Museu Família Teixeira

The subject of this museum is one family. The Teixeiras kept their photographs, documents and personal belongings across generations, and put them on show where they lived.

The collection is not in a single building. It is divided between several small structures standing in a garden, each holding a part of the story, and one of them is a hobbit hole with a bar inside. The rooms are filled with photographs. Nothing is captioned and there are no explanatory panels, so you look rather than read. The museum is run by the family itself, and the owner is sometimes the one who greets visitors.

• No captions — the rooms are hung with photographs and personal items, and nothing is labelled or explained.
• One family, not the island — the subject is the Teixeira family's own history, not Madeira's.
• Several buildings, one garden — the collection is split between small structures, so a visit means going outdoors between them.
• Toilets — there are toilets at the museum; none are mapped anywhere in the surrounding villages.
• Children — the site is set up for family visits.

The museum stands in Fajã da Murta, in the parish of Faial on the north side of Madeira. Buses stop on the road within about 100 metres of it, which is as close as public transport gets anywhere on the island. Drivers have no car park at the museum itself, and the nearest mapped parking is roughly 2 km away. From the road the visit is on foot, moving between the buildings and through the garden.

Better: a dry day. Avoid: heavy rain.

The collection is spread between several small buildings in a garden, so a visit means walking outdoors between them. With only two opening days in the week, there is little room to wait out bad weather and come back.