"Automata...what the heck are they? Quite simply, a mechanism or collection of, driven by its own hidden power. Early automata were usually in the form of human beings or animals . Anything which moved by itself before machines became common place, was a great source of wonder.

Wind, water and steam were used to make figures and animals move but it was not until the invention of clocks that such things became commonplace.''Clock jacks'' were figures which struck a bell to sound the time of day and were made from the 14th century onwards; there is a fine example from about 1480 in the form of a soldier in armour in the Suffolk church of Southwold.

Such mechanisms were produced in increasing numbers in the 17th century, but now as playthings for the rich and often made of precious metals and of the finest craftsmanship.

A table decoration in the form of a sailing ship with little moving figures and a clockface, Neptune with his trident riding on the back of a tortoise, or clockwork carriages with moving figures were typical examples. By the end of the century, clocks made of wood (including gear wheels) were produced in the Black Forest which incorporated moving scenes.

The 18th century saw a new impetus in automaton making with the production of pieces of great ingenuity. One of the most astonishing has survived and is in the Bowes Collection in County Durham.

James Cox's ''Swan as large as life'' which is made of silver and appears to be swimming in a pool of rotating crystal rods. It preens its feathers and then catches and swallows a fish (though in fact it was hidden in the beak all along) It was at the end of the 19th century in Paris that automaton making reached its high water mark.

Catalogues of the great Parisian workshops featured a bewildering range of clockwork driven wonders.

Modern artists and craftsmen fascinated with this tradition have produced their own creations often featuring the means of activating the components as part of the image rather than taking endless trouble to hide them.

Often these days the central ingredient is humour and a wry interpretation of events!

Machinations is the only permanent exhibition of contemporary Automata in the UK.

There are hands-on interactive moving model characters which spin, whirl or bob up and down with fascinating mechanisms displaying cogs, cams and levers and an infinite variety of movement.

Eric and Alison Williamson are the founders of Machinations and Timberkits in the Mid Wales village of Llanbrynmair in Mid Wales.

Eric has spent his whole life making models of some sort or another starting with rocking horses and marionettes back in the 1970s.

Originally he specialised in wood, both for carved detail and for mechanical components, but later added other materials to expand the scope of his designs.

Some are like moving cartoons, others superbly hand carved or beautifully engineered.

This collection is entirely modern and has an educational value for all ages as well as being great fun!"