A Wander Around the British Lawnmower Museum

I have visited Southport a few times, it is a place I have become very fond of.  Everytime I go I have thought about going to visit the British Lawnmower Museum, yet time and circumstances have made this not possible until the other day when I was there.  This time I knew I would have a couple of hours spare to have a bit of a wander and top of my wandering list was the museum.
The museum has had a facelift since last time I visited as I admit I had tried to find it once before but had wandered past before I realised where it was.  This is hard to do now.
The outside is beautifully decorated so you cannot fail to see where it is.  The entrance is through the family's shop, the Discount Garden Machinery Warehouse.  For a modest entrance fee the audio tour is switched on and you get to wander about the two floors of the museum.
It contains lawnmowers, from the modern and toy variety,,,,
...to the very old push along and every thing else in between.
Now you might think that once you have seen one lawnmowever you have seen them all.  Also, I have to say that the lawn is not the be-all and end-all of my gardening,   I was going out of curiosity, not fandom.
After a short while though I found I was looking more closely at them.  Curiosity was really taking over. I loved the crest on this one, it reminded me of ones we used to have when I was growing up.
There was something quite mesmerising about the rows and rows of machines.
There is a growing collection of lawnmowers donated by the 'Rich and Famous'.  This one donated by Paul O'Grady made me smile.
This one belonged to Jean Alexander, better known to many as Hilda Ogden from Coronation Street who apparently lived in Southport for many years.
and this one was donated by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan.  They have many other 'celebrity' mowers.
The museum is informative, it takes you through the history of the lawnmower as I am sure you would expect.  This is a photograph of the first ride on motor-mower in 1904.
This car is a training car, the sign by it says that in 1939 one ACTO car was going to allocated to every school in the country to enable young people to learn to drive.  The Second World War broke out and this scheme never progressed but 200 of the cars were made.  The car has a 1hp Villiers engine and a top speed of 10 mph.  In my mind it is almost a forerunner of the Sinclair C5 (well, it was small, I think there the similarities end).
I had to buy a postcard depicting this advertisement.  I assure you I dress like this to mow the lawn all the time (if I had that dress I probably would, I think it is wonderful).
Poldark - is that you?
I really enjoyed my visit to the museum. It has great charm.
The day ended, as is now traditional on my visits to Southport; with a stop-off at Crosby to eat ice-cream and gaze upon Anthony Gormley's 'Another Place' statues.  On a warm sunny day there are few better things to do.