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School Visits
Denny Abbey and the Farmland Museum provides a fascinating and relaxing venue for an educational visit. We welcome pre-booked visits to the museum and will do our best to accommodate a date that suits you.
We encourage visits from children in a variety of settings from pre-school to KS4 and run these at a cost of £5 per child, with accompanying adults free of charge. Please contact us if you are from a SEND or Alternate Provision School and would like to discuss accommodations we can make to the day to support your students.
See below for the different themed days on offer. Find more information in the downloadable pdf or the ‘Plan Your Visit’ section.
Learn about life in the Medieval period
Learn about life in the Tudor period, including a craft inspired by Tudor tiles uncovered in Denny Abbey.
Learn about life in the Victorian period, including having a go at doing the washing like a Victorian – no automated washing machines here!
Learn about life at home during the war, learning about rationing.
Learn about farming in the local area, including how bread goes from seed to shelf and a craft linking to seeds and planting.
Extra-Curricular Groups
We encourage visits from groups outside of formal education.
We are able to host daytime visits and can also open the site in the evening. This could be for a specific activity, or simply to explore the site, perhaps as an end of year treat.
The museum has previously hosted Guides, Brownies and the East Anglian Children’s Hospice Sibling Group, for example. If you would like to learn more contact us.
Education Visits to The Farmland Museum
Size 3.89 MB
Plan your Visit
Pre-booking is essential for schools, even if you would like a self-guided visit.
We ideally run visits on a Monday or a Tuesday as we can guarantee exclusive use of the site when it is closed to the public. No visits can run on a Wednesday.
We strongly recommend that you make a planning visit to risk assess potential hazards in the museum and on your journey. A planning visit can be organised free of charge in advance of your visit.
We have attached a generic risk assessment below, but this should be modified to fit your specific group.
We aim to provide an accessible and welcoming environment for all schools.
Read about our accessibility here.
We have two pairs of ear defenders which can be borrowed on request.
Teachers and adult helpers are responsible for the health and safety of their class and should supervise students at all times.
To support your class to move safely around our site and provide adequate supervision it is essential to meet our minimum ratios.
- EYFS Nursery 1:3
- EYFS Reception 1:4
- KS1 1:10
- KS2 1:10
- KS3 1:15
- KS4+ 1:15
We have a indoor seating space for 50 children. There are benches around the site and picnic tables outside the café.
Information for Home Educators
We understand as home educators your needs might not be the same as large school groups. Whether you would like to organise a group visit with other home educating families, or would like to know what is available for you on a regular open day, our aim is to make you feel welcome.
If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.
If you would simply like to enjoy the museum at your leisure, you are welcome to do this. We have a guide to the outdoor machinery which is free to borrow and there is an English Heritage guide to Denny Abbey available to purchase in our gift shop.
We have also created free Home Education packs for the Tudors, Victorians, WW2 and Farming in the Fens which you can request at the admissions desk. Explorer Backpacks can also be borrowed during your visit.
If you would like to book in for a specific activity to support your learning, this can be done for a cost of £25 with no minimum number of children.
Examples of these sessions:
- Exploring one of the museum’s handling boxes
- Have a go at washing clothes like a Victorian
- A tour of Denny Abbey
Handling Boxes
We have curated a selection of Handling Boxes to borrow. They can be borrowed by schools or community groups and are a great way to be hands on with history!
The handling boxes currently available are:
- Tudor
- Medieval
- Farming in the Fens
- World War Two
- Toys from the past
- Reminiscence
Handling boxes cost £25 to borrow for one week.
Further information including the contents of the boxes can be found in the following downloads.
Reminiscence Boxes
For those who have perhaps long since left school, we have created a series of small boxes themed around aspects of life from the 1940s to the 1970s. This includes a variety of items from stockings to a £1 note, designed to jog memories.
We could bring these boxes to your setting, whether that be a care facility or perhaps a reminiscence group, or you could borrow the box for a period of a week.
Handling Loan Boxes
Size 2.10 MB
Museum Visits To You
At Denny Abbey and The Farmland Museum we understand that it might not always be possible to visit the site. For this reason, we offer museum visits to you. Museum visits to you centre around our handling collection.
The handling boxes currently available are:
- Tudor
- Medieval
- Farming in the Fens
- World War Two
- Toys from the past
Museum visits to you cost £25 for half a day. This includes a member of staff planning and delivering the session using museum objects and resources, and our travel to you. The half day can be with one group or split between two.
Have a question?
Contact our Education Officer, Beth, for all enquiries.