Charles William Stewart's father had inherited Shambellie House before World War II.

In 1976, Charles W. Stewart gave the costume collection he had built up over several years to the Royal Scottish Museum and handed over Shambellie House to the Department of the Environment.

Furniture and paintings include a rosewood sideboard by Alexander Burgess, about 1890, a marble clock and matching vases, part of the original 19th century furnishings of the room, and an oak inlaid plinth, one of a pair designed by William Burges for Ruthin Castle, Wales, and is dated 1853.

"Members of the household and a visitor are gathering excitedly to listen to the latest news about the Second World War on the wireless.

All garments, even handkerchiefs, had to carry the CC41 symbol, indicating that they conformed to the regulated fabric amounts.

'Make Do and Mend' was one of the many war time slogans designed to encourage the public to recycle old out-of-date clothes.

The family are welcoming guests to afternoon tea - wartime food rationing would make the home-made scones, jam and cake on offer a very special treat.

"It is 31 December 1952 and the family have been invited to the annual Hogmanay Ball by the Dumfries Chamber of Commerce at the Assembly Rooms.

They would be asked to wait in the hall for some time giving them a chance to survey the paintings, furniture and other trophies.

In the hall of Shambellie House stands a grandfather clock by D Duff, Paisley, mid 19th century and a long bench, one of several used until recently in the library of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Queen Street, Edinburgh.

Strict regimes were often laid down about household linen; items were often marked as to what belonged to each room and exact timetables were adhered to for changing beds and towels.

Laundry was usually done once a week with one or two people from the village being brought in especially for the extremely heavy work of boiling, washing, drying and ironing.

"In this room visitors see an older woman and her granddaughter are getting dressed for a local ball to celebrate the end of British military action in the Far East.

However many British families and communities had to wait until the autumn to celebrate the homecoming of loved ones The grandmother is wearing a black satin evening dress with a pattern of flowers and leaves in green and cream.

Country houses can be notoriously cold, even in September, therefore the grandmother has the luxury of an electric hot water bottle to ensure a good night's sleep.

In this scene the mother is off to an afternoon function and wears a high-waisted day dress, circa1910, made of maroon wool with a woven strip with a deep band of net edged with maroon velvet forms a low decorative collar; this is heavily embroidered with silk and metal thread.

The young Prince Edward first started the trend for sailor suits when he posed for a portrait by the painter Winterhalter in 1846 dressed in an exact replica made by the official naval outfitters.

Samplers are also displayed around the walls - these are typically Scottish and reflect the themes young girls would have been encouraged to use as suitable subjects whilst learning the different techniques of embroidery and needlework.

Women strove to be respectable, capable and accomplished home-makers who had to manage servants, budgets and plan menus for the household.

Pastimes of this period reflected this ideal of domesticity in sewing and embroidery as well as painting, drawing, reading and playing music.

This period saw many changes in the fashionable body shape or silhouette that are clearly shown by the outfits displayed.

All four dresses are examples of the bustle style, which was a way of exaggerating the size and shape of the bottom through the use of specialised underwear.

A grey, silk dress on show was originally worn in 1873 by a Scottish bride, reflecting the popular practice of the time to wear coloured, formal day clothes for a wedding.

The decoration lavished on these small articles is often quite stunning; their very size meant that expensive and even exotic materials were used to provide that unique look.

The changes in fashion which had begun at the very beginning of the 20th century were suppressed by new styles that arose during World War I.

However, from 1915 on, skirts became wider and shorter and the cut of jackets and coats was influenced by the army officer's tunic.

Women's clothes, especially evening wear, were cut in a more feminine line but important to mention the ideal of the youthfulness was still alive.

The wardrobes of women with fashion awareness contained Marina hats, Jubilee blue and Royal purple.

People began to make blouses, lingerie, children's wear, curtains and several other things out of these parachutes.

As a consequence of the economic recession, National Museums Scotland announced the site was to close in January 2013.