A FAMOUS actor was given the opportunity to open a new and improved museum following a £6m investment to bring it back to life.

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville welcomed guests at the grand opening of the Weald and Downland Living Museum in the South Downs National Park, Chichester, on Thursday evening.

After a £6 million charity investment – £4 million of which came from the Heritage Lottery Fund – the experience has become even better with the opening a variety of new facilities.

The museum aims to take visitors back through the centuries, telling the story of how our ancestors lived, worked and socialised.

Museum boss Martin Purslow said: “This is a culmination of nearly ten years of work on the buildings of the museum.

“It is just a fantastic result for us and we have also had a lot of individual donations also. It allows the site to tell the story of South East architecture.

“We have now got a facility here that is state of the art and gives people a lot more engagement and a better interpretation about what he have on display.

“It really ramps up what we can deliver to our visitors.”

Improvements made to the museum include a new visitor centre and entrance, featuring introductory galleries and a shop, a café kiosk and an exhibit of a medieval house from Sole Street, Kent, which is being finalised.

The site includes a 17th century mill, a blacksmith workshop and a Tudor kitchen that guests can experience.

All of the materials used for the new buildings at the museum were sourced locally.

Stuart McLeod, head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East, said: “The Weald and Downland Living Museum represents an important part of the South East’s rural heritage with a number of its rescued buildings the only surviving examples of their type.

“It also does award-winning work preserving traditional skills, ensuring they are passed on to future generations.

“Thanks to National Lottery players, a whole range of new facilities will now provide a wonderful resource for people to learn more about the architecture on display and the people who inhabited it.”

Hugh Bonneville took to Twitter after the grand opening, saying he felt “honoured to open the new Gateway Buildings project at Weald and Downland Living Museum tonight”.

The museum’s 40-acre site includes 50 historic buildings that visitors can explore, with some being hundreds if not thousands of years old.