Winston Churchill's Britain At War Experience

visited this museum with my parents

. it was a raining and we got in without any wait.

I now know why.

expensive and poorly put together

Massively overpriced (£11.45 for an adult) - me and my fiancee got in using a 2 for 1 discount voucher I found on the web and we still felt ripped off.

First section is a recreation of an underground station cum air raid shelter where three short films about Britain and the Second World War are shown. So far so average... Next is a room with a few newspaper cuttings and random bits of 1940s ephemera with very little to hold the attention. An Anderson Shelter featuring 'sounds of the war' is especially poor; save yourself the trouble - put a war film on the tele and sit in your wardrobe for a few minutes. My fiancee insists on reading every possible bit of information when we go to museums and it still only took us 15 minutes to look round this central room. We were very surprised therefore when the next section, a blitz scene with the legs from shop dummies in amongst the rubble, turned out to be the last exhibit. Even taking into account that we watched all three short films at the start of our visit we were only there for about an hour (at full price that works out at about £1.90 for every ten minutes) This might be an 'independent museum' and I'm sure the staff work hard but there can be no excuse for ripping off the public with such cheap reconstructions and lame exhibits. If military history is your bag visit the (free) Imperial War Museum, Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms or HMS Belfast and give this place a wide berth.

Not the best war museum by a long shot, but for a small amateur museum its very good.

As you enter theres a video to watch, which I can only assume is a professional documentary, its pretty long but has got some great old footage and is quite poignant.

The rest of the museum has an amateur feel but I quite liked that, lots of facts, photos and personal stories pasted on the walls and on boards, but not a great deal in the way of exhibits. There are some old toys, cameras and other donated items on display, some of these clearly home made during the war, which adds quite a nice touch.

The table with items to try on was a little disapointing however, firstly there was no description of any items and they weren't from any particular period. The world war two helmets they had were plastic, the gas masks were genuine but looked modern, there was a totally out of place modern kevlar US army helmet and some random flak jackets and camo gear clearly from an army surplus store. Again these weren't period clothing, mostly modern military gear.

The battle of britain set at the end was quite good but again a bit homemade, with exposed bulbs and dodgy models.

Ultimately I would say its good but only if you actually have an interest in the period and enjoy reading lots of stuff. If you are expecting to just wander about casually and look at exhibits you will be disapointed.