Are you ready for a peek at a collection that looks back at you? Welcome to the world’s oldest museum of optometry! Find out what that is and discover some of the curious devices created to aid our vision (and more) with this introduction from its curator, Dr Neil Handley. (P.S. – Watch out for stories of augmented reality, football fans and student practical jokes along the way!)

The National Trust has an incredible collection of places, objects, and most importantly, stories. A collaborative research project has helped them highlight more of these from under-represented groups. Members of the project team introduce their work here and share three of the stories – discover the celebrated miniaturist who painted with her mouth and shoulder and the much loved sister who learnt to speak again after an accident.

This year we celebrated three decades of connecting communities and helping them discover the stories on their doorstep. Over 1 million visitors enjoyed the 5,427 events organised by our community of thousands of local volunteers and organisations.