As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog I finally got around to visiting the Cotswold Cricket museum in Stow-on-the-Wold.
It’s been on my radar for a while especially as it combines three of my favourite things: coffee, cricket and The Cotswolds.
Approaching its 2nd birthday The CCM is a private collection of cricket memorabilia curated by owner Andy Collier and housed above his & his wife’s coffee shop/information centre in Brewery Yard Stow-on-the-Wold.
It costs £3.50 to enter (£4.50 if you want to include a tea or coffee with your entry fee) and I was absorbed in it for best part of 90 minutes. It really is an excellent museum that’s well set out with plenty to see.
There’s a all sorts on display from a pair of Kevin Pietersen’s spikes to a brilliant display showing the correspondence between the Australian Cricket Board and the MCC during the 1932/33 Bodyline series.
As I found out whilst walking around it was the really obscure quirky things that appealed to me though! Things such as Ben Holliake’s boarding pass for an England A tour he went on and a tour guide for players on a tour of Southern Rhodesia from the 1950s.
But whatever takes your fancy in the cricketing arena you’ll find it here – bats, autographs, blazers, caps, paintings, cigarette cards etc. etc.
As a cricket fan it was an absolute find but I’d hasten to add that i’m sure that it would also appeal to non-cricket fans too as it shows a fascinating social history to a certain aspect (cricket) of society through the ages.
Following the walk around the museum – for which there’s an optional quiz based on the things on display – I sat down and had a coffee and a chat with Andy the owner. He’s clearly in his element and I don’t blame him! As the clocked ticked past 5 I realised I’d been in there for best part of two hours and it was time to go home.
If you’re in the North Cotswolds go and check it out and allow yourself at least an hour.
Location: 7 & 8 Brewery Yard, Sheep Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, GL54 1AA
Cost: £3.50 (£4.50 including a coffee/tea)
Website: http://www.cotswoldcricketmuseum.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cricket_museum
