It took its name from the village of Riseholme, where Lucia lived before moving to Tilling, on the Sussex coast, although the dish did not appear in either of the two novels set while Lucia was at Riseholme.
New Cross was also the garage for two special services, first in 1972 when it operated en ex Tilling ST on route 100 and LPG East Lancs Myllennium bodied DAF SB220s for Millennium Dome services M1 and M2.
Riseholme appeared also in Lucia in London (1927), in which Lucia launched herself on London society; Mapp and Lucia (1931), in which, following Peppino's death, both Lucia and Georgie (who entered into a companionable marriage in Lucia's Progress, 1935), took holiday lets in the Sussex town of Tilling (based on Rye) where, at the end of the summer of 1930, they decided to settle.
The change of control also meant that Royal Blue switched to Bristol for its new coaches – the Tilling Group also controlled the Bristol bus factory.
Under an agreement reached with Thomas Tilling, the garage was allocated to the latter's use, along with Croydon and Lewisham, resulting in Tilling-type vehicles being the mainstay of the fleet until 1949, when the final petrol-engined STL-type double deckers were finally superseded.
The museum has three halls, presenting a significant collection of preserved buses and coaches, including Midland Red and Birmingham City Transport vehicles, a collection of battery electric vehicles such as milk floats, and a Tilling-Stevens petrol-electric bus.