If you are a fan of classic country music, an old converted garage near Westport is where you need to head.
Inside, hanging frame to frame, are over 650 autographed photos of country musicians, 12,000 vinyl records and 400,000 hard-to-find country tracks.
"I've run out of wall space and I'm hanging them off the roof now," says the owner of Hector Country Music Museum Barry Skinner.
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Barry and Judy Skinner have owned the museum, which is about 30 kilometres from Westport, for 20 years.
Barry, a musician and disc jockey, says he's always been a collector and fan of the music genre and would once stand in line for photos to be signed by his favourite artists.
Then he also started writing to artists in America and would receive photos that way - and so the collection began.
"I've got Glen Campbell, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson. I've got them all.
"Remember Randy Travis? He was so hot in 1986. He was the top king. I met him at the Country Music Hall of Fame. And it was like... remember Elvis and all the screaming teenagers used to scream and yell? It was just like that and you couldn't get near him."
It's hard for Barry to pick a favourite out of the collection, but if he had to, it may be the signed photos of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.
The collection has grown to such a size, Barry has to turn people away that want to donate goods.
"I've virtually got no room."
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Barry is also a keen musician. However, 20 years ago he developed arthritis, forcing him to leave his guitar-strumming days in the dust.
However, Judy has encouraged him to take up the steel guitar, which is held lap-down and played by moving a steel bar against plucked strings.
Barry's musical talent led the 81-year-old to play festivals and join the local country music club.
"Music keeps you young. We have some jams in here. All this stuff gets shoved around to the next room. I've had up to 15 people in here."
The musos all stayed a few nights in the museum, Barry says.
"I said to them on the Sunday, 'I've got bad news for you guys. I'm gonna charge you for coming to the museum.'
"I said it's gonna be a high price because you're sleeping with the stars," he laughs.
When Barry and Judy first moved to Westport, they lived in the garage while their house was built.
He says the one thing he's most proud of about the museum is knowing that everything was built with his own arthritic, "buggered" hands.
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
