It is often said that Britian is a land of eccentrics – and that truth can be proven in the unusual museums that dot the island of Great Britain. From a museum in a red phone box to a museum of pickled animals – Britain is full of strange and interesting museums that will surprise you, entertain you and most imporantly – educate you.

Here a rundown of the strangest British museums that I could find.

Phone Booth Museum

Britain is dotted with the iconic red phone box. It’s one of those elements of design that’s instantly recognizable as British. In the age of the cell phone, though, they are a dying breed with many being abandoned or offered to towns to maintain as heritage icons on their own. One local authority in Wales decided to turn it’s red phone box into a museum celebrating the photography of Tom Mathias. They adopted the phone box, gave it a new lease on life, restoring and creating this unique museum dedicated to a unique photographer.

Located in Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire in Wales

Cartoon Museum

Opened a couple years ago in London, The Cartoon Museum seeks to preserve the best in British cartoons, caricatures, comics and animation. The museum features a gallery, archive and library dedicated to all things cartoons.

Located in London:

The Cartoon Museum
35 Little Russell Street
London WC1A 2HH.
Telephone 0207 580 8155.
www.cartoonmuseum.org

Photo from Loz Flowers

Museum of Tea and Coffee

If I had to pick one thing that defined Britain – that would be tea. So, of course there is an entire museum dedicated to it! Not only does the museum tell you everything you need to know about the 400 year history of tea in Europe – they also have a tea room!

Located in London: (rumor has it that this museum may now be closed)

Bramah Museum of Tea and Coffee
40 Southwark Street
London SE1 1UN
www.teaandcoffeemuseum.co.uk/

Hunterian Museum

This museum is not for the faint of heart! The Hunterian Museum in London is a collection of thousands of animal specimens, pickled in jars in an incredible steel and glass gallery. They have everything from the smallest creatures to actual human beings. Would not recommend a visit after you’ve eaten!

Located in London:

35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London
www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums

Photo from phatcontroller

The Fan Museum

An entire museum dedicated to fans. Not electric fans, mind you (which would be cool as well!) – we’re talking the old school fans that women used to keep cool back in the day. Many of them are works of art in their own right. Boasting a collection of over 3,500 fans, they have the world’s largest collection of the interesting piece of art. They even have fans from the 1100’s!

Located in London:

12 Croom’s Hill
London
www.fan-museum.org

British Lawnmower Museum

The British love their gardens, so it only makes sense that they’d have a museum dedicated to everything to do with lawnmowers. From the very first lawnmower to modern day robotic lawnmowers, this museum has it all.

Located in Merseyside:

106-114 Shakespeare Street
Southport, Merseyside
www.lawnmowerworld.co.uk

Cumberland Pencil Museum

Here you can journey to the place where the pencil was invented which I’m sure would be a worthwhile pilgrimage for all the office supply geeks out there! Here you can learn the entire history of pencils and learn how they are made to this very day.

Located in Cumbria:
Southey Works,
Keswick,
Cumbria
www.pencilmuseum.co.uk

Photo from Dominic Torrisi

Do you have a suggestion for a strange British museum? Share it in the comments!

Contributing Editor – Jonathan Thomas

Long gone are the days of tourism when rolling a cheap suitcase into a yellowing room with flowered wallpaper and a smoking desk clerk who grunts out a room number and hands over a key a la Lampoon’s European Vacation. Both hotels owners and their guests have come of age, and this sophistication has hit its highest level at just 30 minutes outside of London in Buckinghamshire: Stoke Place, a boutique style country house retreat for city dwellers and city breakers.

The English countryhouse hotel offers top-quality stylish suites, garden events, and even a Stoke House personal trainer to whip the more active types into shape. In association with The White Blackbird, Stoke Place has started to ‘revive the Country House Party’ and throws creative events such as their first Pyjama Party last May.

This Friday night, January 22, 2010  Stoke Place will convert their glamorous hotel into a night of mystery, mysticism, and some ghoulish magic, with a Murder Mystery Treasure Hunt, a Vintage Secret’s Dress Up and Photo Studio (and styling), Whisky Tasting and Piano Singing, Literary Readings, and a Spooky Haunting re-enactment during their first ever ‘Tweed’ night.

Shuttle buses to and from London on the night make this swinging country house party accessible for even the staunchest of city dwellers and is completely open to the public: Just don your best Tweed and bring your most creative of colleagues for a night unlike anything else in London.

contributing editor – Jessica Ainlay

Usually, in winter I get a hankering for a dark rich porter.  But this winter, I find myself craving cocktails.  Maybe it’s the hidden bars, or rash of artisan infused liquors springing up, but I’m longing for that nostalgic bootlegger era when virtually all of the classic cocktails that we now drink are named. “I’ll take a Tennessee Williams and Gibson for the Misses, barman, and make it snappy” 

With my at home martini experiments, well… failing (pepper spiced pickle brine does not a good “artisan” martini make), I’m think it’s time to travel for my next drink.  If cocktail tourism is the next big trend – one item on my travel list would definitely be Rick’s Bar in central Edinburgh, Scotland.

This cocktail bar with rooms was voted by Conde Nast Traveler as one of the coolest hotels in the world.  I’d think their 20 page drink menu would have something to do with that.  It is inspired by some solid research and classic cocktail havens like prohibition-era Havana, Manhattan, New Orleans, and interestingly, the outposts of the British Empire (The Pegu Club cocktail was invented in the 1920s in Burma).  There’s even a fascinating section on Punch Bowls-evidently the earliest form of cocktail.

My favorite from the list has to be the Alamagoozlum Punch (try saying that three times fast after a few cocktails) or as it’s known by it’s full name, J.Pierpoint Morgan’s Alamagoozlum; the Personal Mix Credited to that Financier, Philanthropist & Banker of a Bygone Era” (or that!).

Stories about vampires, werewolves and alike have been around for hundreds of years. But,  there is only one mystical series of movies and books you care about- the Twilight Saga.

The hysteria around the movies has been helped by the fact that two of its very attractive leads (British actor Robert Pattinson and American actress Kristen Stewart) are rumoured to be dating. Although they have never confirmed their relationship, tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic went crazy this week with the news that both actors were photographed outside a supermarket by at 13 year old fan on the Isle of Wight, on New Years Day.

Robert and Kirsten are clearly in the know when it comes to picking hip destinations to celebrate a new decade. The Isle of Wight is a small island off the south of England, and home to two of the hippest summer music festivals in the UK- the Isle of Wight Festival  and Bestival. The Isle of Wight Festival started in the 1960’s and The Who, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Coldplay are just a few of the many acts to have played there. The 2010 festival is happening in early June and will feature Jay Z and P!ink, amongst others.

Bestival meanwhile happens in late summer and is more alternative and diverse, and has featured acts including Amy Winehouse and the Beastie Boys in past years.

contributing editor – Phillip Underwood

Are all the good vintage duds at your local thrift store gone?   Fear not, soon you’ll have a whole new decade to reference and pick through.   Now a mere 11 years into the history books, a fresh movement is afoot to declare the venerable 1990’s, “vintage.” 

Are we ready to ascribe the likes of Nirvana,  Pearl Jam, Wayne’s World, and the Spice Girls,  to the venerable “Vintage” label?  Or is that wine just too young to take from the barrel?  Would our Eat My Shorts T-shirts not benefit from a few more years in the closet, taking up the subtle aromatic nuances of the moth ball.

The British department store Selfridges is boldly leading the charge to say, “Damn Skippy, the 90s are Vintage!”

The concept store, The 90s Are Vintage, (running Jan. 11th – 29th only) will commemorate that fly decade in Selfridge’s history with some in-store highlights that are downright dope:

• Rellik presents essential designerwear and accessories, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaia, Vivienne
Westwood and Comme Des Garcons
• Beyond Retro present the authentic 90s uniform
• IDEA present their edit of the 90s most seminal style publications
• Francois Nars exclusively presents his book, 15×15
• M.A.C presents key 90s looks, including the iconic Spice lipliner and Twig lipstick
• H.M.V presents the top 50 films of the 90s
• Other Criteria present an exclusive YBA collection, including Damian Hirst’s iconic spots
• Dalston’s original 90s night “Work It” present their soundtrack to the era with DJs in store

 What do you think? Are we ready for this comeback? Are these looks dank or what?

Bet you never thought you’d hear that.

Famous Jellymongers Bompas & Parr, who are the creators of the U.K.’s first walk-in cocktail (a sauna-like room of vaporized gin and tonic), are teaming up with Courvoisier to create the world’s largest, drinkable, punchbowl as part of their Architectural Punch Bowl competition.  Contestants who submitted their recipea for the Courvousier cocktail competition will have the opportunity to see 4,000 litres of their punch – the equivalent of 25,000 serves – in the world’s largest punchbowl – and Londoner’s are invited to have a glass and even boat across the surface of the punch on a raft.

Bompas & Parr will be using new techniques and technology to flood an entire building and then throw a party – “It’s going to be a mighty structure and is not without its complexities. At one stage we were worried that the weight of punch would cause the building to collapse!”

Bompas & Parr, one of Britain’s premier Jellymongers (great title for a business card, no?) explore how the taste of food is altered through synaesthesia, performance and setting.  They have conceived events ranging from breathable cocktails, to  glow in the dark Jelly club nights,  to custom jelly molds – even one of the entire United States out of Jell-O for Kraft.

The Architectural Punch Bowl will be open on 8th, 9th and 10th December at 33 Portland Place. Tickets are a mere £6.50 and on www.jellymongers.co.uk.  Proceeds with benefit charity.

And in case you thought this concept was somewhat fruity -”there is strong historical precedent for the Architectural Punch Bowl. In 1694 the admiral Edward Russell created a punch bowl so large that it took 2,500 lemons to make the punch that was served by a small boy in a boat.”

That’s justification enough, for me.

contributing editor – Jurek Lipski