We have a number of resources available on our website to help you prepare your class for a visit. These include photos of the museum, extra resources for our museum-led sessions and images of objects that link to the sessions.  

Yes. All teachers/group leaders who book a visit can come for a free pre-visit. Appointments can be made Tuesday-Sunday, you can meet a member of staff with sufficient notice. 

The museum is open 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Many educational groups arrive at 10am and leave after 2pm to get back to school for home time but you can arrive or leave at any time during our opening hours. Some groups come for just an hour to see one specific part of our collection. 

The museum does have areas for coach parking, but space is limited and must be booked in advance. The coach entrance is at the end of Lockington Road, Stowmarket, IP14 1BQ. Details are included in your booking confirmation; coach entry is available from 10am. 

Our free pre-booked educational group offer is open to groups with 10+ children and accompanying adults. We can cater for a maximum 60 depending on the workshop required. 

Our free pre-booked educational group offer is open to any group of children who have learning outcomes for their visit. 

The museum is set across 75 acres; there are 17 historic buildings across the estate with displays inside as well as a river walk and farm area with animals. There are interpretation panels for all of the buildings and displays, with lots of extra information. Our wide range of collections, buildings and landscapes can support work across the curriculum including Science, Geography, History, English, Maths, Spiritual Moral Social Cultural (SMSC) and Environmental Projects.  

You can find out more about our museum collection and buildings here, as well as getting onto our online object catalogue where you can search for different objects and discover the stories behind them – good for class research before your visit.  

A basic risk assessment for the site is here and a risk assessment for our river walk is here. Risk assessments for each of our workshops are also available. We recommend that you come on a free pre-visit to create your own risk assessments. 

Yes. Please get in touch to let us know what your topic is, and we will be able to point you in the right direction of the collections that will best support your visit and send you any additional information we have. 

 No, you do not. Free entry applies to any pre-booked visit; you do not have to book a session to qualify for free entry. 

Yes, we can, but only if we have the objects and resources available at the museum. For example, we do not have an Egyptian collection so we would be unable to offer a session on this topic. Tailor-made sessions may incur a further charge dependant on time and resources required. 

We recommend a minimum of one adult for every six children for 4–8-year-olds and one to eight for 9–12-year-olds but we have no maximum number for accompanying adults. You know your children best and how much support they need.  

We recommend wellies if the weather is wet before or during your visit. The museum used to be a farm, and it can get quite muddy. Coats are a necessity during the colder months and sunhats during the summer months. The museum buildings are widely spaced across the estate and there is outdoor walking.  

We have lunch spaces, which can be booked in advance. There is plenty of outside space for picnic lunches; you can use all our picnic benches apart from those outside the café, which are reserved for café customers only. Coats and bags are left at your own risk. 

Both the spaces we use as lunchrooms have sinks with drinking water; you are very welcome to fill up your water bottles. You can also call into the William Bone building while out and about on site and the staff there will fill up water bottles for you. 

The museum has a number of toilets in different areas of the site. They are all marked on the museum map. 

Yes. We have a £2 bag and a £3 bag.