A Museum like they oughta be.

During an excellent holiday (of which more later) in Devon last week, the family Feegle came across a little museum in Ilfracombe. Having some time to kill (and a 3 year old who MUST BE ENTERTAINED) we chanced it.

I first realised it was a touch different from the London museums when the first thing the (elderly, male, voluntary) curator said to my daughter was "We've got a two-headed cat in a jar, you know. Over there, next to the four legged chicken and the bat foetus in formaldehyde."

There were no begging signs for donations, just a flat £2 entry fee, so in we went.

WOW. It was amazing. Drawer upon drawer of neon-hued Amazon butterflies, giant beetles, and above them - 20 samples of Victorian wedding cake complete with decorations!

The two-headed cat was everything promised, although the chicken was skeletal, it certainly was blessed in the leg department.
A Large chest of drawers labelled "please touch" revealed fossils (so far so ordinary) juxtaposed with petrified wood, a mammoths tooth, a 1920's camera and some sea shells.

A room full of old electrical equipment and a printing press boasted heads of assorted previously-alive bovine type creatures. And a cupboard full of pickled bats.

My daughter's highlight was the handmade dolls house (made by a 78 year old local woman as an exact replica of her own house, and displayed to raise money for the museum - put 2p in a slot and the lights come on.)

I did have a preference for the cat, but I also liked the shrunken head. My son liked the mammoth tooth. My husband was just in weird-stuff heaven.

We had visited the Natural History Museum in London the week before. While my children were dutifully excited and very much enjoyed the animatronic dinosaurs and pretend earthquakes, there was nothing to beat the absolute delight on their faces each time they opened a drawer or turned a corner to find a totally unexpected, peculiar and unique object in Ilfracombe Museum.

It is exactly as it ought to be; I hope it is never modernised, and if anyone mentions "animatronic" "interactive" or "educational" anywhere near it, I hope the curator will shoot them with his Edwardian Blunderbuss.

Or fail to warn them that the drawers have no stops. MWAHAHAHAHA.