A great family day out in Suffolk

MEAL - Museum of East Anglian Life

Discover the history and natural world of East Anglia on our beautiful 75 acre site—explore nearly 3km of woodland and riverside nature trails. Learn about fascinating East Anglian crafts and traditional Gypsy culture, get steamed up with our powerful engines and meet our friendly animals including Suffolk Punch Horses and rare breeds of cattle and sheep. Discover 15 splendidly restored historic buildings and try some delicious food and local produce in the new museum bistro.

Latest news

December 21st, 2008

Christmas Trees for Sale

Previously

Museum wins £1.7M Lottery grant

September 22nd, 2008

Grant awarded… But...
After a four year build up, and a huge amount of hard work our bid for development funds has been conditionally approved. We asked for £2.6m to develop Abbots Hall, the walled garden, the stables, Crowe Street cottages, and replace the conservatory. The HLF have granted us £1.771m on the condition that we [...]

Opening times

Normal Summer Opening Hours

16th March–31st October 2008. Monday–Saturday 10:00–17:00; Sunday 11:00–17:00. Every Thursday during August, the museum will be open until 20:00. Half price admission on these days after 17:00. Why not bring a picnic?

Winter Opening £2

The displays and historic buildings are closed to the public during the winter. Visitors are welcome to walk around the museum site and nature reserve for the reduced admission of two pounds. The museum site can be opened up for pre booked school parties and general groups of over ten people—normal admission prices then apply.

Get the full details on pricing.

Directions

The Museum is in Iliffe Way, opposite the ASDA supermarket in the centre of Stowmarket. It is signposted from the main A14 trunk road and the B1115 to Great Finborough. The railway station is a 10 minute walk and the bus stop 5 minutes. Car parking is available next to the Museum (Tip: the long stay car park on the right of Iliffe Way is cheaper than the one on the left). Pre-booked coaches can park on-site via a special coach entrance.

With Javascript enabled, we could show you a useful map provided by Google.

Heritage Lottery Fund

After a four year build up, and a huge amount of hard work our bid for development funds has been conditionally approved. We asked for £2.6m to develop Abbot's Hall, the walled garden, the stables, Crowe Street cottages, and replace the conservatory.

The HLF have granted us £1.771m on the condition that we raise the balance of £830k by February 2009. We are half way there already, however if we fail to reach our target the grant could be lost. We have therefore decided to launch the MEAL Appeal to invite donations to close the gap.

Read more about this exciting project.

Key stage learning

The Museum is a wonderful educational resource set in the magnificent Suffolk countryside on a large, safe, open air site. We have a wide and interesting collection that includes entire buildings such as Alton Watermill, which is run twice a day, and many animals, including rare breeds.

Read more in the Learning section of the website.

Visitor photos of the Museum

Share your photographs from your visit with everyone by adding them to our Flickr group.

Upcoming events

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