Neil Cole's Adventures in Science Fiction: Museum of Sci-fi

Neil Cole's Adventures in Science Fiction: Museum of Sci-fi The UK's permanent science-fiction museum, detailing the history of the classic sci-fi genre and cla Neil Cole: Artist & Museum Creator/Curator
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This page documents the creation of the Uk's permanent science-fiction museum in the north-east of England. The museum is situated in Allendale Town- an extremely picturesque village in the North Pennines. Visitors to the museum will be able to find lovely coffee shops and amenities on hand, as well as stunning walks. The idea for the museum stemmed from my lifelong fascination with science-fiction. It tells the story of a young boy who dreamt of travelling to other planets- but didn’t quite make it. Instead, he had a lot of fun watching, reading, collecting, drawing, making and dreaming. From a handful of action figures and comics and staying up very late to catch old B&W movies with his Dad, this interest never waned. The museum sets out to tell a brief history of science-fiction from H.G.Wells to the current day through my experience of the genre. It will of course be biased to those movies, comics and ideas that have most affected me personally. The story will be told with many original, screen-used props and costumes, production items, animation cels and published artwork. This journey highlights the landmark worlds of Wells, ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Star Wars’, whilst also exploring key genre themes, such as robotics and dystopia. I will also be producing original, unique artwork for the museum. Keep checking back to the page to follow the ever changing museum!

Flash!!!! It's arrived!!! The printed copies will be in the post for Freinds of the Museum next week!!! Just relaxing wi...
17/01/2026

Flash!!!! It's arrived!!! The printed copies will be in the post for Freinds of the Museum next week!!! Just relaxing with a brew and reading it over!!!

New drawing for 'It Belongs in a Museum Vol 2' started yesterday....excited!!!!
17/01/2026

New drawing for 'It Belongs in a Museum Vol 2' started yesterday....excited!!!!

16/01/2026

Had the very best night with the charming Paul Kasey and The Movie Prop Warehouse visting The Museum yesterday! The Museum has three of the Doctor Who masks worn by Paul himself - The Cyberleader from Doomsday, animatronic Weevil and Metalkind from SJA- such a lovely evening showing Paul around....hopefully he will be returning for an event or signing of some kind! Huge thank you to John Page for making this all happen!!!

Wonderful to get feedback when you have worked hard on something! I really enjoyed doing a deep dive on the entire histo...
14/01/2026

Wonderful to get feedback when you have worked hard on something! I really enjoyed doing a deep dive on the entire history of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon....well as much as I could time and space allowing! Some aspects- like the Hodges movie - receive a lot more attention than other productions, and it was nice to look at the entire history. I hope Steve Arnold doesn't mind me sharing of his pic of the pdf version - which is lovely to see. The hard copy printed version is at the printers as I type! Thank you for everyone's continued support! These mags are my way of saying thank you ❤️

Good morning from The Museum of Classic Scifi! Just emptying the dehumidifiers and snapped this from the classic Doctor ...
13/01/2026

Good morning from The Museum of Classic Scifi! Just emptying the dehumidifiers and snapped this from the classic Doctor Who section- Season 19- a screen used Earthshock Earth Trooper rifle and Adric's space boot from 'Four to Doomsday'....just lower left Andrew Skilleter's prep sketch of the Master for the Castrovalva VHS cover!

Good morning all! Such a lovely surprise yesterday to see some of my Dalek illustrations published in the new book - 'Ph...
11/01/2026

Good morning all! Such a lovely surprise yesterday to see some of my Dalek illustrations published in the new book - 'Phantasmagoria: The Daleks in the Movies' edited and compiled by Stephen Jones and Trevor Kennedy. What a lovely tome- and just a huge thank you to Stephen for deeming my artwork worthy of inclusion! These are pics from own 'It Belongs in a Museum' book series....and were commissioned from some of my wonderful museum freinds- a heartfelt THANK YOU to them! But also...I need to thank Ben Unsworth for travelling all the way to the museum yesterday to deliver my copy of the book....and twist my arm for a Guinness....a much needed cold January mental booster- thank you so much Ben. This impressive 276 page tome is simply essential for any Dalek enthusiast and can be acquired by visiting Phantasmagoriamag.co.uk! Also....amazing to see that Stephen had created the 1975 Poster Magazine that I first got at the Blackpool Doctor Who Exhibition in 1975....my first ever piece of Doctor Who merchandise and from the visit that inspired me to create the museum im the first place!!!! INCREDIBLE!!!!

09/01/2026

A look back at an exciting 2025 at The Museum of Classic Sci-Fi with creator/curator Neil Cole....including a famous sea beast, illustrations and unlikely interviews!

Just a huge thank you to everyone who has visited the museum and taken the time to write a review- running a small rural...
06/01/2026

Just a huge thank you to everyone who has visited the museum and taken the time to write a review- running a small rural specialist museum is quite a feat and these reviews have truly helped- THANK YOU!❤️

Good morning from a very COLD museum!!! We are open at 10.30 for a winter Scifi warmer!!!😃
05/01/2026

Good morning from a very COLD museum!!! We are open at 10.30 for a winter Scifi warmer!!!😃

Many years ago now....when I was teaching...I began turning my classroom into a mini Doctor Who exhibtion....with props ...
03/01/2026

Many years ago now....when I was teaching...I began turning my classroom into a mini Doctor Who exhibtion....with props myself and the pupils made cheaply at my 20 year running Doctor Who club....just great fun! We achived a level on notoriety....and in a bizarre twist I made the pages of.... Sugar Magazine!!!! With no warning....still wonder who wrote that and found out about us!!!!????😂

02/01/2026

Late night working on the Marvel display in the museum!!!

Address

Osborne House
Hexham
NE479BJ

Opening Hours

Monday 10:30am - 3pm
Wednesday 10:30am - 3pm
Friday 10:30am - 3pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10:30am - 4pm

Website

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Our Story

Please note: the museum will reopen on October 24th! This page is to document the creation of a new permanent science-fiction museum in the north-east of England. I hope to open in about a year, (although I suspect it will be about a year and a half, as I’m the creative designer, builder and everything else in between!). The museum will be situated in Allendale Town- an extremely picturesque village in the North Pennines. Visitors to the museum will be able to find lovely coffee shops and amenities on hand, as well as stunning walks. The idea for the museum stemmed from my lifelong fascination with science-fiction. It tells the story of a young boy who dreamt of travelling to other planets- but didn’t quite make it. Instead, he had a lot of fun watching, reading, collecting, drawing, making and dreaming. From a handful of action figures and comics and staying up very late to catch old B&W movies with his Dad, this interest never waned. The museum sets out to tell a brief history of science-fiction from H.G.Wells to the current day through my experience of the genre. It will of course be biased to those movies, comics and ideas that have most affected me personally. The story will be told with many original, screen-used props and costumes, production items, animation cels and published artwork. This journey highlights the landmark worlds of Wells, ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Star Wars’, whilst also exploring key genre themes, such as robotics and dystopia. I will also be producing original, unique artwork for the museum. Keep checking back to the page to see the museum (and its inhabitants!) begin to develop over the next year or so…the countdown has begun… Neil Cole: Artist & Curator- 2015