THE Museum of Carpet has been highly commended at a national competition for exhibiting the best practice in looking after museum objects and artefacts.

Up against much larger organisations, including the London Museum, it received the Collections Trust Award’s commendation at the OpenCulture 2014 conference.

Kidderminster’s only museum was recognised in the Collections on a Budget category for moving rare samples of carpet from the old Wyre Forest District Council object store to the new museum in Green Street.

Jodie Edwards, joint manager, who looks after the museum’s collections, said: “It was a chilly project for the volunteers involved, as the samples needed to be frozen to prevent insect damage and to stop any contamination of the existing collection of samples held by the museum.”

The Collections Trust award comes soon after the museum was given the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in June.

The accolade is awarded to organisations that achieve outstanding traveller reviews on the TripAdvisor travel website. Voted for by visitors, the museum is currently holding the number one slot on the website for Kidderminster attractions.

The museum is located in an old mill building, where visitors can learn about the town’s 300 year history of carpet weaving as well as the many palaces, embassies and stately homes across the globe whose carpets were made in the town.

As an independent museum, it generates some of the income required to operate through visitor fees and shop sales while receiving support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Talks, demonstrations and activities are carried out by a team of volunteers.