There was probably a single storey cobble building on the site of the museum as early as 1580.

The original building would have had a thatched roof and an earth floor covered with reeds. 

Further development followed and a second storey was added around 1740. The farm was occupied by successive generations of the Burn family for around 300 years.

The Museum was opened in the main building in 1978 and the farmhouse is now a Grade II listed building.

In the farmyard, which was the only land actually attached to the farm, has been created the Museum garden.