Strumpshaw Hall Steam Museum

Strumpshaw Hall Steam Museum stands on a farm estate east of Norwich in Norfolk. The red-brick hall itself was built in 1835 and enlarged in the 19th century with a service wing. Grade II listed, it has sash windows, a Doric porch and a slate roof. The grounds include a touring caravan site and the Strumpshaw Fen RSPB reserve. The museum occupies former farm buildings and outbuildings extended for the collection. The museum began with Wesley Key’s private gathering of steam engines. His grandson Jimmy Key now owns the site and keeps the engines running on special days and the last Sunday each month from April to October. Visitors see mobile and stationary engines, early internal combustion engines and a large Christie Wonder Organ. The last surviving Garrett traction engine still works alongside a steam wagon and ploughing set. Outside there is a narrow-gauge railway pulled by a Simplex diesel disguised as steam. The farm also has fairground rides and rare breeds of birds. Each Spring Bank Holiday weekend the estate hosts a steam rally with dozens of engines in steam and hundreds of tractors and commercial vehicles on display.