On 21^st November, the Conservation teams visited the brand new Museum of Somerset in Taunton. This wasn’t just a jolly, you understand. We were there for a meeting of the South West Conservators’ Group. We had a very useful meeting and heard some very good case studies about the conservation work done in order to get the museum ready. I, a Curator by training and the team’s manager, never fail to be impressed by the miracles conservators work on objects that look beyond redemption to me.

The highlight of the day was a guided tour of the brand new museum. Housed in Taunton Castle, the museum reopened in September last year after a £6.93m redevelopment.

As well the history of Somerset, its nature and archaeology, the museum has a gallery dedicated to Somerset regiments. It’s well designed and encourages interaction but, like most, military museums left me wanting to know about the families of these men and women and what effect the army had on their lives.

The rest of the galleries were well-designed, interesting and loaded with fascinating objects. In many museums recently the mantra regarding objects on display has been “less is more” meaning that you can concentrate on fewer objects in more detail. This is not the approach that the team at Somerset have taken. Cases are full of objects, which looks fantastic, but I wonder whether it can be a little overwhelming.

Members of our team and conservators from across the southwest were present.

My favourite objects included the religious items in the mediaeval gallery and the stunning roman mosaic which tells the story of Aeneas and Dido. Before the redevelopment it used to be displayed upright on a wall but has now carefully been returned to the floor which is, of course, where it would have been to start with.

My only quibble about an otherwise excellent museum was that it didn’t seem to cover history up to the modern day. I didn’t get a sense of what Somerset is like today or who the people who live there are. Perhaps these will be covered in future temporary exhibitions.

For us, as a team, the day was useful for sharing ideas and news with other professionals, reminding us that museum objects have another life once we’ve finished with them in the lab and keeping up to date with recent developments in our industry.

With thanks to South West Conservators Group, the staff of Somerset Museum and Somerset County Council. The Museum of Somerset, which is located in Taunton Castle, is free to enter and is open from 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday and on Bank Holiday Mondays.

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