Today the Weald and Downland Living Museum is familiar to audiences nationwide as the location for the BBC’s gentle surprise hit The Repair Shop. In fact, according to museum director Simon Wardell, one in three visitors express an interest in the programme.
For those who haven’t seen it, the show sees experts repair and renovate treasured heirlooms and present them, good as new, to their owners. There are disarmingly moving moments and legions of fans. Last year Pointless host Richard Osman happily outed himself as “weeping at The Repair Shop, as usual.”
While visitors to the museum aren’t likely to meet the presenters or conservators when they visit – and the Court Barn building is closed due to filming – they will discover much of the same ideology. The 40-acre site is home to 53 historic buildings, dating from as early as 950 AD – all of which have been rescued from falling into oblivion and reconstructed on the site.
This month the museum celebrates its 50th anniversary of opening to the public on 5 September 1970. The extraordinary endeavour began when founder Roy Armstrong set out to stimulate interest in historical buildings, increasing awareness of traditional crafts, trades and industries. He was inspired by open-air museums in Europe, including two in Norway. To begin with, it was very much a shoestring operation, says Simon Wardell: “There are some amusing photographs of thatched cottages being rescued on a low loader, being driven through the gates and popped down in situ. We probably wouldn’t be allowed to get away with that these days.”
This story is from the September 2020 edition of Sussex Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2020 edition of Sussex Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
TAKE YOUR TIME
Dean Edwards’ new cookbook features delectable recipes that you can slow cook or stick in the oven. Here’s a selection of the best
Decorative art
Not simply functional, treat your walls like an extension of your personality
ON THE FRONT FOOT
The rugby legend took the reins at Sussex County Cricket Club in 2017, rekindling his love for a sport that first won his heart on the village cricket fields of North Yorkshire
NAKED AMBITION
In the 1980s, Christine and Jennifer Binnie partied with Boy George and Marilyn and bared all as performance art collective The Neo-Naturists. Now they are working together to gain the recognition they feel they deserve
ROCKET MAN
Astronaut Tim Peake has come a long way since growing up in Westbourne and attending Chichester High School for Boys: 248 miles above Earth, to be precise. But, he says, life on the International Space Station has a lot in common with family caravanning holidays
Revolution man
Lewes’ most famous resident Thomas Paine may be the greatest propagandist who ever lived. But how did a humble customs and excise officer ignite the touchpaper for revolution in not one but two countries?
THE DIARY
17 exciting things to do this month in East and West Sussex
All in a day's work
Meet Tim Dummer, who has helped keep Midhurst’s Cowdray Estate shipshape for an impressive five decades
My favourite Sussex
Bruce Fogle is an author and a vet with a practice in London who has lived in West Sussex with his wife, the actress Julia Foster, since 1989. He recently became president of RSPCA Mount Noddy near Chichester
10 OF THE BEST Meat-free restaurants in Brighton and Hove
Brighton is often rated one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the UK. What these restaurants prove is that plant-based food doesn’t have to be puritanical – at all of these places you’ll find big flavours and a desire to push the envelope
