FINAL touches are being made to a South Lakeland attraction which is well on the road to completion.

The multi-million pound Lakeland Motor Museum at Backbarrow Mill is expected to attract thousands of visitors a year after it opens on May 20.

Visitors will be able to take a step back to the very start of motoring and walk through engineering developments through the decades with a whole timeline of changing exhibitions.

A novel addition to the museum’s main hall display will be a single-seat Flying Flea aircraft.

Museum director Edwin Maher said the unusual exhibit was one of the first home-built planes and was originally thought to be the transport of the future.

“We are thrilled to have such a great piece of engineering in our collection just in time for our opening,” he said.

“It looks like a giant butterfly with a tiny cockpit for the pilot. The Flying Squirrel engine inside is a great find for anyone interested in motors.

“It’s got no valves, no valve gear or tappets and only five moving parts. It’s almost incomparable to anything we see in the sky today.”

The new museum will also display a 1935 Bluebird car, 1939 K4 boat and the 1967 K7 Bluebird boat.

Under the blue-roofing there will also be a 100-seater Cafe Ambio and a specialist motoring book and gift store.

The large site, which is close to Windermere, became the organisation’s new home after their motoring and history exhibits, collected over 20 years, overwhelmed their old site at Holker Hall, Cark-in-Cartmel, where the museum started in 1978.

Tourist attractions Windermere Lake Cruises and Haverthwaite Railway are also expected to offer deals for visitors to the museum.

For information call Mr Maher on 015395-58509.