Loss-making Cogges Museum in Witney cannot live on the past and needs a new vision for the future.

That is the message from a leading museum expert, Roy Brigden, keeper of the Museum of English Rural Life.

As the owners, Oxfordshire County Council, look for new ways to turn the facility around from its annual £250,000 losses, Mr Brigden said it needed to embrace a new outlook to get more people through the gates.

He said: "They have gone off the boil and fallen slightly out of favour. The costs remain the same but the income has been diminishing.

"It is happening with many of the 50 members of the Rural Museums Network.

"Many of them were formed between the late 1960s and early 1980s and the motive for establishing them might be described as an attempt to remember a traditional rural way of life - to keep its memory alive.

"As original audiences have died out, the original motive for the museums may no longer be sufficient.

"The challenge to museums in this position is to find ways to become more relevant to modern audiences."

The museum's financial troubles - and possible threat of closure - came to light last October.

The county council has since pledged financial support for three years, reducing each year, while ideas for a way forward, including commercial links, are being explored.

Mr Brigden, who is based at Reading University, and Stuart Gillis, of Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse in Norfolk, put forward a joint report to the board.

Among their suggestions are displays and projects such as waste over the ages and recycling; where food comes from; farming and bio-fuel; use of land for farming and housebuilding and; power and fuel.

Cogges rising losses have been matched with dwindling visitors - just 25,000 last year. But it has had a good start to the current season with over 650 visitors at the opening Easter weekend and more than 50 volunteers now signed up to the museum database.

Martyn Brown, county heritage and arts officer, said: "In my view Roy Brigden's ideas are excellent, but they will have to be woven into a business plan. That is far more difficult.

"The difficulty we face, though, is the financial problem of the county council withdrawing and having to provide the service at no cost." Meanwhile, plans are being made for companies to be involved in the future of Cogges Museum.

A small group, headed by Witney GP Dr Janet Maxwell, has already presented its ideas to the Cogges project board.

One definite proposal is to make better use of the museum garden to supply organic food for a new on-site restaurant.

Links could be made to Abingdon and Witney's College's farm complex and apprenticeships for trainee chefs.

Dr Maxwell said: "About 15 of us, all from the Witney and surrounding area, have already met and are keen to create a new centre at Cogges. It could become a community and cultural centre."

For more details, email Dr Maxwell at coggescommunityenterprise@hotmail.com