A mail enthusiast has spent more than 30 years amassing the largest private collection of post boxes in mainland UK.<br /><br />Steve Knight, 63, began his collection 35 years ago after noticing how the iconic red pillar boxes stood out on the UK's streets.<br /><br />The Colne Valley Postal History Museum, in Halstead, Essex, is home to 166 post-boxes, 25 stamp vending machines and thousands of pieces of ephemera.<br /><br />Steve opened the 536 square foot museum, based in his garden, to the public 30 years ago - and has welcomed visitors across the globe.<br /><br />Steve, who became a stamp collector as a child, said: "Post-boxes are the icon of the British street.<br /><br />"If you go into central London as a Chinese tourist, the two things they're going to sell is a model of a post-box and a telephone kiosk.<br /><br />"They are iconic and it's important we preserve them. They're an important part of the social fabric and history of where we live.<br /><br />"If there's one thing the British can claim as giving to the world - it is the postal service."<br /><br />Steve, a keen Royal Mail collector, bought his first post-box at an antique shop in Cambs because he thought it'd look 'nice' in his garden.<br /><br />However his collection soon grew and he opened the Colne Valley Postal History Museum in <br /><br />The museum is the largest publicly accessible site in the mainland UK - beaten only by the Postal Museum in the Isle of Wight.<br /><br />The oldest box available for viewing is a 1857 wall box - one of the first to be rolled out as the national standard.<br /><br />The museum is also home to stamp vending machines - dating back to 1917 - which use pre-decimalisation money.
