Bressingham Steam Museum
There really is something for everyone at Bressingham.
The Bressingham Gardens
The unique Bressingham Gardens are renowned worldwide for their horticultural excellence. With nearly 20 acres, four linking gardens and 8,000 species they can be a truly tranquil place, perfect for relaxing and enjoying the scenery.
The Bressingham Collections
Take a trip on one of the four railways at Bressingham, the collection of working locomotives will take you round our magnificent gardens and woodland, or ride on the steam Gallopers.
A trip to the locomotive sheds brings the power and the glory of mighty steam engineering up close. The National Dad’s Army collection lets you wander through Walmington-on-Sea looking at original props and vehicles from the series, you’d be a stupid boy to miss it!
Whether your passion is Gardens, Steam, Exhibits, Rides or even a mixture of them all, we are confident that Bressingham has something for all.
We recommend you spend no less than four hours here, and you can easily spend all day!
Read MorePeace Museum
The Peace Museum explores the history and the often untold stories of peace, peacemakers, social reform and peace movements. It occupies three small galleries in one of Bradford’s many fine Victorian buildings. It is unique in that it is the only accredited museum of its kind in the UK.
The Peace Museum:
- Tells the stories of peace, peacemakers, and the peace movement
- Honours the history of ‘people of peace’ – every object tells a story of someone who has tried to make the world more peaceful
- Is a resource for future peace-making
- Has local, regional, national and international reach aiming to tell diverse stories of peacemakers
Museum of Hartlepool
The Museum of Hartlepool tells the story of a past which is packed with exciting and interesting people!As you enter, you are taken back 5000 years to the Bronze Age and introduced to the museum by Hartlepool’s oldest know man. From here you move through centuries of the town’s past, ending up with the joining of Hartlepool and West Hartlepool in 1967 and a look to today and the future.Don’t forget P.S.S Wingfield Castle – a wonderfully restored 1930’s paddle steamer. Serving hot drinks and snacks in cafe’ (check opening times). Rooms available for private hire and education activities.Entry to the museum and the restored paddle steamer Wingfiled Castle is free of charge.The Museum of Hartlepool is part of the visitor attraction, Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience.
Read MoreHartlepool Art Gallery
Hartlepool Art Gallery sits centrally within the cultural quarter of the town and is part of the Church Street innovation and Skills Quarter (ISQ). It is a stunning and beautifully restored Grade II Victorian church, formerly known as Christ Church which was built in 1858. The gallery opened 1996 and is within a minutes’ walk from Hartlepool Railway Station and close to Hartlepool Town Centre, the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool, and Town Hall Theatre. Church Street and Church Square are the centre of the towns revitalisation with it moving towards a cafe culture and thriving daytime economy based around the new campus for Cleveland College of Art and Design The Northern School of Art since 1879.
The gallery has two exhibition spaces available The Main Gallery and The Apse Gallery. It has an extensive exhibition programme which aims to be ambitious and creatively diverse. The gallery’s programming group strive to ensure the exhibition line-up chimes with the town, is inspiring for future artists but also the audience feels that there is something there for them. This is achieved through a programme mix of in-house curated exhibitions, open artist proposals and exhibition developed in partnership.
Read MoreThe Gurkha Museum
The Witney and District Museum
The Museum has recently merged with the Witney & District Historical and Archaeological Society to form what will now be known as the Witney Museum and Historical Society. In forming this new partnership both societies are committed to extending their involvement in the Witney community. Witney is a dynamic, successful and expanding market town and our goal is to reflect this in our exhibitions and talks throughout the year.
Uppark
Uppark: a tranquil and intimate 18th-century house
Perched on its vantage point high on the South Downs ridge, Uppark commands views as far south as the English Channel. Outside, the intimate gardens are being gradually restored to their original 19th-century design, with plenty of space in the adjacent meadow to play and relax with a picnic. The nearby woodland is great for exploring and den-building.
Uppark’s Georgian interiors illustrate the comfort of life ‘upstairs’, in contrast with the ‘downstairs’ world of the servants. A highlight of our collection is one of the best examples of a 17th-century doll’s house in the country.
Due to its high elevation, Uppark is exposed to extremes of weather particularly in the winter months. This can lead to the closure of the property at short notice. To avoid disappointment please call to check that Uppark is open before setting out.
Standen
Arts and Crafts family home with Morris & Co. interiors, set in a beautiful hillside garden
James and Margaret Beale chose an idyllic location with views across the Sussex countryside for their rural retreat. Designed by Philip Webb, the house is one of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts workmanship, with Morris & Co. interiors creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere. The house is dressed for a weekend stay in 1925, so you can imagine you are a guest of the family.
A major restoration of the 5-hectare (12-acre) hillside garden showcases year-round seasonal highlights and an award-winning plant collection. On the wider estate, footpaths lead out into the woodlands, Ashdown Forest and wider High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Note: Well behaved dogs on short leads are welcome in the formal gardens.
Petworth House and Park
A stately mansion nestled in the South Downs housing the finest art collection in the care of the National Trust.
Petworth has a rich and varied history waiting to be discovered. Stroll through state rooms saturated with internationally important paintings by artists such as Van Dyck, Reynolds, Titian and Blake together with classical and neo-classical sculptures. Follow in the footsteps of JMW Turner who spent long periods at the mansion under the patronage of the 3rd Earl of Egremont, and whose paintings of Petworth park can be seen at Petworth today.
The servants’ quarters by contrast offer a glimpse of life ‘below stairs’. Step inside some of these rooms and imagine the hustle and bustle of servant life.
The landscape gives every impression of being totally natural but in reality nothing is further from the truth. The park was transformed in the 1750s and early 1760s by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.
Nymans
A garden lovers’ home for all seasons, with an extensive yet intimate garden set around a romantic house and ruins.
One of the National Trust’s premier gardens, Nymans was a country retreat for the creative Messel family, and has views stretching out across the Sussex Weald. Today you can recharge your batteries here, while you explore this beautiful place, discovering hidden corners through stone archways, walking along tree-lined avenues while surrounded by lush green countryside.
From vibrantly colourful summer borders, to the tranquillity of ancient woodland, Nymans is a place of experimentation with constantly evolving planting designs and a rare and unusual plant collection. The comfortable yet elegant house, a partial ruin, reflects the personalities and stories of the talented Messel family, from the Countess of Rosse to Oliver Messel and photographer Lord Snowdon.
There is a large shop and plant centre with our special collection of plants grown on site, a cafe offering a choice of seasonal food made by us, and a Grab & Go kiosk in the tea garden.
Every day there are guided walks and talks in the garden and woods, a small gallery in the house with changing exhibitions for every season, a secondhand bookshop, shop tastings and mobility tours of the garden and woods.
For children there are plenty of opportunities for natural play, geocaching in the woods, pick up and go activities and seasonal trail.
Dog owners: Dogs are welcome in the woodland only and must be kept on leads during the bird nesting season 1 March – 31 July.
