Hop pickers in Hereford and farmers ploughing fields with horses in Snowdonia: Heartwarming nostalgic photos show Britain's lost rural era
- The Museum of English Rural Life in Reading recently underwent a £3million Lottery-backed refurbishment
- The visitor centre started in the 50s when Reading University staff realised how fast the area was changing
- There are more than one million photographs and 25,000 antique objects on display at the museum
A broom-maker in a flat cap carves wood by hand, a milk man on a pony and cart collects metal churns from the roadside and a family pick hop flowers.
These are just some of the nostalgic images captured in black and white over the past 60 years by the founders of the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading. They provide a fascinating insight into a long lost, almost forgotten rural tradition in Britain.
The museum, which offers visitors a snapshot of country life dating as far back as the 1930s, recently underwent a £3million Heritage Lottery-backed refurbishment and has now reopened its doors to curious tourists.
There are more one million photographs and 25,000 farming-related objects on display at the visitor centre, which launched originally in the 1950s when staff at Reading University realised how fast the countryside around them was changing irrecoverably.
Dr Oliver Douglas, Assistant Curator at the Museum of English Rural Life, told MailOnline Travel: 'From a man trap to a lark spinners, an artificial bee inseminator to a set of birthing forceps used in lambing sheep, there are thousands of amazing items on display and each has its own extraordinary story to tell.'
MailOnline Travel has selected 12 intriguing photographs belonging to the museum, which transport viewers back to an era, where there's not a phone, car or electronic gadget in sight...
Water break: Arlington Row at Bibury, Gloucestershire, captured in 1935 - the photo was snapped by Miss Marjorie L Wight, who was an author and amateur photographer working mainly in Herfordshire and Worcestershire
All in a day's work: A man parks up his pony and cart in June 1952 as he collects milk churns from a roadside stand
A family affair: Hop pickers seen at Mordiford, Herefordshire, during the 1930s - the flowers were picked by hand
Mood shot: Midday outing on a winter's day during the 1950s (left) and a ploughing team at work in Snowdonia (right)
Animal magic: Calves standing in a cart circa 1948. The image was taken by Eric Guy who was a commercial photographer with businesses at Basingstoke, Hampshire, and then Reading, Berkshire
Times gone by: A broom maker seen in action during the 1960s - the shot was captured by John Manners, whose photographs detailing rural crafts appeared frequently in journals such as Country Life and The Field
Here's looking at ewe: Sheep dipping captured at a farm in the 1960s by John Tarlton. He was one of the foremost photographers of the post-war British countryside, with his work appearing in national and regional magazines
Fighting for a cause: Speakers from the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAW) - a trade union that existed between 1906 and 1982 to represent farmworkers
Flashback: The Museum of English Rural Life in Reading started in the 50s when Reading University staff realised how fast the area was changing
19th century farming gadgets: A poster from 1893 advertising Ransomes' new ploughs (left) and another advert from the same time promoting drills and sowers (right)
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