A small town museum has been presented with a certificate marking it as the same quality as the British Museum.

Tavistock Museum, which has been beset by structural problems and post-covid issues in recent months, has been presented with a certificate of accreditation from the Arts Council.

This is a standard of quality given to museums and galleries protecting the country’s most valuable collections and historically valuable artefacts.

The attraction and resource is now officially an Accredited Museum which means visitors can be assured the items in its care are looked after for Tavistock under the best conditions.

Tony Rose, a museum trustee, said: “The accreditation scheme sets national agreed standards for UK museums. To qualify, museums like us must meet standards on how they are managed, for the services they offer and on how they care for collections. The standards are uniform across all museums, whatever their size, so we are in the same boat as the British Museum. So, visitors are guaranteed Tavistock’s valued history is being cared for in the best possible way and for perpetuity.”

The accreditation process has taken 18 months to prepare for and included overcoming the hurdles of post-covid disruption and the roof and foundations repair.

Tony said: “Although I had to write a huge document to cover or forward plans, our public consultation, visitor satisfaction survey and analysis of what we were doing well and not so well, this was a team effort by volunteers and trustees. I’m very proud of us all.”