I was fortune to visit the incredible Horniman Museum in SouthEast London last summer, and it was a wonderful experience. This museum is easily one of the oddest, and most entertaining, museums in Britain — if not the world.

The museum is the private collection of Frederick John Horniman, an affluent tea trader. His collection started in the 1860s, and transpired into a museum in 1901.The museum had originally been the family home, but they had to move out when the collection took over the house!

It contains over 30,000 items he collected on his travels around the world as part of his business adventures. It is an incredible collection which features natural history items (including a lovely stuffed walrus, who was on tour when we went), sociological artefacts from across the globe, and an outstanding collection of musical instruments.

Here are some highlights from our visit:

There are also extensive gardens to wander around, with wonderful views. And did I mention it’s absolutely free to visit?!

You can learn more about the collections and how to visit the museum here. I also highly recommend following them on twitter @HornimanMuseum as they have a brilliant communications team and always tweet really lovely content.