1Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Museum of Farming Life.
2I understand it's your first visit here,
3so I'd like to give you some background information about the museum
4and then explain a little about what you can see during your visit.
5So, where we're standing at the moment is the entrance to a large building
6that was constructed in 1880
7as the home of a local businessman, Alfred Palmer, of the Palmer biscuit factory.
8It was later sold and became a hall of residence for students in 1911,
9and a museum in 1951.
10In 2005, a modern extension was built to accommodate the museum's collections.
11The museum's owned by the university,
12and apart from two rooms that are our offices,
13the university uses the main part of the building.
14You may see students going into the building for lessons,
15but it's not open to museum visitors, I'm afraid.
16It's a shame because the interior architectural features are outstanding,
17especially the room that used to be the library.
18Luckily, we've managed to keep entry to the museum free.
19This includes access to all the galleries, outdoor areas and the rooms for special exhibitions.
20We run activities for children and students,
21such as the museum club, for which there's no charge.
22We do have a donation box just over there
23so feel free to give whatever amount you consider appropriate.
24We do have a cloakroom,
25if you'd like to leave your coats and bags somewhere.
26Unlike other museums, photography is allowed here,
27so you might like to keep your cameras with you.
28You might be more comfortable not carrying around heavy rucksacks,
29though keep your coats and jackets on as it's quite cold in the museum garden today.
30I'd like to tell you about the different areas of the museum.
31Just inside, and outside the main gallery,
32we have an area called Four Seasons.
33Here you can watch a four-minute animation of a woodland scene.
34It was designed especially for the museum
35by a group of young people on a film studies course, and it's beautiful.
36Children absolutely love it, but then, so do adults.
37The main gallery's called Town and Country.
38It includes a photographic collection of prize-winning sheep and shepherds.
39Leaving Town and Country, you enter Farmhouse Kitchen,
40which is... well, self-explanatory.
41Here we have the oldest collection of equipment for making butter and cheese in the country.
42And this morning, a specialist cheesemaker will be giving demonstrations of how it's produced.
43You may even get to try some.
44After that, you can go in two directions.
45To the right is a staircase
46that takes you up to a landing from where you can look down on the galleries.
47To the left is a room called A Year on the Farm.
48There's lots of seating here as sometimes we use the room for school visits,
49so it's a good place to stop for a rest.
50If you're feeling competitive,
51you can take our memory test in which you answer questions about things you've seen in the museum.
52The next area's called Wagon Walk.
53This contains farm carts from nearly every part of the country.
54It's surprising how much regional variation there was.
55Beside the carts are display boards with information about each one.
56The carts are old and fragile,
57so we ask you to keep your children close to you
58and ensure they don't climb on the carts.
59From Wagon Walk, you can either make your way back to reception
60or go out into the garden
61or even go back to take another look in the galleries.
62In the far corner of the garden is Bees are Magic,
63but we're redeveloping this area so you can't visit that at the moment.
64You can still buy our honey in the shop, though.
65Finally, there's The Pond,
66which contains all kinds of interesting wildlife.
67There are baby ducks that are only a few days old, as well as tiny frogs.
68The Pond isn't deep and there's a fence around it,
69so it's perfectly safe for children.