An extremely interesting way to spend a few hours,trains and swings for the kids,loads of nostalgia for the grownups,nice peaceful setting with ample parking and lots to see.Good reasonably priced cafe with friendly service and excellent homemade sponge cake,well worth a visit.

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.

Love visiting the Rural Life Museum at any time of the year. The Santa Specials at Christmas are magical, the activity Thursday's in the summer holidays are brilliant and the special events they put on are great too. We really enjoyed the fire engine display day. The volunteers are lovely and friendly and always make you feel so welcome. The train is a wonderful feature too. My kids love this place and we've made many treasured memories here. Us adults love its old world charm too. It's a real local gem!

Love this place. We go every year and my daughters (aged 9 and 11) have so much fun and never want to leave. The 1950s playground is their absolute favourite, followed by the classroom. This year, they particularly enjoyed watching the blacksmith at work, which we hadn't seen on previous visits

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!

If you like history this is great place to visit. Very educational and informative. We visited on an event day called Village at War which was great as there were lots of extras you would not normally see.

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

Great find on our holiday there are a lot of really interesting exhibits to wander around at your own pace. Nice area for tasting the cafe's drinks and treats. Just a shame the steam railway wasn't running but still a great find.

Just wonderful! A fabulous place for a few hours, excellent café, the little train ride is great fun. The Polish 🇵🇱🇵🇱 camp memories and displays are superb. Amazing farm machinery collection and houses! The prefab was exactly the same interior as I remember an in-law had until only a few years ago! This place deserves more visitors than it gets SO quiet! Rspb reserve next door to extend your visit

We visited as we have a family connection with one of the historic buildings. It was incredible, not only to see and stand in a space our forefathers had worshipped, but also put in perspective the commitment and hard work of the Trust. A really special welcoming and fantastic history of local trades and architecture. Brilliant entertainment for my 94yr old mother and 7yr old neice...and everyone in between!

This place is 5 star!! Such fun, educational, interesting and a pure joy to visit. The people are lovely, it's mostly all outside with different buildings to meander through. Best thing though, dogs are allowed! It's the best day out I've ever had with my dog, she absolutely loved it and even went on her first steam train ride. Not many museums you can take your dog to, so make the most of it doggy owners.

We visited on heritage open days and was presently surprised how wonderful the museum is. A wonderful place to visit and go back in time to admire the architecture of old. You could easily spend all day there. There is a café. The staff and volunteers are friendly and informative. Thee is even a steam railway for everyone to enjoy. There are also plenty of parking spaces available. I would recommend anyone of all age groups to visit as it's interesting and educational.

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).

Fantastic day out. So much to see and a light railway too. Very interesting and diverse range of buildings and exhibits. Good woodland trail too. A full day's worth. The only slight let down was the cafe which was mediocre and expensive. Coffee and tea in paper cups and a very small cooked breakfast. Overall though a great day out.

Very interesting place, a lovely atmosphere, and different types of entertainment for children 👍. Also, we bought delicious homemade bread. Highly recommend😊 (I attached the picture of the contact)

Fantastic day out. We were there for their d day celebrations but have been before on general.admission days. So much relatable history. Well worth a day out

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.

A pleasant museum for those interested in social history and certainly popular with children.

Excellent museum. Lots of room outside for all ages to run around. Fantastic little narrow gauge railway runs around the grounds with loads of seating for passengers. Good tea room with good service. We'll worth a visit in any weather as all exhibits are under cover.

Really good collection. The railway and playground are very engaging for children. Some of the exhibitions desperately need some TLC but that would involve money so they need more visitor I guess! Recommended, we will visit again.

Excellent place to visit with children - activities we did today were rocket making, fossils in plaster casts, bug hunting, washing with tubs and dollys.....So many things to see and do. Staff really friendly and so helpful. I'd really recommend it.

A really fascinating museum about the history of the local area, but also the social history of housing and how homes have changed over the years. They also host a car boot every first Monday of the month from spring through early autumn which is always well attended.

I went along as a parent helper on my child's class trip to the Rural Life Museum today. It's a fantastic place! There's so much to see and learn about. We were warmly welcomed by the staff and the learning sessions they did with us were really interesting.

Very disappointed, won't be returning Firstly let me say that my family and I first did the santa experience in 2019 and it was a wonderful experience, we decided that we would definitely be going again the following year. Obviously due to Covid, it was cancelled in 2020 and we were given the option of having a refund or transferring our booking to the following December, we chose the latter option. We heard nothing from Rural Life Centre and in November decided to check the status of our tickets to be told it was fully booked and we should've contacted them to book sooner. To their credit they did manage to squeeze us in. When we arrived we were told to get straight on the train without anyone checking our tickets, when the train ride finished we were sent straight to the elves workshop where the children did one activity and then told we would be meeting Santa, but we would have to be quick as they had another 350 children coming that day. Overall it was a very disappointing experience compared to our previous visit, there was only one activity for the children compared to 2019 when they did multiple activities. The staff were very pushy to move us on. The whole experience was under 30 minutes compared to two hours in 2019 and there was nothing magical about it. Hugely disappointing. We won't be returning.

Amazing museum made for a lovely day out. I found the museum to be really interesting and enjoyable, with lots to see and explore. It’s nice to be able to wander around historic buildings and experience them as they would have been decades ago. The museum displays in the buildings really add character and we’re fun to think about and see. I loved the pre-fab all decorated for Christmas! There was lots of variety in the displays and buildings. There are plenty of buildings you can pop in and out of as you wish, and the site is large enough you could spend hours here just exploring. The cafe was a nice touch to grab a simple cup of tea after exploring in the cold, and volunteer Tony was so lovely and welcoming.

Wonderful place with fantastic exhibits and lovely people. We spent 3 hours here and we managed to see almost everything ( we definitely need to visit again as it’s lots to see and explore and 3h are not enough) and have a ride with the train. Visit and won’t be disappointed x

Excellent experience well worth seeking out. The exhibits are nicely displayed in a friendly environment and some are interactive. Also I thoroughly recommend buying a coffee and lunch at the cafe, brilliant staff who are happy to see you. A truly wonderful day out.

This is a great place for families to come and visit. Loads of space to run around and wear the children out!

I love this little place. I go when there is an event on, as there was today, as it makes the visit even more interesting. The buildings that have been moved there, the collections of old farming implements, farm vehicles, shop fittings, stuff, ephemera, etc. Is incredible and important to save and maintain all this history. Thank goodness some people recognise the value of such buildings and items.

Great day out particularly for people with younger children...plenty to see and take part in including a ride on a small train. Great to see how things were done many years ago, such as hay making history and charcoal making. There is also a café at the entrance, children's playground and plenty of space for them to run around - would highly recommend.

My family and I love this Rural idyll, we go for their special events as well as a day out.

Went today. The VW society were there as well as WW2 jeeps, weapons and re-enactment people. Nice little train ride. Stand back when you press the button at the water wheel.

Brilliant day out in rain and shine! Great fun and lots to do. It kept two 7 year olds entertained (and fed!) right until closing time despite several downpours.

Good for small children to run about. My Grandson enjoyed seeing the machines and playing on the ride on toys. Food at bit pricey. Plenty of places to picnic. Sadly the train wasn't running.