Thursday 7 June 2012

The Land of Lost Content


Huh? The what? That’s what I thought too when I picked up the leaflet in my local Tourist information office. Many times I’ve heard people admit to not exploring their local area, even though there may be many interesting places to visit and things to see, and I’m no exception. But recently I decided this had to change, starting with an outing to this intriguing museum in Craven Arms, Shropshire (just north of Ludlow). All I can say is that I LOVED IT! Well, it was more like “Wow, that was amazing, I must tell as many people about it as possible!”

 “The Land of Lost Content” is the world's largest archive of 20th century popular culture. This online resource is the result of a lifetime of collecting by Stella and her husband Dave. It’s a shrine to the British way of life, from the Victorians through the Twentieth Century”


 “The museum is housed on three floors of a Victorian market hall. Everything falls under 32 main headings including schooldays, food and beverages, cooking and cleaning, teenagers and national service, nursery years, toys and games, hardware, confectionery, cigarettes and tobacco, travel and transport, holidays, photography, hairdressing and cosmetics, film and theatre, clothing and shoes, fashion, pop music, sports and pass-times, radio and television, home front, etc. In fact – everything we, our parents, our grandparents and our children, owned, used, played with and threw away.”

In this YouTube video, Danny Wallace featured the museum in 2009 on the TV programme “Brilliant Britain” and it will give you a very good idea of what it’s like...


It’s well worth a visit, preferably with someone as you will find yourself wanting to say “I had one of those!” or “I remember that!” excitedly every few seconds. A very nice pot of tea and slice of homemade cake can be enjoyed in their tearoom too. All I would say is that I found the temperature quite cool in there (but in fairness I do feel the cold) so next time I go I will wrap up more. But there will definitely be a next time.

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