Situated near Athlone, in Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, our folk museum tells the story of our rural community through everyday objects. This award-winning museum was founded by Charlie Finneran, who operates it with his wife Bridie. Charlie grew up on the family farm adjoining the museum, the youngest of 11 children. One day he found an interesting object in the thatched roof of the house that generations of his family had called home. That object was a slate sundial, dating back to 1839, which was engraved by Charlie’s great-great grandfather. This was the start of a lifelong love for collecting and restoring local objects and artefacts and the plan to open a folk museum to share the display with others.