Museums, Galleries & Exhibitions

THE ARCHITECTURE CENTRE
Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA. Zone A. Open Tue-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm, admission free. Ffi: 0117 922 1540, www.architecturecentre.co.uk • Set up to promote architecture, there’s always something interesting going on here, with regularly changing exhibitions, workshops and talks, and plenty of food for thought about the spaces we live in. The centre’s small shop is brilliant - full of design/innovation-led gifts, jewellery and toys that you’re not going to find anywhere else round these parts, plus loads of big books with pictures in (of buildings, mostly).

ARNOLFINI
Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA. Zone A. Galleries open Tue-Sun 10am-6pm, bookshop open Tue-Wed 11am-6pm, Thur-Sat 11am-8pm, Sun 11am-7pm, admission to galleries free; phone or see website for performances and other events. Ffi: 0117 917 2300, www.arnolfini.org.uk • A much-loved institution which was in the forefront of the revival of Bristol’s thriving harbourside back in the day. The ’Fini is one of Britain’s leading centres for contemporary arts (and so can sometimes attract controversy), with galleries and performance spaces and a cinema that tends to show art/independent movies. Also very trendy cafe/bar, including outdoor tables which are very pleasant on about 30 days of the year, and windblown and wet the rest of the time. Well worth a visit as it’s always got something provocative going on.

EXPLORE AT-BRISTOL
Anchor Sq, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5DB. Zone A. Open 10am-5pm Mon-Fri in term-time, 10am-6pm Sat, Sun, BHMs and during school holidays, Gift Aid admission: £11.90 adult/£7.70 ages 3-15/£9.90 conc/£34 family (2+2 or 1 adult + 3 children)/£31.90 (2 grandparents + 2 children or 1 grandparent + 3 children) . Ffi: 0845 345 1235, www.at-bristol.org.uk • One of the South West’s leading family attractions, and great fun it is, too. This is a hands-on science centre that encourages visitors to play with stuff, push buttons, pull levers and generally mess around, in order to learn about scientific and technical principles all the way from engineering through to the human body. There’s also the Planetarium with regular shows telling you what you’ll see in the night sky at whatever time of season you visit. Even if you’ve visited before, it’s always worth a return trip as there’s always something new to play with. There’s the new Animate-It section, made in conjunction with Bristol’s own Aardman Animations, where you can make your own animations. This summer will also see the first elements in a brilliant-sounding new section called ‘All About Us’ focusing on the human body and featuring such things as a “vein viewer” and microscopic cameras that’ll allow you to take a real close look at your eyes, hairs etc. There’s also an extensive timetable of activities, talks and demonstrations, particularly things aimed at kids during school holiday times.

BATH’S OLD ORCHARD STREET THEATRE
12 Old Orchard St, Bath BA1 1JU. Zone A. Tours through year Tue-Thur 11am & 2.30pm, Sat 2.30pm, tour & museum tickets £6 adult/£5 concs/£3.50 age 6-16/£12 family, available from Bath Tourist Information Centre, Abbey Churchyard tel: 0844 847 5256. Ffi: 01225 462233, www.oldtheatreroyal.com • A relatively new addition to the Bath tourist trail, and a building that packs a huge amount of fascinating history despite its nondescript exterior. In its time it was a theatre (Bath’s first Theatre Royal, in fact), then it was a Catholic chapel. Since the 1860s it’s been home of one of England’s oldest provincial Masonic lodges. For the latter reason alone - the fabulously adorned Temple, not to mention the Masonic museum - it’s worth visiting.

BATH POSTAL MUSEUM
27 Northgate St, Bath BA1 1AJ. Zone A. Open Mon-Sat 11am-5pm, admission £3.50 adult/£1.50 age 6-18, student/£10 family (with unlimited free return visits for a year). Ffi: 01225 460333, www.bathpostalmuseum.org • Relocated a couple of years ago to underneath Bath’s main post office, this small but perfectly formed place should not be missed when you’re busily taking in all the big attractions in Bath. For Bath, you see, played a leading role in the development of the British postal system, and this place uses a range of museum pieces (you’ve got to love those lacy Victorian Valentine cards!), as well as interactive electronics to trace the history of 4,000 years’ worth of communications. New this year is a Bantam motorbike (as used for deliveries) and 2010 also sees an exhibition on King George V. He was a major stamp collector, you know.

BLAISE CASTLE HOUSE MUSEUM
Henbury Rd, Henbury, Bristol BS10 7QS. Zone A. Open Sat-Wed 10am-5pm (hours may change from Oct), admission free. Ffi: 0117 903 9818, www.bristol.gov.uk/museums • A handsome 18th-century mansion house that’s home to a wonderful, and rather unappreciated museum of domestic life and social history in bygone Bristol. Displays include children’s toys and board games, cooking ranges, baths, toilets, wash-tubs, fireplaces, not to mention Victorian costumes and a Victorian school room. If you’re visiting in a family group, make sure you bring the grandparents along to explain the full horror of life before the days of microwave ovens, ensuite bathrooms, washing machines and central heating. There’s also a very good gallery of 18th/19th-century paintings of Bristol scenes from the city’s extensive collections. Look out also for the very occasional openings of the nearby little castle folly from which Blaise Castle gets its name. Given that it’s surrounded by the massive expanses of the Castle Estate and the café and excellent playground nearby, this is easily one of the best free-of-charge days out Bristol has to offer.

BRISTOL BLUE GLASS
Unit 7, Whitby Rd, Brislington, Bristol BS4 3QF. Zone A. Open Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11am-4pm, shop admission free, 2010 tour price TBC. Ffi: 0117 972 0818, www.bristol-glass.co.uk • The world-famous Bristol Blue Glass has been made in the city since the 17th century, but in recent years the brand has undergone a major revival. Now you can visit the factory and its visitor centre and browse around the shop, which offers what it reckons is the largest selection of glass (blue and otherwise) in the South West. Guided tours offer the chance to watch people working on the factory floor (fascinating if you’ve never seen glass being blown before) and look around the small but excellent set of museum and glass technology displays.

BRISTOL CITY MUSEUM & ART GALLERY
Queen’s Rd, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1RL. Zone A. Open daily 10am-5pm, admission free. Ffi: 0117 922 3571, www.bristol.gov.uk/museums • Bristol’s main museum, with good collections on local geology, local prehistory, local and world wildlife, a bit of local history and a very good cross-section of paintings, with a side-order of lots of work by the famous 19th-century ‘Bristol School’ as well as more modern stuff by the likes of Richard Long and Beryl Cook. There’s also a large collection of stuffed animals, some of which are looking a bit frayed nowadays. Everyone’s favourite bit, the fascinating Egyptology collection, with mummies and everything, got a refurb a couple of years back and boasts a new display and interpretation space. Bristolians tend to take this place for granted, but it’s extremely well run and has lots of regularly changing temporary exhibitions, plus plenty of talks and holiday-time children’s activities, and a special new section just for the under-7s called ‘Curiosity’. Lots of events, activities and talks for folks of all ages, a restaurant/café and the souvenir shop has a good collection of local historical material, including books and posters.

BRUNEL’S ss GREAT BRITAIN
Great Western Dockyard, Gas Ferry Rd, Bristol BS1 6TY. Zone A. Open daily throughout the year, 1 Apr-23 Oct 10am-5.30pm (slightly earlier closing in winter), admission £11.95 adult/£9.50 concs/£5.95 child/family discount tickets also available at various rates, including ‘Grandparent Family’ and ‘Mini Family’. Tickets entitle holder to unlimited return visits for one year. Ffi: 0117 929 1843, www.ssgreatbritain.org • The world’s first great ocean liner, and the forerunner of all modern ships, the ss Great Britain, was designed and built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Bristol. Not only was she the first ocean-going ship with an iron hull, she was also the first big steamship to be driven by a screw propeller (rather than paddles). The most successful of Brunel’s ships, she led a long and thoroughly useful career, ending up as a storage hulk on the Falkland Islands before being brought home in 1970 to end up in the very dock in which she was built. It’s the 40th anniversary this July, so expect lots of retro fun and a new exhibition complete with animations from UWE. There’s a dehumidification chamber around her hull to stop it rusting away; the roof of this is made of glass and has a couple of inches of water on it, giving the impression that she’s afloat. You can actually walk under it and get up close to the hull. On board, there are mannequins, sights, sounds and, yes, even smells (from lovely fresh bread to vomit - we are not making this up) to tell the stories of some of the people who travelled on her as you walk around with your personal audio-guide. Below decks you can also see the replicas of her vast Victorian engine. You can look all over her, from the massive engine room to cramped cabins, the promenade deck and the sumptuous first-class dining saloon. There’s also a museum alongside giving you the chance to step back in time through the ship’s history and test your skills on giant interactives. The ship also hosts loads of special living history events, ranging from the Victorian surgeon to frequent visits from Mr Brunel himself. End of May/start June will see a new Visitor Centre and this autumn the Brunel Institute opens its doors to aficionados of the great engineers. Check website for details. And if all this isn’t enough, the replica of Cabot’s ship The Matthew is often moored in the docks next to the Great Britain; if she’s there, your admission entitles you to go aboard and take a look. (See Trains, Boats & Planes section.) If she’s not there, your ticket entitles you to as many free return visits as you like during the year, and the events are free too. It’s probably Bristol’s leading tourist attraction, festooned with awards and quite right, too. A must-see.

THE BUILDING OF BATH COLLECTION
Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapel, The Vineyards, The Paragon, Bath BA1 5NA. Zone A. Open Sat-Mon & BHMs 10.30am-5pm to end of Nov, admission £4 adult/£3.50 senior, student/£2 age 5-16. Ffi: 01225 333895, www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk • Using models, maps, paintings, reconstructions and interactive electronics, it looks in detail at why Bath was built and how it was done. That’s everything from types of stone and brick down to how rooms were decorated and furnished. Perhaps most interesting are the bits where it tells you about the interaction of social standing, morality and manners with architecture and design.

CHELTENHAM ART GALLERY & MUSEUM
Clarence St, Cheltenham GL50 3JT. Zone D. Open daily Apr-Oct 10am-5pm (opens 11am first Thur of each month), closed BHMs, admission free (but donations welcome). Ffi: 01242 237431, www.cheltenhammuseum.org.uk • There are plenty of good reasons to visit Cheltenham, but this is one of the best as it’s quite a treat for art-lovers. Features an impressive collection of 17th- and 18th-century British and Dutch paintings. Also an excellent British 20th-century paintings collection with work by the likes of Vanessa Bell, Paul Nash and Stanley Spencer. Star attraction is the superb and well thought-out and displayed collection of Arts & Crafts movement furniture and design, whose only rival is that at London’s V&A. An essential outing for anyone interested in English taste.

COLERIDGE COTTAGE
35 Lime St, Nether Stowey, nr Bridgwater, Somerset TA5 1NQ. Zone D. Open Thur-Sun from 1 Apr-26 Sept 2-5pm, admission £4 adult/£2 child. Ffi: 01278 732662, www.nationaltrust.org.uk • This small, austere place is where Samuel Taylor Coleridge moved with wife Sara and son Hartley in 1797 when his fortunes were approaching destitution. It’s also where he got some of his best work done, including ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, ‘Frost at Midnight’ and, of course, ‘Kubla Khan’. The small museum includes a fair bit of Coleridge memorabilia, pictures, manuscripts, a lock of the man’s hair, his sword and inkstand, and very enthusiastic National Trust attendants. Might not be worth a trip from Bristol/Bath in itself (unless you’re an STC fan), but you can always combine it with some exploration of this beautiful, remote and undervalued part of west Somerset.

CORINIUM MUSEUM
Park St, Cirencester, Glos GL7 2BX. Zone D. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun & BHMs 2-5pm, admission £4.25 adult/£3.50 senior/£2.75 student over 16/£2.25 ages 5-16/£11.50 family. Ffi: 01285 655611, www.cotswold.gov.uk/go/museum • Corinium being the Roman name for Cirencester which was one of the most important towns in Roman England (one reason for its prosperity was that the local tribe, the Dobunni, were collaborationist stooges who surrendered to the Roman invaders before they even arrived and appear to have reaped a lot of rewards for doing so) and which even now lies at the centre of a web of Roman remains. This is a very fine museum reopened a few years back after a major refurb and has won loads of awards. Though it looks at the whole history of the area, the star attractions are the exhibitions on Roman and Anglo-Saxon times and associated archaeological finds. Everyone’s favourite bit seems to be ‘Mrs Getty’, the reconstructed head of an Anglo-Saxon woman who was buried nearby along with an opulent collection of grave goods.

DEAN HERITAGE CENTRE
Camp Mill, Soudley, Glos GL14 2U. Zone D. Open daily Mar-Oct 10am-5pm (closes 4pm Nov-Feb), Gift Aid admission £5.40 adult/£4.65 concs/£2.75 age 5-16/£15.40 (2 adults + up to 4 children). Ffi: 01594 822170, www.deanheritagemuseum.com • The Forest is Dean is, to be sure, a wonderful thing, but also very confusing if you want to explore all its many attractions and leisure facilities but don’t know where to start. This is as good a place as any to begin, an old water mill which traces the story of the Forest from ancient times through medieval hunting, free-miners, the industrial revolution and onwards. Now repaired and reopened again in time for the 2010 season following a major fire in December, it’s in a nice setting, with a picnic area and woodland walks and trails nearby.

FRENCHAY VILLAGE MUSEUM
Begbrook Park, Frenchay, Bristol BS16 1SZ. Zone A. Open Sat, Sun & BHMs 2-5pm, Wed 1-4pm, admission free, but donations welcome. Ffi: 0117 957 0942, www.frenchay.org • You might think it’s just a suburb of Bristol, but Frenchay is an old village with some really interesting history. This small but enthusiastically-run museum tells the story of the Quakers, particularly the Fry family, and other aspects of the village’s history, taking in things like the founding of the Christian Socialist movement and, naturally, the story of Frenchay Hospital. 2010 will also see an exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of aircraft manufacture in Bristol as part of the BAC100 celebrations.

THE GEORGIAN HOUSE
7 Great George St, Clifton, Bristol BS1 5RR. Zone A. Open Sat-Wed 10am-5pm, admission free. Ffi: 0117 921 1362, www.bristol.gov.uk/museums • In the 1790s, this was the home of West India merchant John Pinney, a man who made his pile in sugar from plantations in the West Indies worked by slave labour (Pinney famously mused that slavery must be OK because God hadn’t forbidden it). At the time, this was a very prestigious address, up on the hill and away from the smells, noise and proles living around the docks. He retired to this place to become one of the local great and good once he’d made his fortune, and among his retinue was a young black man named Pero (now memorialised in the form of the distinctive horned bridge in the harbour). So the house has two functions - to show what a wealthy Bristol home of the 1790s would look like (including an amazing plunge-bath in the basement and the servants’ quarters), and to house exhibitions on sugar and slavery. It’s a huge space that rarely gets swamped with visitors, and well worth a look.

GLENSIDE HOSPITAL MUSEUM
UWE Glenside Campus, Stapleton, Bristol BS16 1DD. Zone A. Open Sat & Wed only 10am-12.30pm, admission free but donations welcome. Ffi: call Brian Kington on 0117 965 2829, www.glensidemuseum.org.uk • Now part of the University of the West of England, this site was originally a lunatic asylum back in Victorian times, later becoming the famous Glenside Hospital, which pioneered various psychiatric and neurological treatments. Now, in the former hospital chapel is a museum with pictures, paintings and artefacts from Bristol’s psychiatric and learning disability hospitals and the Burden Institute, which to this day means Bristol is a world leader in treating neurological illnesses. Most of the material was collected by the late Dr Donal Early, who was a consultant at the Glenside from the 1950s. A fascinating place, currently undergoing building work and improvements, and very deserving of a big donation when you go there.

HAYNES INTERNATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM
Sparkford, nr Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7LH. Zone D. Open daily 9.30am-5.30pm (6pm in school summer hols, closes 4.30pm Oct-Mar), admission £8.95 adult/£7.50 senior, disabled/£4.25 ages 4-15/£11.50 1 adult + 1 child/£25 family (2 adults + 3 children). Ffi: 01963 440804, www.haynesmotormuseum.com • If you’re a particular type of bloke, this place will need no introduction. The Yeovil-based firm that publishes all those manuals about how to take apart/tinker with/fix different types of car put some of the Haynes Manual fortune to good use building up this here collection of old vehicles (about 400, plus motorbikes), one of the finest in Europe. Now, obviously, this place is petrolhead heaven, what with all those Daimlers, Bentleys, Jags, Rollers and Aston Martins, but the real favourites with most visitors are the Cortinas, Morris 1100s and all the ordinary workaday cars that we, our parents and grandparents used to drive round in. Aside from the cars there’s lots of fun stuff for kids: play area, driving arcade games through the ages, a go-kart track and ‘Super Diggers’ - miniature JCBs with which you can dig holes and shift sand. The museum also hosts a busy calendar of events through the year, including a couple of awesome stunt shows.

HERSCHEL MUSEUM OF ASTRONOMY
19 New King St, Bath BA1 2BL. Zone A. Open Feb-mid-Dec Mon-Fri (NB closed Wed) 1-5pm, Sat, Sun & BHMs 11am-5pm, admission £4.50 adult/£4 concs/£2.50 child/£11 family. Ffi: 01225 446865, www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk • William Herschel was the 18th-century equivalent of a session musician who moved to Bath because that’s where the gigs were. He was assisted by his sister Caroline, who worked as his housekeeper and was herself an accomplished musician. In their spare time, they looked at the stars… And discovered Uranus, whose name has delighted schoolboys (and many adults) ever since. This small museum, set in the house where this remarkable duo lived, is done out in appropriate period style. It tells you all about the Herschels’ lives and works, and features an auditorium (the Star Vault) where you can take a virtual-reality trip through the solar system.

HOLBURNE MUSEUM OF ART
Great Pulteney St, Bath BA2 4DB. Ffi:www.bath.ac.uk/holburne • Closed this year while undergoing a major restoration project, and the addition of a new extension. Due to re-open in the spring of 2011.

JANE AUSTEN CENTRE
40 Gay St, Bath BA1 2NT. Zone A. Open daily 9.45am-5.30pm (shorter hours in winter, and open til 7pm Thur-Sat in July & Aug), admission £6.95 adult/£5.50 senior & student/£3.95 child/£18 family. Ffi: 01225 443000, www.janeausten.co.uk • Jane Austen lived in Bath for five years in the early 1800s, and two of her novels - ‘Northanger Abbey’ and ‘Persuasion’ - are partly set here. There is a massive global Jane Austen industry, mostly appealing to ladies of a certain class and age, and if you’re going to have all these tourists passing through Bath, you might as well tap into the Austen dollar with a museum of her time here. The building has no direct connection with her (though she did briefly live in the same street for a few months in 1805). The centre also runs walking tours of Austen’s Bath and helps to organise the annual Jane Austen Festival (this year 17-25 Sept). You can also visit the Regency Tea Rooms upstairs for Austen-themed refreshments.

THE EDWARD JENNER MUSEUM
Berkeley, Glos GL13 9BN. Zone B. Open Tue-Sat & BHMs 12.30-5.30pm, Sun 12noon-5.30pm from 1 Apr-30 Sept and open every day in June-Aug, admission £4.80 adult/£4 senior & student/£2.50 ages 5-15/£12 family (combined tickets also giving entrance to Berkeley Castle available). Ffi: 01453 810631, www.jennermuseum.com • Edward Jenner pioneered smallpox vaccination making him one of the single most important figures in medical history, but he always shunned the limelight. He preferred to spend most of his career as a simple country doctor, living at this house in the shadow of Berkeley Castle. It’s well worth a look if you’re in the vicinity as it’s not just about Jenner’s life and times, but also aims to promote a greater understanding of the science of immunology. This year sees the 30th anniversary of the global eradication of smallpox, and there’ll be an exhibition on this. See website for details of other events, too.

KINGSWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM
Tower Lane, Warmley, Bristol BS30 8XT. Zone A. Open Tue, Sun & BHMs 2-5pm May-Sept, with shorter hours in winter, admission £2 or £2 for museum and grounds tour which takes place on the second Sunday of each month, BHM admission is £2.50/under-12s free. Ffi: 0117 960 5664, www.kingswoodmuseum.org.uk • One of the most interesting and undervalued museums in the region, done by the people for the people. Nothing in the area comes nearly as close to bringing you into contact with the start of the Industrial Revolution in Bristol and showing you the lives of ordinary working people. It’s a huge, ramshackle building tracing Kingswood’s astonishingly rich industrial and social history from medieval bandits and 18th-century zinc smelting to the birth of Methodism and on to pin making, motorcycles (Kingswood was home to the Douglas firm), copper, shoes and more. Where else can you see a 1930s newsreel of the Kleeneze brush factory and then look at a typical working-class living room of the 1950s? If that’s not enough, go on a day when they’re offering guided tours of the amazing grotto - built with the by-products of the zinc industry - and the acres of grounds out the back, originally the estates of the 18th-century Quaker industrialist who started it all.

MUSEUM OF BATH AT WORK
Julian Rd, Bath BA1 2RH. Zone A. Open daily from 10.30am-5pm, last admission 4pm from 1 Apr-31 Oct, weekends only in winter, admission £5 adult/£3.50 child, senior, student/£12 family. Ffi: 01225 318348, www.bath-at-work.org.uk • This charming, slightly eccentric place is the perfect antidote to the surfeit of twee age-of-elegance-Jane-bloody-Austen bollocks that Bath exudes in order to relieve the tourists of their cash. This museum traces Bath’s surprisingly rich heritage of inventiveness and hard work, from gas to stone-mining, construction, cabinet making, dockside-crane manufacture, cars, fuller’s earth and - oh yes! - Plasticine. Star exhibits include a Bath Chair originally shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851, a 1914 car and a copy of ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ printed in Pitman Shorthand. Based in a former 18th-century real tennis court, its centrepiece is the recreated premises of Victorian engineer JB Bowler, who made a small fortune selling what back then was called ‘aerated water’; it also prides itself on being able to tell you the history of fizzy drinks.

FASHION MUSEUM & ASSEMBLY ROOMS
Bennett St, Bath BA1 2QH. Zone A. Open daily 10.30am-5pm to 31 Oct, shorter hours in winter, admission £7 adult/£6.25 concs/£5 ages 6-16/£20 family. Combined ticket also giving admission to Roman Baths £15 adult/£13 concs/£9 child/£43 family (2 adults + up to 4 children). Admission free for B&NES Council area residents with Discovery Card. Ffi: 01225 477785, www.fashionmuseum.co.uk • Ought to be looked over by anyone who’s ever worn clothes, basically. The permanent collection shows the history of fashionable dress from the last few hundred years, including a gallery of corsets and crinolines (adults and children can try some of them on), and a ‘Dress of the Year’ chosen especially by fashion experts for the museum every year since its foundation in 1963. It’s a mark of how high-powered this place is that this year’s, for example, is a dress designed by Antonio Berardi, chosen for the museum by the editor of Harper’s Bazaar and worn at a film premiere by Gwynneth Paltrow. There are regular special exhibitions, too. Even hairy-chested chaps who profess no interest whatever in clothes find the place more interesting than they anticipate. Your visit has the added bonus that, as long as there aren’t any functions going on, your ticket gets you into the splendid Assembly Rooms, where the crème de la crème got together in days of yore for dancing, card-playing, tea-drinking and marrying their children off.

MUSEUM OF EAST ASIAN ART
12 Bennett St, Bath BA1 2QJ. Zone A. Open Tue-Sat & BHMs 10am-5pm, Sun 12noon-5pm, closed Mon, admission £5 adult/£4 senior/£3.50 student and children aged 12+/£2 ages 6-12/£12 family. Ffi: 01225 464640, www.meaa.org.uk • A fabulous collection of art and crafts from China, Japan, Korea and south-east Asia, dating from around 5000BC to the present day. Founded in 1993, the museum has four permanent galleries, plus a fifth for temporary exhibitions. Also boasts a lively programme of talks, workshops and activities ranging from martial arts classes to academic lectures, plus an excellent range of fun activities for kids. Like all self-respecting museums, it has a gift shop, but this one is really worth looking through, with some gorgeous pottery, textiles and jewellery, as well as the usual cards and books. Regular temporary exhibitions, plus lots of educational/family events over the school holidays - phone or see website for details.

NATURE IN ART MUSEUM
Wallsworth Hall, Glos GL2 9PA, two miles N of Gloucester on A38. Zone D. Open Tue-Sun & BHMs 10am-5pm, admission £4.75 adult/£4.25 over-60s & ages 8-16/£13.50 family/under-8s free. Ffi: 01452 731422, www.nature-in-art.org.uk • A museum with a difference - a whole load of artworks gathered from different eras and different parts of the world, but all on the theme of animals/nature. There are some pretty famous names here, too, including Picasso, Dali, Scott, Combes, Shepherd and Audubon. It also has a big programme of art courses and school holiday events. Lots of regularly changing exhibitions and artists-in-residence.

NO.1 ROYAL CRESCENT
1 Royal Crescent, Bath BA1 2LR. Zone A. Open Tue-Sun & BHMs 10.30am-5pm (4pm from 24 Oct), closed 12 Dec-Feb 2011, admission £6 adult/£5 senior, student/£2.50 ages 5-16/£12 family. Ffi: 01225 428126, www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk • The Royal Crescent, designed by John Wood the Younger in the 1760s, is now reckoned to be one of the finest examples of 18th-century urban architecture, and No.1, which doubles up as the HQ of the Bath Preservation Trust, has been restored to the sort of grandeur it would have boasted when it was built. The Duke of York (as in son of George III, as in ‘Oh the Grand Old…’) lived here for a while, you know.

NORTH SOMERSET MUSEUM
Burlington St, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1PR. Zone B. Open Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm, admission £4.50 adult/£3.50 senior/£2.50 child. Ffi: 01934 621028, www.n-somerset.gov.uk/museum • Quite a neat little place, this, with everything from dolls and old pottery through to displays on the history of North Somerset/Weston from prehistoric times to the present. Includes a mock-up of a Victorian dentist’s surgery, a typical Weston house from 1900 and lots and lots of stuff about seaside holidays down the ages.

OAKHAM TREASURES
Portbury Lane, Portbury, Bristol BS20 7SP. Zone B. Open Tue-Sat 10am-5.30pm (last admission 3.30pm), closed Sun, Mon & Bank Holidays, admission £6.50 adult/£5.50 senior/£5 age 6-16/£15 family (2 adults + 3 children). Ffi: 01275 375236 www.oakhamtreasures.co.uk • A couple of massive farm barns which have been converted to house all the stuff collected down the years by farmer Keith Sherrell. He started out collecting tractors and farm machinery, but then branched out into altogether more interesting stuff. A stupendously vast quantity of old everyday household stuff. Nothing we say can prepare you for the massive assault on your eyeballs that you get from all the advertising signs and all the groceries, sweets, cakes, chocolate, tinned food, cleaning products, booze, fags, children’s toys… All displayed in old shop cabinets or on mahogany counters. Much of the packaging still contains its original contents, and nobody can explain why, for instance, a 50-year-old fruitcake in a cellophane wrapper still looks as good as it did on the day it was made. Visit with as many generations of the family as possible to have a mass-reminisce about Rinso and Woodbines and Fry’s Chocolate Cream and Babycham and Bile Beans and… Oh, just see it for yourself.

RADSTOCK MUSEUM
Waterloo Rd, Radstock, BA3 3EP. Zone C. Open Tue-Sun & BHMs 2-5pm, Sat 11am-5pm, closed Dec & Jan, admission £4 adult/£2.50 child, senior, student/£10 family. Ffi: 01761 437722, www.radstockmuseum.co.uk • A cut above your normal small town museum, much of this place focuses on the lives and times of those who worked in the North Somerset Coalfields, once a hugely important local industry, and now rapidly fading from living memory. Exhibitions show work at the coalface and life above ground in places like a recreated Co-Op shop and Victorian schoolroom. Also displays on leisure, sport, the local railways and other local industries. It’s only one of a handful of places around here that really home in on the lives of ordinary people, mostly done by dedicated volunteers determined to tell their community’s story.

THE RED LODGE
Park Row, Bristol BS1 5LJ. Zone A. Open Sat-Wed 10am-5pm, admission free. Ffi: 0117 921 1360, www.bristol.gov.uk/museums • Fascinating place, right in the middle of the city. It started out as a house in Elizabethan times but was used for all sorts of purposes since. Most notably, it was turned into a school for bad girls by formidable Victorian social reformer and bossyboots Mary Carpenter. One of the rooms is dedicated to her work, though the real stars are the Great Oak Room (with lavish oak panelling, plastered ceiling and ornate fireplace, all of them dating back to the late 16th/early 17th century) and the Elizabethan knot garden outside. If you live/work in central Bristol, you really ought to drop in sometime.

ROMAN BATHS & PUMP ROOM
Entrance via Pump Room, Stall St, Bath. Zone A. Open daily 9am-5pm (until 9pm in July & Aug), shorter opening hours in winter, admission £11.50 adult (£12.25 in July & Aug)/£10 concs/£7.50 child/£33 family, combined ticket also giving admission to Fashion Museum £15 adult/£13 concs/£9 child/£43 family (2 adults + up to 4 children). Admission free for B&NES Council area residents with Discovery Card. Ffi: 01225 477785, www.romanbaths.co.uk • This is the one place in Bath nobody should miss, and the place does a superb job of explaining what it’s all about. The baths are the whole reason Bath is here in the first place, and this is among the best-preserved Roman sites in Europe. The hot springs that bubbled up from the ground were sacred to the locals long before the Roman invasion, but it was the Romans who seriously developed Bath as a trading and religious/healing centre and, as archaeological research is starting to reveal, a resort for the idle rich. With the aid of your audio-guide, you get taken through the remains and a selection of extraordinarily vivid finds (such as the votive offerings from people calling curses down on their enemies), and out into the open air and the magnificent Great Bath. It’s one of the few historic sites you come out of feeling as though you really do know more than when you went in. It boasts a dead-good gift shop, too. If you can stand the crowds, it’s especially nice to visit on one of the evenings in July or August when it stays open late and the baths are all lit up by torchlight, just as they would’ve been nearly 2,000 years ago. Woo! You can also visit the Pump Rooms, built in the 1790s, to imbibe a medicinal glass of your actual Bath water should you so wish. It tastes bloody awful, mind.

ROYAL WEST OF ENGLAND ACADEMY
Queen’s Rd, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX. Zone A. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5.30pm, Sun 2-5pm, admission £4 adult/£2.50 concs/children free. Ffi: 0117 973 5129, www.rwa.org.uk • Housed in a fabulous listed building and home to one of only five Royal Academies of Art in the UK, with a very distinguished 150-year history. Don’t imagine though that this place is all stuffy and establishment; it’s shown street art, too. There are two galleries - the newer one downstairs and the main one upstairs, which houses exhibitions that change every six weeks or so, but which is closed when it’s not exhibiting. Work on show usually tends to be very accessible - phone or check the website for details of current exhibitions, or read all about it in the Art pages of Venue magazine.

SOMERSET RURAL LIFE MUSEUM
Abbey Farm, Chilkwell St, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8DB. Zone C. Open Tue-Sat & BHMs 10am-5pm, admission free. Ffi: 01458 831197, www.somerset.gov.uk/museums • Run by Somerset County Council and with a remit to educate the local youth (in particular) about a whole world that’s still within living memory, but which will soon be completely forgotten. Housed in a medieval barn that once belonged to Glastonbury Abbey, this place shows what life was like on the Somerset Levels in the 19th and early 20th centuries, much of it through displays on the life of 19th-century farm labourer John Hodges and his family. As well as displays on farming, there’s also info on peat cutting, withy growing (willow sticks for baskets and artist’s charcoal), and cheese and cider making. Outside, there’s an orchard with beehives and rare breeds of sheep and poultry. It has a very busy schedule of events through the year, particularly demonstrations of traditional crafts from the Levels, so if you’re planning to visit, phone ahead or see website to see what’s on. Or just visit Glastonbury anyhow and make it part of the itinerary.

STEAM: MUSEUM OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
Kemble Drive, Great Western Way, Swindon SN2 2TA. Zone D. Open daily 10am-5pm, admission £6.40 adult/£4.25 senior, student, ages 5-16/£17 family (2 adults + 2 children)/£20.20 family (2 adults + 3 children). Ffi: 01793 466646, www.swindon.gov.uk/steam • See Trains, Boats & Planes section.

THE TANK MUSEUM
Bovington, Dorset BH20 6JG. Zone D. Open 10am-5pm daily, admission £11 adult/£9 concs/£7 age 5-16/£29 family/under-5s free. Ffi: 01929 405096, www.tankmuseum.co.uk • It’s a long way from Bristol/Bath, but where else in Britain will you see this much awesomeness under one roof? The best collection of armoured vehicles in the UK, if not the world, with about 300 tanks, self-propelled guns and other combat vehicles from over two dozen different countries in a large facility next to a working army camp. Includes impressive WW1 collection (some of which you can actually get into) and loads from WW2, including Shermans, Churchills, Bren Carriers, Panzer IVs, Panthers, a T-34 and some other Russians. The star of the show, however, is the WW2 German Tiger, the last working Tiger in the world, and a big terrifying lump of unyielding heavy metal which makes all of its Allied rivals look weedy and inadequate by comparison. Lots of post-war specimens, too, including several taken during the first Gulf War. Check website when planning a visit to see if you can coincide with one of the many interesting events and demonstrations they host.

THORNBURY & DISTRICT MUSEUM
Chapel St, Thornbury BS35 2BJ. Zone B. Open Tue-Fri 1am-4pm & Sat 10am-4pm, admission free (donations welcome). Ffi: 01454 857774, www.thornburymuseum.org.uk • Small community museum run by enthusiastic volunteers who can tell you everything there is to know about the long history of a town that’s way older and more interesting than its endless vistas of modern housing would suggest. Exhibits include part of a Roman coin hoard found by a local bloke digging a garden pond a few years back, as well as lots of other Roman artefacts. Also acts as a centre for local amateur historical researchers.

VICTORIA ART GALLERY
Bridge St, Bath BA2 4AT. Zone A. Open Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1.30-5pm, admission free but donations welcome. Ffi: 01225 477233, www.victoriagal.org.uk • Bath & North East Somerset’s biggest gallery has a very impressive collection of British and European paintings, from the 15th century to the present day, including works by Turner, Gainsborough and Sickert. A better range of stuff than you’ll see in the municipal galleries of some much bigger towns, and since it’s free, what’s stopping you? Also runs regular children’s and family activities, especially during school holidays. Very impressive programme of temporary exhibitions, too; look out especially for the pics by veteran war photographer Don McCullin starting in September.

WILTSHIRE HERITAGE MUSEUM
41 Long St, Devizes, Wilts SN10 1NS. Zone B. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12noon-4pm, admission £4 adult/£3 concs/under-16s free. NB Admission free for everyone on Sun. Ffi: 01380 727369 www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk • Not your usual small town museum at all. Wiltshire is famously home to some of the most important ancient sites in the world, and this museum is home to some of the fabulous things that have been found at them. Galleries cover the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval periods (as well as more recent local history). The biggest attraction is probably the various bits of jewellery, including a collection dubbed the “crown jewels of the King of Stonehenge” found at Bush Barrow. If you’re into this stuff and are still in Wilts, see also the Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum in Salisbury, where they have the remains of the famous ‘Amesbury Archer’.

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