Explore the world of Acton Scott Historic Working Farm

Acton Scott Historic Working Farm shows what life was like on a Shropshire hill farm at the start of the 20th century. At this time, the horse was the main source of power and therefore no tractors are used here. As the name suggests, this is a working museum. We show seasonal farming activities, craft skills and the home life of the people who lived and worked here.

Home farm and the Acton Scott Estate

The museum is located in the Home Farm of the Acton Scott Estate. The main group of buildings around the farmyard date from around 1770. Their style reflects an important period of investment in agriculture when new ways of farming were being introduced.

The Home Farm originally supplied the needs of the estate owners, who lived in the Hall. It provided meat, eggs, poultry, milk, and dairy products, together with fish from the pools and pigeons from the loft. This complemented the fruit and vegetables from the walled garden near the Hall.

The building on the left hand side of the entrance is known as the Gardener’s Lodge. This is one of a number of homes built by the Acton family for people working on the estate. The lodge overlooks one of three drives that provided access to the Hall. Our entrance would have been the back drive, in effect the ‘tradesman’s’ route to the hall. The view of the Hall you see as you enter the museum is therefore the rear of the property.

An ‘estate’ is usually a term for land owned with a country house. An estate is usually made up of the main house and associated buildings, a village, woodland areas, and farmland. This land was either worked by tenant farmers, who rented their farms from the estate, or was held ‘in hand’ and farmed directly by the landowner.

The farming year

We demonstrate seasonal work on the farm and show the home life of the families who lived here. In the fields, some times of the year are quieter than others, but each time you visit the museum you should see something new.

We think that it is important to preserve agricultural and craft skills so that they will be available for demonstrations and practical use in the future, they are an important part of our heritage. We are beginning to work with other organisations to find new ways of carrying out this important work.

The skills of the wheelwright, blacksmith, farrier and waggoner are all needed just to carry out horse-drawn demonstrations through the year.

The animals on the farm show the breeds and numbers of animals that would have been on the farm at the end of the 19th century. For special events we bring in other animals as appropriate.

Our staff are here to help so please feel to talk to them and to ask questions.

Further information

To explore the world of the working Museum, including our interactive maps and brand new oral history project "Voices from Shropshire's Farming past", click on any of the Related Webpages on the side navigation at the left hand side of the screen.