THE annual Great Yarmouth Night of Museums returns next month, with all five main heritage sites and museums in town taking part.Now in its fifth year, the extended event on Saturday, May 15 will run from 5.

THE annual Great Yarmouth Night of Museums returns next month, with all five main heritage sites and museums in town taking part.

Now in its fifth year, the extended event on Saturday, May 15 will run from 5.30 to 10pm, with the focus on celebration and entertainment.

After focusing on the Tolhouse, Elizabethan House and Time & Tide Museum, the Mercury this week takes a closer look at the remaining two attractions: The Nelson Museum and the English Heritage Great Yarmouth Row Houses...

The Nelson Museum, on historic South Quay, illustrates Nelson's life, from his Norfolk childhood through his famous battles to his tragic, heroic death. Find out about Nelson's fading looks, his mesmerising personality, his terrible wounds and illnesses, his scandalous love life and his inspirational leadership.

On the Night of Museums, visitors will have the chance to play some of the games that sailors played on board ship, including dominoes, draughts and cards.

New for this year will be live entertainment in the car park between the Nelson Museum and the Row Houses.

This space will be transformed as Norwich Early Dance Group demonstrates

18th-century dancing and music - and you can join in. Dancing demonstrations begin at 6pm.

Ice creams will be sold from a beautiful vintage van, along with a hog roast.

English Heritage's Yarmouth Row Houses consist of the Row 111 House and the Old Merchant's House. However, this year only Row 111 House, situated behind the Nelson Museum, will be open. Displays in the house look at the properties' last residents: three families living in what was by then a sub-divided tenement up to the second world war.

English Heritage visitor operations supervisor Simon Tansley said: “As this year's theme is all about celebration and entertainment, we wanted to focus our attention on Row 111 House.

“With the event happening in mid-May, only a week after what would have been VE-Day, it seems only right to think about the houses' last-ever occupants and focus our evening on celebrating the end of the war with the families who lived here.”

Visitors can make traditional decorations and take a look at food available to the families on wartime rations.

There will also be an opportunity to taste wines from the new English Heritage English Country wines range as well as delicious jams.

This year's credit crunch-busting evening could save a family of four more than �60 on admission fees, and there's an opportunity to win prizes for those visiting all five sites on the one evening.

Details of the competition and how you can enter will be in next week's Mercury as we take a final look at what's on offer at this year's Night of Museums.