Lindisfarne Priory
Cross the dramatic causeway to reach the island of Lindisfarne, on a journey that will stay in your memory forever. Follow in the footsteps of the ancient monks who built their priory here nearly 1,400 years ago, and explore the wild coastal beauty of Holy Island. Visit our fascinating museum and find out about a grisly Viking raid, the cult of St Cuthbert, and the beautiful medieval manuscript: the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Read MoreBressingham 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 MoreMuseum 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 MoreTŷMawr
Traditional stone-built upland 16th-century farmhouse
Explore centuries of Welsh living in this traditional stone-built upland farmhouse.
Set in the heart of the beautiful Conwy Valley, Ty Mawr was the birthplace of Bishop William Morgan, the first translator of the Bible into Welsh.
Walks lead from the house through woodland and traditionally managed landscape.
Aberconwy House
14th-century merchant’s house
This is the only medieval merchant’s house in Conwy to have survived the turbulent history of the walled town over nearly six centuries.
Furnished rooms and an audio-visual presentation show daily life from different periods in its history.
Packwood House
Much-restored Tudor house, park and garden with notable topiary
The culmination of a lifetime of dreams: salvaged objects and exotic pieces come together in a Jacobean meets Edwardian style. Beautiful, homely, warm and welcoming. We can’t put it better than a visitor in the 1920s did: A house to dream of, a garden to dream in.
The house was originally built in the 16th century, yet its interiors were extensively restored between the First and Second World Wars by Graham Baron Ash to create a fascinating 20th-century evocation of domestic Tudor architecture.
Packwood House contains a fine collection of 16th-century textiles and furniture, and the gardens have renowned herbaceous borders and a famous collection of yews.
Hailes Abbey
Founded in 1246 by the Earl of Cornwall, Hailes Abbey is set amid delightful Cotswold countryside. Once the centre of monastic life, the tranquil ruins are now the perfect place to relax and enjoy a picnic in a unique historic setting. Visit the new museum to discover the treasures of Hailes, uncovering stories of the monks who lived and worshipped at the abbey for nearly three centuries.
Don’t Miss
- An exceptionally rare fragment of a 14th-century monk’s spectacles in our newly refurbished museum
- The fascinating audio tour guiding you through the rich history of the abbey
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Down House
With its unique place in the history of science and evolution, Down House, the family home of world-renowned scientist Charles Darwin, is a must-see. Stand in the study where Darwin wrote ‘On the Origin of Species’, stroll through the gardens that inspired him, and visit his and wife Emma’s newly recreated bedroom which overlooks the gardens. Let Sir David Attenborough take you on an interactive multimedia tour around the house, and discover how the great man developed his ground-breaking theories.
Read MoreWordsworth House and Garden
Step back to the 1770s at William Wordsworth’s childhood home
Wordsworth House and Garden, in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, is the birthplace and childhood home of romantic poet William and his sister Dorothy.
It is presented as it would have been when they lived here with their parents, three brothers and servants in the 1770s.
Today, this homely Georgian townhouse is peopled by our knowledgeable 21st-century guides and, on selected dates, the maid-of-all-work is in the kitchen – and keen to chat.
There is real food on the dining table, a fire burning in the working kitchen and a recipe William and Dorothy might have eaten for you to taste. Ink and quill pens are ready in the clerk’s office, and if you play the piano, you might like to try our replica harpsichord.
The children’s bedroom is full of toys and dressing up clothes, and down in the cellar, the household’s ghosts are waiting to tell their stories.
Our exhibition rooms house a changing programme of displays. In the discovery room, there is a permanent exhibition about William’s Lakeland legacy and his key role in the founding of the National Trust, along with family games and activities.
The garden is packed with 18th-century vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers, just as it would have been when he played – and learned his love of nature – here.
