Gilbert White's House and Gardens in Selborne will celebrate its 70th birthday with a 70 Stories, 70 Objects exhibition.

It will mark seven decades of White’s former home The Wakes being a museum through stories from the local community.

The museum is now urgently asking those with stories and fond memories to come forward.

These could include visiting the museum as a child or with a loved one, or perhaps how paying a visit on a school trip or with parents led to a career working with the natural world or having a passion for it. Or maybe a particular event or exhibition that stuck in the mind.

Collections manager Kimberley James said: "Over the years we have often heard visitors share their amazing stories about their first visits, or how Gilbert White inspired them in their lives.

“These stories have inspired our anniversary exhibition, and we want to collect one story for every year we have been open. But we need the help of our local community.”

The 70 Stories, 70 Objects exhibition will run throughout the autumn to tie in with the museum’s birthday in September.

The stories featured in the exhibition will tell the story of the museum from its opening in 1955 until today.

The exhibition will be accompanied by some celebratory events and the museum is encouraging people to follow it on their social media platforms or join its mailing list to find out about them.

Anyone who would like to offer a story should email Kimberley James at [email protected]

Gilbert White’s House and Gardens tells the stories of three great explorers of the natural world in its galleries.

These are pioneering 18th-century naturalist Gilbert White, Captain Lawrence Oates of the final Scott Antarctic expedition of 1911-12, and Frank Oates, a Victorian explorer of Central America and Africa.