The Diving Museum, Gosport, Hampshire
A small museum it may be but The Diving Museum in Gosport is the only one of its kind in the UK and perhaps more significant, it holds one of the most important collections of diving equipment in Europe. The location is very apt as Gosport lays claim to being the ‘home’ of global diving; this came about because the Deane brothers, who invented the diving helmet, took the world’s first commercial dive off the coast of the Isle of Wight and then moved their interest to wrecks off the shores of Gosport.
Okay, unless it’s something you’re into, it may not be easy to get excited about a diving museum, but give it go, have a look around and you’ll see collections covering Early Helmet Diving, Military Diving, Commercial Diving, Sport Diving and Scientific Diving, and amongst the diving suits and diving bells there’s an interesting treasure salvage. Usually you come away from places like this thinking “Well, I quite enjoyed that actually, and I’ve learnt something today.” And you know what they say – if you don’t learn something every single day it’s a wasted day.
Open: 11.00am-4.00pm weekend and bank hols Apr to Oct
T: 02392 602260 All information correct at the time of writing