Mr Straw's House

What it’s like

A 1920s house left exactly as one family kept it, seen on small pre-booked tours of just four people at a time.

A grocer's family called the Straws lived in this semi-detached house for over 60 years and kept almost everything. The site puts the number of objects still sitting where they were left at around 30,000, so a guided tour round means opening cupboards and doors to find what's actually in them rather than looking at roped-off rooms. There's an art activity too, drawing your favourite spaces in the house, which gives a five or six-year-old something to do with their hands while the guide talks.

Tours are pre-booked and timed, in groups of four only, which keeps things intimate but means you can't just turn up. Bookings only open up to four weeks ahead, so you can't plan it months in advance the way you might a bigger day out. Food is basic, hot and cold drinks and pre-packaged snacks, nothing more.

The house itself is a proper obstacle course for anyone not steady on their feet: several flights of steep stairs inside both houses, and steps out to the back gardens and greenhouse. The toilet is outside in the original privy space with a step up, and there's no accessible toilet on site. Parking is free in the orchard car park opposite, and there are picnic benches out there if you want to eat before or after the tour.

Once a month, on the last Friday from March to October, there's a guided walk through Worksop following the Straw family's own footsteps around the town. That's booked separately and gives older kids some context for the house itself, connecting the rooms to the streets outside.

What’s on here

• FRI30

  Mr Straw's House Worksop Walk

  10:00

  →

Facilities

Need to know

Best for

Age 5 and up; the stairs and small tours suit older kids over toddlers

Booking

Pre-booked timed tours only, small groups of four people only

Parking

Free car park in the orchard opposite the house

Food

Limited food and beverage offer: hot and cold drinks and pre-packaged snacks

Wheelchairs

Several flights of steep stairs inside both houses

Dogs

Assistance dogs only

Getting there by bus or train

Stagecoach services 21, 25, 22, 42 & 43 to Bassetlab Hospital

• Bags including handbags aren't listed as fine to carry round, so travel light for the tour
• Bookings only open four weeks ahead, not further in advance
• Groups are capped at four people per tour, so it's a quiet, close-up visit
• The orchard car park doubles as a picnic spot if you bring your own food

Plan your visit

Experiences

• Cacti collection

  Walter Straw's cacti collection, grown in the greenhouse; cacti also available to purchase.

Areas to explore

• The garden and greenhouse

  outdoors

  Back garden and orchard featuring a greenhouse housing Walter Straw's cacti collection and fruit trees.

  Accessibility: Steps to access back gardens and greenhouse.

• The house (No.7 and No.5 Blyth Grove)

  indoors

  Preserved 1920s period home of a grocer's family, virtually unchanged since 1923, housing 30,000 treasured possessions.

  Accessibility: Several flights of steep stairs inside both houses; narrow corridors.

Featured in 2 Huddlepin lists

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