Welcome to the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum... We’re pleased that you’ll be coming to visit us shortly; here is some information before your visit!

When you arrive Lucy, Nancy or another member of the team will meet you in the car park, just outside this building (our shop/entrance).

Then we’ll walk into the site, give a short welcome and answer any questions. The Museum is a large site (c. 50 acres), so you’ll need good outdoor clothing. Maps are available which show the main routes around the Museum. You will start to explore from the market square area.

Our Museum is now just over 40 years old and was founded to look after houses, workshops and other buildings in our region of south-east England. Learning is a key aim of the Museum and the first school group even visited before the official opening!

They are not houses of the rich and famous, but where normal people lived and worked. For different reasons they were at risk of destruction and moved, in some cases brick by brick, to the Museum site.

This means that our site covers many periods of history and different subjects; from chemistry of natural dyes to sustainable building materials, maths used for surveying buildings to traditional skills such as thatching. This is Bayleaf farmhouse – one of our best-known buildings and often used for filming. You will find stewards in various houses, who will be happy to tell you about the buildings and answer your questions.

Near the market square you can see some of our Victorian buildings, for example this is the Victorian school. The building on the right was a stable for the teacher’s horse.

We want to share information about what life was like at different times in the past. So you can... look inside the buildings...

find out how people cooked (in Winkhurst Tudor kitchen)... and on some days you can also see some staff on site wearing historic clothing... You decide how comfy the clothing looks!

see animals that people would have kept, for example pigs, cows, geese, chickens and horses. They are not pets though, and each have a role on the site as they had on a farm or for a smallholder in the past.

Do remember to go into the mill to talk to our millers. Wheat is ground here to be used in our Tudor kitchen, but it is also sold so it is not simply a demonstration. Have a look to see if there is a blacksmith working in the forge.

As it is a big site you won’t see everything. Each group decides what is most of interest to them and we help to plan your day around this. We hope that you enjoy your visit!