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The Museum of East Anglian Life is one of the biggest Museums in Suffolk. It occupies over 80 acres of countryside in the heart of Stowmarket—that's roughly equivalent to 80 football pitches or 16,000 parked cars!
The land was originally part of the home farm for the Abbots Hall estate. The estates history dates from Medieval times when it was an outlying manor for St Osyth's Priory in Essex. It passed through numerous owners until it was taken on by the Longe family in 1904.
Huge changes in the 1950's and '60s meant England was in danger of losing long established skills, equipment and buildings if something was not done to rescue them. Individual collectors and the Suffolk Local History Council worked to conserve and display local agricultural and industrial materials. After several years of temporary exhibitions across the county, the Misses Vera & Ena Longe placed 70 acres of farming land, along with Abbot's Hall itself, in trust to be used as a Museum.
The Museum of East Anglian Life opened in 1967 and is a modern memorial to their foresight and vision.