The Weald and Downland Living Museum The Weald and Downland Living Museum

Enjoy a fabulous family day-out at the Weald & Downland Living Museum (dogs are welcome too).

Founded to delight and inspire, Weald & Downland Living Museum beautifully brings to life the story of Southern England’s fascinating past. The museum stretches across 40-acres of Sussex countryside and is made up of 50 historic buildings, which were saved and rebuilt brick by brick.

Things to do at the Weald & Download Living Museum

Visitors can step back in time and experience a bygone era of traditional arts and crafts in a unique natural setting.

Attractions include:

1. The Repair Shop Barn

Check out where the BBC’s The Repair Shop is filmed. The museum’s Court Barn is home to the much-beloved TV series, which sees expert artisans restore the beauty back into family antiques and heirlooms. The Repair Shop Barn is open to visitors on specific dates, head to the museum’s website for more information.

2. Traditional Tudor Cooking

Try out food dishes from the 1500’s. The Tudor Kitchen has chefs preparing and cooking traditional Tudor food that was eaten by the residents of Bayleaf farmstead in the 1540s. Taste the hand-made butter and cheese, gobble the griddle bread warmed up on an open fire, and indulge on fried ‘chewits’, a delicious pastry filled with spinach, onion, and other veggies.

3. The Historic Clothing Project

The Historic Clothing Project and Museum needlework group were formed in 2007 to make replica historic clothing which can be worn on the museum site. This serves as a realistic interpretation of the museum’s domestic buildings and as a tool to learn more about how textiles and clothing were worn in the past.

4. Farming and Livestock

The Museum keeps a variety of livestock to accurately portray the historic working landscape and farming practices in historic southeast England. Some of the traditional farm animals around the museum site include:

• Horses - You will see heavy horses pulling carts and helping with seasonal farming tasks. These tasks include harvesting and ploughing.
• Embden Geese - Find this German breed of domestic goose browsing freely around the apple orchard.
• Southdown Sheep - Spot a Southdown sheep scouring the downland grass.

5. Buildings

There are plenty of historic buildings to explore at the Weald and Downland Living Museum. Some of these buildings include:

• Historic houses and cottages – The houses at the museum show continuity and change in the layout of houses in this era. A popular house to visit is Bayleaf Farmstead from Chiddingstone, which is a timber-framed hall house which was first built in the 15th century.

• Craft and Trade buildings – Discover the museum’s variety of working buildings, which represent the crafts and trades of people who lived in this region at the time. Head to the Carpenter’s Shop from Windlesham to see where carpenters learnt their trade.

• Public buildings – Some of the communal spaces and structures which have been saved and brought over to the museum include the Animal Pound from Walton Heath and a School from West Wittering.

• Farm buildings – Naturally, the most important building on a farm is a barn. The museum is home to several cattle sheds and card sheds which were made as early as the 18th century. Discover Aisled Barn from Hambrook or the Barn from Cowfold to learn more on farm buildings.

The museum also has an array of exciting courses and day-schools hosted at the museum that are worth checking out.

Visitor information

If you are not a member of the museum, make sure to pre-book a ticket before visiting. You can book online by heading to their website. Tickets start at £15.50 per adult and £7.50 per child. Annual membership fees start at £38.00.

There is a free car park and disabled parking spaces are availability.

There is both a café and shop at the museum that is open to both visitors and the general public.

The café opening hours are 10am – 5pm.

The shop opening hours are 10:30 – 5:30pm.