Time Flies

Over 700 clocks may adorn the walls of their Cheshire home, but as Roman and Maz Piekarski contemplate their futures, neither can understand where all the time has gone. For more than 30 years, the brothers have dedicated their every waking minute to building and sustaining Cuckooland - the world’s largest collection of antique cuckoo clocks. With neither having married, nor had children, tracking down, restoring and preserving their treasured timepieces has been a never-ending labour of love - a lifetime’s work. Once a busy tourist destination, changing tastes had already seen footfall declining. And since the onset of the pandemic, the gates to their museum and home - a 19th century schoolhouse perched by the side of the A556 - have been shut. Covid has only compounded the brothers’ ever-present predicament - with nobody poised to take stewardship over their prized possessions, what happens when they no longer have the capacity to continue as the custodians of Cuckooland? They may be slowing down, but time isn’t. And as their clocks’ constant ticking reminds them, it’s running out. In Time Flies, the Piekarskis once again open up the doors to Cuckooland, but this visit takes a different direction to the usual tour. Steeped in nostalgia, the clocks connect them to people and places now long in the past. And with real concerns for the future, their mantra of making the most of every moment is coming under strain. Because for its curators, Cuckooland is more than a celebration of craftsmanship and a shrine to a slice of European history. It’s a living, cacophonous collection that - without a caretaker - might slowly fade away. Original music composed by Jeremy Warmsley Produced by Eleanor McDowall and Michael Segalov A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4