SCOLTON MANOR HOUSE

On all of our visits to south west Wales we have been very fortunate with the weather. It is always a risk you have to take when arranging a holiday in the UK so it is advisable to have something in reserve should the weather be not too good. So when we awoke to a rainy day whilst there this year, Pembrokeshire's County Museum at Scolton Manor beckoned.
The Victorian manor house is set in 60 acres of park and woodland which are an attraction in their own right on a fine day but in inclement weather, the house itself provides the main point of interest.
The three floors of the house, basement, ground and upper, are all furnished to show the visitor what life was like above and below stairs in the Victorian age. The contrast between the servants' quarters and the luxury of the masters' rooms is only too apparent.
A little way from the house the stable block surrounds a courtyard accessed via an arched entrance.
The block contains not only stables but also a carpenter's workshop , a blacksmith's forge and carriage house in which the museum has assembled a collection of old carriages.
Beyond the stable block is an exhibition hall and between the two a steam train stands on a short length of line and a signal box has been erected to form a railway display.
The dogs were optional extras as they belonged to other visitors to Scolton and were not exhibits in the museum but they did add a touch of realism to the static railway scene. Once inside the exhibition hall, another display concentrated on a different mode of transport. Against a painted backdrop, a manikin sat in a small boat demonstrating a method of fishing and two coracles completed the display.
The bulk of the exhibits in the hall focussed on Pembrokeshire's history and included many displays of farming machinery and equipment but there was also a very interesting section about the Second World War. In one corner an Anderson shelter complete with sound and lighting effects, supplemented by posters of the day, gave an impression of life in the blitz.
Around the balcony, hands-on interactive puzzles and experiments under the collective name of Sci-Trek brought the museum right up to date and even took a look into the future but we concluded our visit back on the ground floor at a cabinet full of corn dollies.
A lot of superstition surrounds the corn dolly as it was once believed that a spirit lived in the cornfield. When the corn was cut, the spirit died so a corn dolly was plaited from the last sheaf of corn to provide a resting place. This also ensured the continuity of the harvest the following year. The display contained a variety of corn dollies but all showed the patience and skill that is required to make one. Some of the publicity material for Scolton says it's "Worth having a rainy day for!" but I would suggest it's worth a visit even on a fine day - you might even get to see the Nature Trails then.