​Mid Wales model car museum in the driving seat for Bargain Hunt

Charlie Ross with Cloverlands Model Car Museum trustees Max Tomlinson, Bruce Lawson and John Nunn.
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A Mid Wales charity museum, which is home to a collection of around 5,000 model cars, is to feature on the popular BBC One TV antiques series Bargain Hunt on Monday, March 6.
 
Show presenter Charlie Ross, an antiques expert and auctioneer, paid a visit with the film crew to the Cloverlands Model Car Museum at its new home in Llanfair Caereinion last autumn.
 
His visit to Cloverlands Model Car Museum, which moved from Montgomery to Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway’s base last year, was part of filming for a new series of Bargain Hunt, having previously stopped off at Oswestry Antiques Fair.
 
He quizzed the Cloverlands trustees about cars in the collection as diverse as a Delahaye, Rolls-Royce, Fiat and Benz. The first Benz was driven 50 miles in Germany by Bertha Benz in 1886, nine years before the first car was seen in Wales. It was the longest drive my any man or woman at that time.
 
The Bargain Hunt episode featuring the museum, which Ross described as “a wonderful collection with so many memories”, will be broadcast on BBC One on March 6 at 11.45am in Wales and 12.15pm in England.
 
Anybody who misses the episode can always catch it on iPlayer for 30 days after its transmission date. The museum hopes to have its new website - www.cloverlandscarmuseum.com – ready before the broadcast.
 
Museum trustee Bruce Lawson said: “We can’t wait to see the episode featuring the museum. The timing is perfect, as the museum reopens on April 1.
 
“Charlie was quite taken aback by the rarity of some of the models we have in the museum. For filming, we highlighted six or seven models, some dating to 1911, so we’ll have to wait to see how many are featured in the programme.”
 
The museum opened in its new home last June and has increased footfall greatly, with up to 50 visitors daily. Opening hours are 11am to 4.15pm at weekends and group visits are arranged by appointment.
 
A selection of more than 1,000 replica models is for sale at the museum for visitors who wish to take away a memento.
 
Originally established at Montgomery Institute in 2015, the museum began with a collection of around 2,000 models amassed by late motoring historian and model maker Gillian Rogers, of Trefnanney, near Welshpool. She was aware of the move to Llanfair but sadly died on December 27 last year before in happened.
 
Ten other collections have since been loaned or given to the museum, including one from Canada, 1,000 Grand Prix and touring cars and a fine display of American cars.
 
Mr Lawson provides the narration for a video film about the museum - https://youtu.be/51rjrfCXJ8g - which was produced as a tribute to Gillian and all the sponsors and friends at its first home in Montgomery.
 
Both Cloverlands and the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway are members of MWT Cymru, which represents more than 600 tourism and hospitality businesses across Powys, Ceredigion and Southern Snowdonia.
 
For more information about the museum, visit https://www.facebook.com/cloverlandsmuseum or contact Mr Lawson at [email protected] or on Tel: 01686 668004.