. Another great museum is the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. Points for the niche-ness of having one exhibit – to be fair a preserved 391 year old ship deserves a whole museum.  

As for one with impressive recreations, the National Crafts Museum in Delhi is outstanding with its authentic handicrafts and recreations of traditional building techniques. Each region of the astonishingly diverse nation is represented in someway and the level of skill demonstrated is beyond amazing.

However, all these fascinating and well designed museums can’t stand up to the time travelling powers of the winner.

The winner – Corrigall Farm Museum

Driving up the farm track, I had no clue that the biggest journey i’d make that day was one back in time. As we arrived, I was greeted by a line of shiny ploughs and the friendly custodian, Brian.

Upon entering the low doors of the humble farmhouse I was amazed to find myself in the late 1800s. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom I made out a grindstone with a dusting of flour, wooden barrels and a rabble of products on the shelf. On closer inspection the products seemed to be, unlike the customary plastic replicas, originals.  As the peat smoke reached my nostrils I felt as if any moment a victorian farmer would stroll in for their dinner.

With each room painted a picture of the past. The enthusiastic custodian, Brian, revealed the backstory of not only the building but the pieces it contained. I was amazed to learn I was standing in a room of original period furniture with a storied history.

The museum is unlike any I’ve ever experienced before. It is truly a gem of preservation, the extent to which is rarely found these days. I highly recommend it to visitors and locals alike.

You can experience Corrigall Farm Museum for yourself on our Undiscovered Past Tour.

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