How to Judge an Obscure and Odd Museum: No Mouse Mats for Sale in the Gift Shop - Chiltern Open Air Museum

Much more interesting than paying about 16 quid to get into the grand bits of Windsor Castle, this museum is about how ordinary people have lived - from a humble shepherd in his hut to those made homeless by the London Blitz of WWII who moved out of the city after the war and were houses in “prefabs” (there’s still a few left that are occupied). The one in the museum is as it was in 1946 - for people who had lost everything , it came with everything; including an ironing board that folded out of the wall.

This is a museum where, when they advertise “adult pole experience” it has nothing to do with dancing and everything to do with helping reconstruct a Celtic dwelling.

Chiltern Open Air Museum

Newland Park, Gorelands Lane,
Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks HP8 4AB
UK +44 (0)1494 871117
http://www.coam.org.uk/