Model railway exhibition and woodland crafts May 1, 2010

This bank holiday weekend, the Rural Life Centre is on track to thrill visitors with working model trains plus two days of hands-on woodland crafts.

Whether you want to share your love of model railways with fellow enthusiasts, try your hand at woodland skills, buy plants for your garden or find out more about beekeeping, the Rural Life Centre, Tilford is the place to be this May Bank Holiday weekend.

On the Saturday (1st May) the Old Kiln Light Railway, which is based at the museum, hosts model railway layouts of every gauge and type. The smallest is in a coconut shell while the largest, in 'G' scale and around 35 feet long, recreates the fictional Broke Brick Mountain in America's Wild West.

Visitors will be encouraged to try controlling a train around the track of the Albany Garden gauge-one set-up. There will also be a one-sixteenth size
roadside tram system modelled on the museum's own tram body which used to run on the Portsmouth to Horndean light railway and is currently being
restored.

Railway preservation groups will be on hand to chat to visitors about their work, model makers will demonstrate their skills and there will be stalls
selling a variety of modelling goods, including locos and rolling stock, books and tools.

Sunday and Monday mark the return of the museum's popular Countryside & Woodland Weekend where young and old can try out traditional crafts such as
turning and basket-making. There will be plants to buy for your garden as well as a chance to see beekeeping in action when Farnham Beekeepers hold
their Open Hive event.

The Model Railway Exhibition and the Countryside and Woodland Weekend take place 1-3 May from 10am to 5pm at the Rural Life Centre, an accredited museum of village life, midway between Tilford and Frensham in Reeds Road off the A287, three miles south of Farnham. For further information telephone 01252 795571.