Flower Makers Museum

The Flower Makers Museum sits just outside Hastings and tells the story of Sussex's artificial flower industry - a craft that once employed hundreds of locals but has almost completely vanished. It's a proper slice of working-class heritage, housed in what was actually a production workshop. You'll see the tools, the materials, and displays explaining how women's hands shaped silk petals and wired stems for London's theatres and department stores.

Don't expect grand displays or interactive installations. This is intimate, even spartan in places - which is entirely the point. Walking through the rooms, you get a genuine sense of the skill involved and the speed these women had to work at to earn a living. The museum leans heavily into oral history, so the stories feel personal rather than sanitised.

It works best for history enthusiasts and anyone interested in forgotten trades and women's labour. Children under ten will likely find it a bit slow unless they're already keen on museums. Allow an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you read everything. The museum tends to have limited opening hours, so check ahead before heading over from Hastings town centre.

If you're camping at Beaulieu Farm or Coghurst Hall, it's a straightforward drive and makes a decent half-day outing alongside the coastal walks that dominate the area. Not a showstopper, but refreshingly honest about a bit of local history most people have never heard of.