Meet the Manx villagers preserving 19th Century life

Left to right: Pete Kelly, Lucas Hayhurst, Kay Crewdson, and Tony Kornasiewicz

This year I have been exploring the north west of England, visiting people or places recommended by you that showcase just how fantastic our region is.

So, bag packed, off I went to explore Ellan Vannin... you guessed it, the Isle of Man.

No sooner had our plane taken off than we landed and drove to the south-west of the island, towards a plateau overlooking the Calf of Man.

As we pulled closer, I noticed the thatched roofs and ladies in traditional Manx gowns - I had arrived in Cregneash, the oldest open-air folk museum in Britain.

Cregneash shows the typical way of life of a small Manx village in the 19th Century.

Many original Manx cottages have been preserved and allow visitors a snapshot look at what life might have been like.

Lucas Hayhurst speaks fluent Manx and is passionate about the local traditions

Lucas Hayhurst, from Manx National Heritage, showed us Harry Kelly's cottage, where I warmed by the fire and even had a little rest on the tiny bed.

The cottage is one of only a handful of traditionally thatched dwellings surviving on the Isle of Man and was donated to the Manx Museum as a monument to the Manx crofters' way of life.

Not a television in sight, just the sweet sound of Lucas playing a traditional tune on the fiddle.

Lucas is born and bred Manx and speaks fluently in the Celtic language that would have been the norm back in Harry Kelly's day.

Tony, from Canada, retired on the Isle of Man and is the resident blacksmith

However, Cregneash welcomes those from far and wide, including blacksmith Tony Kornasiewicz.

Tony moved to the Isle of Man from Canada, where he learned blacksmithing in the 1980s.

He repairs equipment used on the hamlet's farm - a skill, Tony told me, that "has a lot of training at heart".

"It takes years to learn but it's something that anyone can pick up."

He explained: "You can make things for use as well as art, just for the beauty of working on it. It's an active skill, it keeps me limber. it's my happy place."

Pete Kelly is the farm manager at Cregneash

The farm is run by Pete Kelly, who told me Cregneash is important not only on the island but internationally as well.

He said: "It gives a baseline of the history, most of the place would have been like this, the ideas of this place.

"It gives a baseline for the Manx language, culture, customs, they are from here. Everyone leaving here should say 'wow, I enjoyed it'."

For me, seeing traditional skills being shared, admiring craftmanship that has been so long forgotten and spending time in a place where time seems to stand still was a joy.

I also took great pleasure in being introduced to a Manx cat, a cat with no tail, which was news to me.