Market Lavington museum was broken into on Friday night just as volunteers are preparing it for its summer season.

The museum, next to St Mary’s Church, had its front door smashed in but the intruders left empty-handed.

Curator Roger Frost said: “From our point of view it was the best kind of break-in. Whoever it was broke down the door, rummaged through a few items of clothing and then left. Nothing was taken.

“We have got lots of new items ready for display and none of them were touched. So we were very lucky.”

The museum, founded by villager Peggy Gye in 1984, is housed in the old schoolmaster’s house next to the church. It houses more than 7,000 items connected with the history of the village, many of them supplied by Mrs Gye, who died in 2010 aged 88.

The museum will reopen on May 2 from 10.30am to 4.30pm on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, or other times by appointment until the end of October.