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Glad to make it through snow-filled Glasgow to snow free Ayrshire for a sneaky peek at the new Burns Birthplace Museum. It's been a long time coming.

The National Trust for Scotland originally came up with the idea six years ago and the cost has crept up to £21m.

But with Burns enthusiast Nat Edwards back at the helm, it has sparked more than a little excitement in advance of the public opening.

The museum draws on 5,000 artefacts from the existing collection, plus new works (George Wylie's playful Burns Line sculpture), new commissions (Peter Howson's exhibition of portraits) and family heirlooms (Alan Archibald, a direct descendant bought a scrap of jean Armour's wedding dress, once in his family, at auction, and lent it back to the museum).

The point says Edwards, who's also drawn on the collection he once oversaw at the National Library of Scotland, is to use the best objects to tell his story.

A mere fraction of the 5,000 items in the collection are currently on display - including his writing desk, his pens, original manuscripts and his fiddle. They'll be rotated over time.

"I think the important thing is to let Burns' words tell the story," he says.

"We try to keep our own interpretation light and let people make their own minds up and really listen to the words of Burns, really listen, really read."

The exhibition takes as its starting point the line from Hugh MacDiarmid in A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle - "Mair nonsense has been uttered in his name/Than in ony's barrin' liberty and Christ" and it's true that the cult of Burns has often obscured the simple beauty of his poetry.

Some of the objects examine his celebrity - but most are simple things which give some sense of the man behind the cult.

Nat Edwards' favourite item is a small plastic apple, givne to Burns by his brother as a wedding present.

"It's the sort of rubbish present one man gives to another and I think that's why I like it best. It says something about him as a man."

Singer/songwriter Eddi Reader agrees.

"I love OK magazine and Hello magazine as much as the next person and I think that's what people loved about him. He was ordinary, not some distant figure, but an ordinary man and I think this gets back to celebrating his ordinariness."

She also points out that until now it's been impossible to see Burns material all in one place.

"You had to go to Edinburgh, to Glasgow, to Mauchline, creep around graveyards. It's brilliant to be able to see everything all in one place."

But visitors should take a little time to explore the wider area. The now revamped and repaired Burns Cottage is a short distance away as are many of the landmarks which feature in his poetry, now properly signposted and helpfully included in a free map from the gift shop.

The museum will officially open on 1 December - but it'll be a quiet and low key event. The real fanfare will be in January on the poet's birthday, when the first minister will host a Burns Supper and officially declare the Burns Birthplace Museum open for business.