Heavy rain battered against the sloping roof and slanted window waking me early this morning. Rain which would have denied us seeing Birdworld and Rural Life Museum today. The best perhaps the only option was for something indoors. So we wended our way through numerous roadworks to Milestones Museum in Basingstoke. This is the kind of place I love.

Yesteryear. Old shops selling things lost to memory like huge gramophone players. Mockups of piers with penny operated slot machines. Gleaming grass of ancient vehicles which had style. Sweatshops where sweets were stored in glass jars rather than swathed in paper wrapping. Appliances of ancient times seemingly bulky and clumsy. Mementos from when Britain kept up with the world in technology.

In the evening we dined at the Irish flavoured Hare and Hounds, very generous portions accompanied by a large black labrador roaming around the pub giving us pleading looks.

A hangar full

Typical rooms of the past

Gas powered heating devices