Guildford Museum

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Castle Arch, Guildford, England+44 01483 444 751

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Guildford Museum sign Photo - Guildford Museum, Guildford, England

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by cflecker

Horsham, Pennsylvania

June 8, 2010

Best of IgoUgo Let's be completely honest, tourists aren't beating down the doors to get into Guildford, the county town of Surrey that's located about 25 miles south of London. Sure, it's been rated one of the top 10 places to live in the UK, but what is going ...Read more Let's be completely honest, tourists aren't beating down the doors to get into Guildford, the county town of Surrey that's located about 25 miles south of London. Sure, it's been rated one of the top 10 places to live in the UK, but what is going to draw someone to visit? There's the Cathedral, which appeared in the movie The Omen, and pretty good shopping, and the headquarters of several video game companies (including my personal favorite, Lionhead Studios), and a castle. But what else is there for a tourist to do?

That's a question I asked myself as I got out of my friend's doll-sized Nissan on a stunningly hot Tuesday morning. He was off to work in the Surrey Research Park, and I, being out of ideas and low on cash, had decided to stay local for my last full day in the UK... meaning I was going to spend the entire day in Guildford. A suburb, for all intents and purposes.

After a "this-is-so-delicious-I-want-to-move-here" bacon roll and tea at the West Cornwall Pasty Company, I drifted along through the streets until I found myself at the castle arch and, just outside it, a small circular sign advertising the Guildford Museum.

At this point, it's fair to say I didn't expect much, and anticipated even less when i realized that, aside from the woman at the desk, I was the only person in the place. It's less a large modern space and more a warren of small, creaky rooms. Soon, though, I realized that the hodge-podge of seemingly random items were actually put together into beautifully detailed chronological displays, grouped by theme.

There's a bit of everything-- ancient things in the Archaeology collections, a whole slew of items that had belonged to Charles Dodgson (the real name of Lewis Carroll), needlework, decorative arts such as tiles, displays on transportation and life in Guildford through the centuries, etc. A lot of time has obviously been spent on the text and design and loving detail, which is almost as fascinating as the collections themselves.

It was an excellent way to spend an hour, and it made me excited to go seek out places and things that I had just learned about, like the Alice in Wonderland statues and go walking along the River Wey. If you ever find yourself in Guildford, definitely take a detour here on your way up to the castle. Close

From journal Early Summer in Southern England

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Tiny Yet Tremendously Informative