Rural Life Living Museum

Fascinating working museum with a wide variety of things to see indoors and out. Exhibits include an operational Wealden iron furnace, reproductions of traditional shops, post war prefab house, cycle workshop, cricket pavilion and much more besides. There's also a working narrow gauge railway providing short rides for an additional charge. There's good signage around the site, and guides on hand to provide more detail and answer questions. Standard ticket prices seemed like good value at £10.75 for adults, £7.75 for children when we visited. Facilities include free on-site parking, a café serving refreshments and lunches, a gift shop and toilets. Dogs on leads are welcome, and opening times are 10:00 - 16:00 between Thursday and Monday. The museum is closed between December 23rd and January 21st. Various events take place throughout the year - we attended the Dennis Vehicle Extravaganza in June 2023 and saw a great selection of vintage, classic and modern buses, fire appliances and cars. Please note the later photos were from this event and these vehicles aren't usually kept at the museum.

Went on a family trip on father's Day as there was the annual Dennis vehicle extraganza and my dad loves Dennis'. It was also quite poignant as one of the trucks being exhibited had been driven by my grandfather in the 1960's. I absolutely loved the prefab building - my sister and I decided we could happily live there - so that was a really good start to our visit. We next went on the train which pleased my husband and 3 year old no end. This was £3 per person so be prepared to pay extra for it. Obviously the vehicles were an added bonus, but there was plenty to see from the permanent fixtures of the museum and my 6 and 9 year olds particularly enjoyed the school and playground. The 3 year old proclaimed the playground to be the 'best ever'. There was a lovely picnic space adjacent to the school which offered some welcome shade and it wasn't too far to walk back to the car for the cool bag. Overall the museum had something for everyone in our large family party. Some of the paths are quite uneven so my sister's all terrain pushchair was useful. There were plenty of activities for the children including small drawing and building areas and the overall feel of the museum was very relaxed. Definitely take a packed lunch unless you want to pay out in the cafe - ice lollies were around the £3 mark so again be prepared to pay out for those. All in all though it was a really lovely day plus we left just before the rain. Thank you

What a lovely day spent here with my family. This is a very good way to remember us where we came from and give the kids the opportunity to experiencing different activities at the same time you are helping them creating good and positive memories. My kid loved to milk a cow. There are plenty of things you can do together with the kids. The food in the Cafe is not bad at all. The soup was actually delicious.

Visited for the first time on their "Home Front" ww2 event and was very impressed. The museum itself is a great place to visit for families, had friendly and helpful staff and great facilities.The exhibits were well presented and looked very good although I didn't have much time to appreciate them as I was enjoying the period reenactors and stalls. I have attended other home front events and was impressed by the mock air raids, including the appearance of some downed German airmen and also the variety of entertainment during the day. Taking part in the end of day parade was great. I hope to visit another time when I have more time to appreciate the exhibits. (And when I'm not wearing itchy BDs).

Very disappointing and expensive Father Christmas visit. The train was good as usual and the volunteers running it helpful. After that we were pointed towards Father Christmas’s tent and that was it. Mes Christmas was delightful but Father Christmas had nothing to say nor interest in the children and the gifts were very poor. There was no signage to any other activities, we found the model painting and tombola by chance. The Christmas market was very disappointing. The free drink and mince pie of previous years was missed as was the model railway display. The experience was disappointing last year sadly and I was unsure about booking for this year but it has become a tradition for the grandchildren so we came. I had recommended it to friends unfortunately who were very disappointed as they didn’t know the form and found nothing at all. We are a family of 10 and I will not be spending £150 again next year.

We often come to the rural life center for a low key relaxing afternoon. We attended the world at war weekend. It was great fun! Everyone really got into the spirit of it with the re enactments, jiving and live music and singing. There was lots to do including a trip on the light steam railway, a bite to eat in the cafe, play park and museum with so much history and facts packed in. Would really recommend!