A mail enthusiast has spent more than 30 years amassing the largest private collection of post boxes in mainland UK.

Steve Knight, 63, began his collection 35 years ago after noticing how the iconic red pillar boxes stood out on the UK's streets.

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.

Steve opened the 536 square foot museum, based in his garden, to the public 30 years ago - and has welcomed visitors across the globe.

Steve, who became a stamp collector as a child, said: "Post-boxes are the icon of the British street.

"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.

"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.

"If there's one thing the British can claim as giving to the world - it is the postal service."

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.

However his collection soon grew and he opened the Colne Valley Postal History Museum.

The museum is the largest publicly accessible site in the mainland UK - beaten only by the Postal Museum in the Isle of Wight.

The oldest box available for viewing is a 1857 wall box - one of the first to be rolled out as the national standard.

The museum is also home to stamp vending machines - dating back to 1917 - which use pre-decimalisation money.

Steve, who welcomes groups of schoolchildren to visit, said: "This is something you never see in public now.

"At the time you'd be able to use coins to buy stamps by machines that were screwed to the post boxes.

"Young children can't believe the old pennies are so huge.

"When they put them into the machine, they have that 'wow' moment. There's no batteries or electricity, it's all mechanical.

"We also get our older generation who remember doing it themselves or pensioner who worked for the Royal Mail and want to reminicise.

"We've had visitors from all over the world including Singapore, China, Malaysia, the US.

"People living in British Commonwealth countries know about the boxes too."

The Colne Valley Postal History Museum is also home to the largest collection of national AA village signs.

Steve added: "I also own my own 1987 Austin Maestro mail van - named after 'Red Robbo' the trade unionist.

"It's another item for my museum although we do go out in it.

"It's the eccentric English thing to do - have your own collection of cast iron in the garden."

The museum will be open to the public on September 13 as part of a heritage day.