Mr Straw's House

WHAT IT’S LIKE

A time-capsule 1920s house seen only on small, pre-booked tours of four, fascinating for older kids, but steep stairs mean no buggies indoors.

This is a preserved 1920s semi-detached house where a grocer's family, the Straws, lived for over 60 years and barely threw anything away, so you're walking through a genuine time capsule of inter-war domestic life, with around 30,000 objects still sitting where their owners left them. Visits are by pre-booked timed tour only, in small groups of just four people, which keeps it intimate but does mean it's not a wander-in, wander-round kind of day out, book ahead online or by phone. Bags (including handbags) can't be carried round the house and are left in reception, so travel light. It suits older children and adults more than toddlers, given the steep staircases, uneven garden steps and the small-group guided format rather than free-roam play. Outside there's a lovingly tended garden and orchard with a greenhouse housing a cacti collection, plus picnic benches in the orchard and free parking right there too. Food-wise it's basic, hot and cold drinks and pre-packaged snacks only, no proper café meals, so eat before or after if you need more than a snack. It's about 20-30 minutes' walk from Worksop town centre, half a mile from Worksop train station, and reachable by several Stagecoach bus routes that stop near Bassetlaw Hospital. There's a monthly guided Worksop Walk (last Friday of the month, March-October) exploring the town the Straws lived in, and access notes flag several flights of steep stairs inside and steps to the garden and greenhouse, so it's not very buggy or wheelchair friendly inside, an AccessAble guide and induction loop are available, plus large print and braille guides.