Dorset’s museums have had a fairly tough time during lockdown and are really looking forward to reopening to the public over the next few months.

Lyme Regis Museum is built on the site of the home of Mary Anning, the world’s first great fossil hunter and celebrated its 100th birthday in March this year.

The museum contains fossils found by Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot as well as one of scientific legend William Buckland’s famous plaster ‘shark poos’. They also have spectacular fossils discovered in more recent times including the head of a huge ichthyosaur.

However the museum has a lot more than just fossils and, for example, their Writers’ Gallery contains Jane Austen’s cockade and material owned by the Austen family. (Much of Jane Austen’s novel, Persuasion is set in Lyme).

You can also find out about the town’s links with Henry Fielding, Beatrix Potter, JRR Tolkien, John Fowles and Tracy Chevalier. The museum expects to be able to open under socially distanced conditions from 19 May and to return to normal operations from 22 June.

Sherborne Museum is a vibrant community hub, run entirely by volunteers. Since its opening in 1968, its mission has been to tell the story of the town and its surrounding villages in a variety of inspirational ways. The museum is close to the main shopping centre and within walking distance of the famous Abbey, the Alms-houses and two castles which makes for a great day out. Collection highlights include a medieval wall painting, Edwardian botanical drawings, and an exquisite Victorian dolls house. The volunteers are currently working behind the scenes but hope to be open again in July. Admission to the museum is free.

Gold Hill Museum tells the story of Dorset's highest town, Shaftesbury, and surrounding district. It has occupied two historic cottages at the very top of the hill since 1956. Sun and Moon Cottage, once an Inn, was originally the priest's house and still contains the priest's private window or squint into neighbouring St Peter's Church. Eight light and airy galleries were created by a comprehensive redevelopment in 2010 where visitors will find evidence of Shaftesbury's Saxon origins, Dorset button and lace-making, and Ridley Scott's famous Hovis ad. The delightful garden has fine views over the Blackmore Vale, Thomas Hardy's "vale of the little dairies." Admission to the museum, which hopes to reopen in June, is free but donations are welcomed.

The Museum of East Dorset in Wimborne has exhibits of local and national significance which celebrate the culture and stories of the local people from prehistory to the present day. The museum and information centre are housed in a Grade II* listed building, which dates from late Elizabethan/early Jacobean times, with its own heritage-planted garden. It is located opposite the Minster Church in Wimborne and was formerly known as the Priest’s House Museum. It was once an ironmonger’s shop until Hilda Coles, who inherited the business from her father, opened it as a museum in 1962. Recently transformed through a £1.8 million National Lottery Heritage Fund supported Revival Project it is now more vibrant and accessible than ever.

The museum reopens on 17 May and current exhibitions included ‘The Potted History of Britain’, a fascinating collection of 80 pots charting 6,000 years of ceramics.

Swanage Museum started in 1976 as the Tithe Barn Museum and was based at the old Tithe Barn near St. Mary’s Parish Church. This location was rather isolated and so in 2005 the Museum moved to Swanage seafront and was renamed the Swanage Museum & Heritage Centre. A major refurbishment of the Museum was started in the winter of 2019-20 just before the Coronavirus situation, and has now been completed ready for the 2021 season, with reopening planned from 31 May.

Weymouth Museum developed out of a 1971 history exhibition for the Quatercentenary celebrations which was held in Melcombe Regis Boys’. In 1990 the museum moved to Brewers Quay which is still its home today.

Although currently operating from a temporary gallery it has a wide range of exhibits telling the story of the town from Roman times up to the present day. The museum will be open Thursday to Saturday from May 20.

Portland Museum first opened in 1930 and many of the artefacts in the picture shown here are still there after 90 years. The crossbow and pair of muskets that then appeared to be freely available for inspection by the public are no longer on open display, but there are still many hundreds of fascinating artefacts to be seen spanning the island’s history from the Jurassic period to the 20th century. The museum will be open from May 17 and timed tickets will be available from Eventbrite.

The Nothe Fort first opened to visitors in 1980 and it is a tribute to the hard work of its volunteers that it has this year won the Gold Award for best small visitor attraction in the South West. The Fort has been open since April, but will reopen fully from May 17.

Other museums in the area include the D-day Centre on Portland which will be reopening on Wednesday, May 19 and the Tudor House Museum in Weymouth which is hoping to reopen in July.

The Dorset Museum, Dorchester

The end of May will also see the much anticipated opening of the new Dorset Museum.

The County Museum was conceived in 1845 by Dorset poet, William Barnes, Revd Henry Moule and Revd Charles Bingham who decided that a museum needed to be established to preserve the archaeology which was being uncovered due to the construction of the railways. Originally, just two rooms in what are known as the Judge Jeffreys’ lodgings were dedicated to the museum but by 1851 this space had become too small and the museum was moved to No. 3 Trinity Street, now Moule House. The museum remained here until 1883 when they moved into the current present building in High West Street which was designed by architect Mr. G. R. Crickmay.

The museum, now renamed the Dorset Museum, is reopening on Friday, May 28 after a £16 million transformation which has taken almost 3 years. There are new galleries, interactive displays and audio-visual displays which together with the museum’s internationally important collections will make the museum a heritage attraction not to be missed.