Buying a new house is a daunting prospect, but imagine buying a house that doubles as a museum of curiosities.

For anyone looking to move to Kew Gardens, this unique relocation could be a reality after a rather unusual museum in North Road went on the market.

Mike Wilsdon, 67, who owns Kew Curiosity Cabinet, said after more than half a century collecting objects - including everything from a bamboo bicycle to the vertebral disc of a whale - he had decided to hand the reins to someone new.

He said: “I would be over the moon if someone were to buy it as a whole museum.

“What I’d really like to do is sell the museum to someone who wants to operate it and I’d come up and give a lecture every once in a while as I’d still like to be involved with the project.

“It has been the most important thing in my life.”

Mr Wilsdon became fascinated with how people interpreted objects aged four, after he found an abandoned early example of a pram chassis. He took it home because it was old and interesting and he thought people might like to look at it. His interest in such objects grew from there.

The former ship designer said, unlike most museums, his cabinet of curiosities did not display things next to each other based on comparing differences, but were grouped together according to similarities - for example, a bike was placed next to a hare’s skeleton and a can opener because they all have hinges.

He said:”It is about the similarity of things in markedly different categories where they exist - it’s about similitude.

“Mixed object group displays of natural and manmade objects encourage you to look at the natural and manmade world together and look at their similarities [for example].”

The collection, featuring numerous bikes including a bamboo bicycle from 1895, an amputee’s bicycle and a boneshaker tricycle, is for sale with the three-bedroom house it resides in for just under £1m.

Foxtons estate agent Adam O’Leary said it was a truly unusual house.

He said: “Mr Wilsdon has run it for years as a museum and has got a collection of all sorts of things in it.

“It’s quite unique - even if people are selling houses with items it is usually white goods or curtains or blinds, not bamboo bikes.”

Mr Wilsdon will operate the museum until it is sold. To visit, call 07949 496331.

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