Buckler’s Hard open weekend

BUCKLER’S Hard Museum will be open this weekend with free admission as part of the Heritage Open Days Festival.

Visitors can enjoy free admission to the maritime village from Friday 6th to Sunday 8th September, where Nelson’s fleet at Trafalgar was built.

The Bucklers Hard Museum features fascinating exhibits including Nelson’s original baby clothes, and an opportunity to hear and follow residents’ stories in the exhibition of village life. Dogs are welcome on a lead.

Mary Montagu-Scott will also give free talks about work to preserve the world’s only surviving wreck of a ship built at Buckler’s Hard, after being part of an investigative dive of the wreck in Uruguay earlier this year. Her talks will take place in the HMS Agamemnon – Navigating the Legend exhibition in the Shipwrights Workshop at the bottom of the High Street, at 2pm on the Friday and 11am on the Sunday of the open days weekend.

There will also be a chance for visitors to enjoy exploring the rest of the picturesque village where the BBC and Disney FX adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations was filmed.

Other highlights include a free exhibition entitled The Art of Buckler’s Hard where the original paintings by the winner and semi-finalists of Sky Arts’ Landscape Artist of the Year are on display as well as artworks from the Montagu family collection.

Other historic features include the original Shipwright’s Cottage and charming St Mary’s Chapel, with a smugglers’ cellar under the altar, then pass preserved cottages which line the gently sloping street on its way to the water’s edge.

Heritage Open Days Festival celebrates heritage sites across the country. For free entry to Buckler’s Hard Museum, visitors should quote the voucher code HOD24 at the admission desk on arrival.

For more details visit www.bucklershard.co.uk or call 01590 616203.