Chiltern Open Air Museum

The Chiltern Open Air Museum is an open air museum with regional powers in the museum buildings from the Chilterns. It is situated between Chalfont St Peter and Chalfont St. Giles 37 km NNW of London and the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England.

Remit of the museum

The museum was founded in 1976. The aim of the museum is to preserve buildings that could not be obtained at their original location. The more than 30 buildings from different historical periods have been set up on the 18 -acre museum grounds again. This is not just about houses, but also to stables, barns, houses of worship, customs stations, a reconstructed house of the Iron Age, etc. The Museum grounds currently includes not only 30 buildings, but also forest and pasture land for the museum animals and a woodland and sculpture trail.

The museum runs from late March to late October almost every weekend a larger event by. The spectrum ranges from re-enactment workshops on craft techniques, information and demonstrations with horses and sheep to military exercises by the Romans until almost the present day.

The support of the Chiltern Open Air Museum is a non-profit organization ( registered charity ). It employs a small number of full-time employees and about 200 volunteers.

Worth seeing

Building

Particularly notable buildings are:

  • The reconstruction of an Iron Age house.
  • The grand country house Astleham.
  • A Victorian homestead inhabited by sheep and goats regional races.
  • A furniture factory in High Wycombe from 1887.
  • A Victorian customs house from High Wycombe.
  • A Tin Chapel, a small chapel, listed from finished parts with iron cladding, from Henton,
  • A rectory of Thame, which was made ​​of prefabricated parts, which were transported by rail, built in 1896.
  • The Municipal House ( Vicarage Room). The then minister had it built as a community center in the vicarage garden, as no facilities for religious instruction and other church events were present in the church.
  • A blacksmith from Garston with complete interiors.
  • Several barns, home to the oldest parts dating from the 16th century. Particularly interesting is the crutch construction of the roof of the barn from Arborfield.
  • The double house from the 18th century from the Compton Avenue in Leagrave to Luton. It was originally a shingled and thatched barn with double doors in the middle. In the late 18th century, the barn has been converted into a farm worker house.
  • A post-war prefabricated barracks, originally from Amersham. The so-called prefabs were produced in the early postwar years on behalf of the Government and according to their rules prefabricated council homes and set up anywhere in the UK to create the housing shortage a remedy. The tenants were thrilled to get assigned to a modern family house with private garden and all mod cons (fridge and washing boiler central heating, toilet in the house, constantly hot water, fitted wardrobes, fitted kitchen). They called their houses Little Palaces - so no barracks!
  • Various granary and a storage for apples.
  • Many small building, from the toilet over the telephone booth and the tennis pavilion to the Shepherd carts.

The museum has a further 16 buildings that are stored and wait for their re-establishment. Funding for the establishment and maintenance of many different building types is difficult because it does not receive a permanent public subsidies.

Animals

The museum houses farm animals such as cows, sheep, chickens and goats partly endangered breeds from the Chilterns and surrounding area. Particularly noteworthy is the Oxford Down Sheep: Sheep Down (Oxford Down Sheep) were once very common, because they were big and stocky and gave good wool. Today it is no longer worthwhile to breed them. Reason is the lower demand for wool and the concomitant drop in prices. Sheep are now bred mainly for their meat and therefore other breeds are preferred. For this reason, the Down sheep are registered in the official Rare Breeds List. Even the chickens of the museum, the " Silver Grey Dorking " on this list.

Woodland and sculpture trail

A forest path leads the. By pastures and deciduous forests with old trees In the spring there scald the Bluebells ( Hyacinthoides Atlantic ). Along the forest path sculptures can be found made ​​of wood. The sculptures are the result of a project run by students of a neighboring furniture college, which was given the task several years ago to seek out locations for seating and for complete matching seats.

Events and media

During the season from April to October, every event at least every weekend. The thematically wide range from craft and handwork workshops on family programs and draft horses to cooking and gardening courses. A special highlight are the Reenactmenttage, the issues extend from the Celtic period to the Second World War.

In addition to many films and film scenes, a number of consequences, and many scenes of life in the CBBC Horrible Histories Brenneres was ( children's program of the BBC ) were filmed at the Chiltern Open Air Museum

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