Museums- Cumberland House- Natural History Museum-Portsmouth.

Cumberland House Natural History Museum is a very nice surprise of a building all nestled behind a walled garden and a park. I visited back in February in the middle of a torrential wind and rain storm, so my first impressions of entering the museum were of warmth, dioramas and dinosaurs.  

There are many varied exhibits and lots of treasures on the walls and inside draws. Lots of the specimens are very old and delicate and I very much liked the Pygmy Shrew and the Pangolin.

Outside there is a Butterfly House but they were all asleep until May. The greenery was a sheltered calm from the current outside situation and I could have sat in there all afternoon.  On the second floor of the museum is a beehive but they were surrounded by eyes asking questions about queens and jam. I came away as they had enough to deal with, the bees that is.

Cumberland House Museum is FREE to visit.  

Please visit HERE to check the opening times and of course when the butterflies start to wake up.

Thankyou to the museum staff for letting me take pictures. 

MuseumsEmma Graney