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