North Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery

The North Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery stands in Camelford, a small town in north Cornwall. Housed in a former coach and wagon works, the building itself dates back to the days when Camelford was a hub for local transport. The museum focuses on everyday life in North Cornwall between fifty and a hundred years ago. Exhibits cover cider-making, dairy work, farming and traditional wagons. A separate section displays Cornish and Devonshire earthenware from the same period. The gallery is worth the journey because it preserves skills and crafts that have largely disappeared. Sally Holden owns and runs the museum while also managing Camelford’s tourist information service. The displays include tools once used by blacksmiths, wheelwrights and other craftsmen. Visitors can see how local people lived and worked in the early to mid-20th century. The earthenware collection shows the region’s distinctive pottery traditions. Inside, visitors find rooms arranged to show different aspects of North Cornwall’s past. One area recreates a traditional dairy with original equipment. Another room displays farm wagons and the tools used to build them. The earthenware section includes jugs, bowls and plates from local potteries. Outside, the town of Camelford offers cafés and shops within easy walking distance. The museum provides a quiet, informative look at a way of life now mostly gone.