The Museum of English Rural Life

Reading Walks Festival: Forests, Farms and Forest Bathing

Hazy picture of a forest

Join us as part of Reading Walks Festival 2024 Dates and Times 17th May: 3-4.30pm  18th May: 10.30am-12pm (repeat) About the walk Embark on a mini adventure with Dr. Jen Clarke – anthropologist, artist, and yogi. Join her for a 90-minute guided, slow walk through the grounds and gardens of The MERL and hear fascinating […]

Absent Tales: MA Fine Art Exhibition

hexagons layered in different shades of blue
Embrace the power of presence, even in absence Museums tell many stories through their collections. What it is unclear is how many are absent. The MERL is hosting ‘Absent Tales’, a temporary exhibition inspired by the museum and its collection. In this show, MA students from the University of Reading School of Art have used [...]

A Break from Tradition

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a transformative period in Europe. Developments in industry, technology and transportation altered life beyond recognition. It was against this backdrop of unprecedented social, economic and political change that a new generation of artists began to challenge traditional artistic practices. These artists would eventually create what we now […]

Folklore and Magic

This exhibition is a captivating exploration of the enduring legacy of folklore and magic. It explores the dynamic nature of folk tales, folk art, magic, and healing wisdom, using the MERL collections, University of Reading’s Art Collection, Special Collections, Herbarium and Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology. It has been designed by third-year Museum Studies students […]

Our Green Stories Gallery Tours – April

Our Green Stories logo

Curator of MERL Collections, Dr Ollie Douglas, will be joined by a different specialist for each of these tours. Together they will take visitors on a short conversational trip through the galleries, exploring our collections, and sharing Green Stories about environment, climate action, social justice, and the life and future of the planet.  Each tour will […]

Our Green Stories Gallery Tour – March

Our Green Stories logo

Curator of MERL Collections, Dr Ollie Douglas, will be joined by a different specialist for each of these tours. Together they will take visitors on a short conversational trip through the galleries, exploring our collections, and sharing Green Stories about environment, climate action, social justice, and the life and future of the planet.  Each tour will […]

Our Green Stories Gallery Tours – February

Our Green Stories logo

Curator of MERL Collections, Dr Ollie Douglas, will be joined by a different specialist for each of these tours. Together they will take visitors on a short conversational trip through the galleries, exploring our collections, and sharing Green Stories about environment, climate action, social justice, and the life and future of the planet.  Each tour […]

James Joyce: a love of language

Stephen Le Heros by James Joyce, open to title page, surrounded by other books from the Solange and Stephen James Joyce Collection.
This display of items from the Solange and Stephen James Joyce Collection uses translations of James Joyce’s work to explore his place as a European and a citizen of the world. The exhibition opens on the European Day of Languages and closes on Joyce’s birthday. The University of Reading has acquired a major collection of [...]

What is Landscape? on Saturday 9th December

A photograph of the a Lake District landscape with green fields and trees in the foreground and fells in the distance
What does landscape mean to you? Many people care deeply about landscape, but why does it matter to us so much?  ‘What is Landscape?’ will explore the varied and often highly personal meanings that landscape has for us.  There will be short talks by four of the UK’s leading landscape thinkers, followed by an open [...]

Our Green Stories Tours: Our Green Artists

Thomas Hofland, View Across the Park to Whiteknights House, oil on canvas, 1814. UAC/10236.
In our new series of these popular gallery tours, Curator of MERL Collections, Dr Ollie Douglas, will be joined by a different specialist for each of these tours. Together they will take visitors on a short conversational trip around the museum site, exploring our collections, and sharing Green Stories about environment, climate action, social justice, [...]
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    The Museum is now fully open, following a major redevelopment, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

    Free Admission

    The Museum of English Rural Life

    University of Reading

    Redlands Road

    Reading

    RG1 5EX

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