The Bakelite Museum

I didn't plan a visit here, but the sign to the Bakelite Museum in Williton, Somerset was irresistible. This private collection is housed in (indeed, crammed into) an old mill, and many of the displays are on open shelves. Some, like a tie press, even encourage you to touch.

If a bakelite collection conjures up images of endless brown plastic, think again: bakelite essentially has two meanings. First, there's the dark material invented by Dr Leo Baekeland who gave his name to the product. The second, looser definition is any early twentieth-century plastic, and a lighter, coloured version had soon been invented so the museum is a rainbow of colours.

The history of plastics actually goes back even further: a number were invented in the nineteenth century, including celluloid, vulcanite and bois durci - but all were 'semi-synthetics' made from natural materials. (Bois durci, for example, included pig's blood, soot and egg white.)

Bakelite was the first synthetic version, using the petrol derivative phenol formaldehyde as a resin. However, the colours of the resin and the wood filler mean that true bakelite has the dark colour we are familiar with. Only in the 1920s - fifteen or so years later - did other resins such as cast phenolic and urea formaldehyde produce lighter plastics.

The museum is stuffed with twentieth-century plastics of all kinds, as well as rare nineteenth-century pieces. Much is unlabelled, but that all adds to the fun of discovery.

Practical info
Orchard Mill, Williton, TA4 4NS
Open easter to the end of September (daily in school holidays, Thursday to Sunday in termtime).
Admission is £4 (paid into an honesty box, although the woman who swept over suspiciously to check my contribution clearly didn't trust much in my honesty!)