FROM Quakers to Qatar, a lot has happened in Milford Haven in the last 200 years. And Milford Haven Museum, which has just re-opened for the 2014 season - is the perfect place to learn about everything from whaling and fishing to coal, gas and the First World War.

Based in one of the town’s oldest buildings – the Old Customs House, which was built specifically to store barrels of whale oil – the museum features two floors of engaging exhibits.

Over the winter, the team has been busy setting up its newest attraction – a 3,000-year-old cooking vessel used by Bronze Age settlers.

Discovered near Milford Haven in 2006, the ‘burnt mound’ has also opened up a new world of investigation for the museum’s team of volunteers.

“The town’s history only starts in about 1790, but suddenly we’ve got a history that goes back even further,” said museum treasurer Derek Davies.

Housed in a spacious new extension, the artefact is also a centrepiece for a colourful display about local life during the Bronze Age.

“With the research we’ve done so far – what sort of beasts people kept, the grains they produced and ate – we can start to imagine what daily life was like,” said volunteer Sue Kenny. “For us it’s really interesting too, we’re finding out lots more about Milford’s history.”

The ‘pre-history’ area is already proving popular with local schoolchildren too, especially a five-foot-long mammoth tusk, discovered near Hakin in 1930.

For those interested in more recent history, scale models of steam trawlers, fishing vessels and LNG tankers are complemented by detailed descriptions of the role shipwrights, sail makers, riggers and net makers have played.

And to coincide with the centenary of the First World War – a collection of embroidered postcards from soldiers on the front give an insight into the personal impact of the war on local families.

Milford Haven Museum is open Monday to Saturday, 10.30am until 4pm. You can now also follow them on Twitter @milford_museum and find them on Facebook.