My life with Tim Crowley: The West Cork farmer who built Ireland's leading Michael Collins museum

From early-morning milking to daily history performances, Tim Crowley has dedicated decades to preserving Michael Collins' extraordinary legacy

Tim Crowley and various images from the Micheal Colins Centre Museum in Castleview, Ballinroher, Clonakilty, West Cork. Pictures: Martin Walsh.

The coachload of American visitors were oblivious to the fact that I had been milking cows just hours before meeting them at the gates of my museum.

The Michael Collins Centre is unusual in that respect. It was the year 2000, and my plan to build a museum on my farm had finally become a reality. However, there were still cows that needed to be milked. And so I rose at 5.30am each day to complete my work. Just three and a half hours later, I was greeting visitors to the museum with a wide smile.