The largest countryside museum collection
in the south of England

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Old Kiln Museum
Tilford, Farnham, Surrey,
England

The Rural Life Centre is a country life museum, assembled by the late Mr & Mrs Henry Jackson and now run by a charitable trust. It is pleasantly distributed over ten acres of field, woodland and barns, and comprises a large number of implements and devices marking over 150 years of farming. Many aspects of village and rural life are also displayed in realistic individual settings and include:

• Farming through the seasons.
• Local hop growing.
• Tools and crafts allied to country industries and needs.
• Social history of village life from the 1800s - school, domestic, trades and others.
• Reconstructed buildings include a 1947 Prefab, village hall, chapel, cricket pavilion, a small Victorian laundry building and a corrugated iron schoolroom.

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• The Wheelwright's Shop
• The Stable Block
• The Horse Ambulance
• The Eashing Chapel
• The Shepherd's Hut
• The Village Hall
• The Cricket Pavilion
• The Granary
• The Farmer's Tools
• Hops and Hop Picking
• Thatching and Harvest
• Domestic Life
• Gardening
• The Arboretum
• Forestry
• The Old Kiln Light Railway
• The Gibbs Collection
• The Forge
• The Windpump
• The Gipsy Caravan

This countryside museum offers many opportunities for schools and other groups of young people. We try to ensure the visit will be enjoyed and remembered by everybody.

Learning through first-hand experience in this outdoor classroom brings history alive for every visitor.

For schools many aspects of the curriculum can be supported, while other groups are fascinated by the insights into the ways we used to live.

Group visits are welcomed, if arranged beforehand, and all our normal facilities and more are available. These include demonstrations, handling collections and loan boxes.

For more information about the services offered please visit our Education Page. Here you will find some downloadable resources and further information about arranging a group or school visit.