CANCELLED: Radical tours and rustic harangues: William Cobbett and John Thelwell – James Grande
![The head and shoulders of James Grande looking at the camera against a white background. He has short, ginger hair and glasses. He is smiling.](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/featured-whats-on-james-grandei-770x365.jpg)
CANCELLED – 1 March: James Grande, ‘Radical tours and rustic harangues: William Cobbett and John Thelwell’ This talk will explore the radical tradition of rural writing through the work of two Romantic period polemicists, William Cobbett and John Thelwall. It will focus on their tours, principally Rural Rides (1830) and The Peripatetic (1793), as well as their agricultural experiments, political […]
John Clare and Place: Simon Kövesi
![Simon Kovesi looks straight at the camera, with a grey hair, beard and moustache. You can only see his head and shoulders, he is wearing glasses and he is smiling.](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/featured-whats-on-simon-kovesi-770x365.jpg)
15 February: Simon Kövesi, ‘John Clare and Place’ The Romantic-period peasant poet John Clare is increasingly regarded as English literature’s first major ecologically-conscious writer. This appreciation is built upon a idea that Clare is committed to a specific locality, a tight rural environment, and that his identification with his village of Helpston in Cambridgeshire was comprehensive and […]
THE WILD OTHER: ON LANDSCAPE AND GRIEF – Clover Stroud
![The author Clover Stroud, a woman with blue eyes and blonde hair, wearing a leopard print top and standing against a pink background.](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/whats-on-detail-clover-stroud-770x365.jpg)
18 January: Clover Stroud, ‘The Wild Other: On Landscape and Grief’ At this reading Clover will read extracts from The Wild Other, her confessional memoir about the role horses and the landscape of Oxfordshire have played in managing trauma in her life. She will talk about the riding accident, and subsequent profound brain damage, that her […]
EXTENDED HOURS: MARCH – CANCELLED
![Extended hours late opening](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/WhatsOn_Detail_ExtendedHours-1.jpg)
The Extended Hours Night is cancelled due to snowy conditions. The Anatomy for Artists seminar will be rescheduled. Thursday 1st March Not enough hours in the day? We’re open late on the last Thursday of every month*, so you can visit the reading room, museum galleries, shop, cafe and garden until 9pm. There are usually […]
NOVEMBER LATE OPENING NIGHT
![Orange sunset over a field of golden wheat for late opening in January](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/WhatsOn_Featured_evening-770x365.jpg)
We’re open late on the last Thursday of every month*, so you can visit the museum galleries, shop, cafe and garden until 9pm. There are usually additional activities taking place on our late opening nights to add to your visit. Thursday 28th November Enjoy an after-hours visit and a bit of stress-free Christmas shopping in our […]
EXTENDED HOURS WEEK FOR GROUPS – AUTUMN
![A group visiting the Museum of English Rural Life](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/WhatsOn_Featured_group-770x365.jpg)
This special week of extended opening hours just for groups is a perfect opportunity for to enjoy an evening visit to The MERL. Come on your usual meeting night or plan a special trip! The museum galleries, shop, and cafe will all be open until 9pm. Booking is essential and we will confirm bookings on a […]
EXTENDED HOURS WEEK FOR GROUPS – SUMMER
![A group visiting the Museum of English Rural Life](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/WhatsOn_Featured_group-770x365.jpg)
This special week of extended opening hours just for groups is a perfect opportunity for to enjoy an evening visit to The MERL. Come on your usual meeting night or plan a special trip! The museum galleries, shop, and cafe will all be open until 9pm. Booking is essential and we will confirm bookings on a […]
EXTENDED HOURS WEEK FOR GROUPS – SPRING
![A group visiting the Museum of English Rural Life](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/WhatsOn_Featured_group-770x365.jpg)
This special week of extended opening hours just for groups is a perfect opportunity for to enjoy an evening visit to The MERL. Come on your usual meeting night or plan a special trip! The museum galleries, shop, and cafe will all be open until 9pm. Booking is essential and we will confirm bookings on a […]
BRITISH AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES: PAST, PRESENT & POST-BREXIT
![British agricultural landscape](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/WhatsOn_Featured_FOLAR-770x365.jpg)
How can our much loved, multi-functional, protected and neglected agricultural landscapes – conflict ridden, economically challenging and bureaucraticised – be sustained for the future? FOLAR’s 2018 symposium focuses on British agricultural landscapes since 1945, and considers the post-Brexit future. A day of challenging talks with Q and A sessions from a stellar range of knowledgeable […]
BREXIT: A RURAL PERSPECTIVE
![](https://merl.reading.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/WhatsOn_Featured_Brexit-770x365.jpg)
Over the last three years, MERL staff have been travelling the length and breadth of the England talking to people about their lives in the countryside. During our conversations, Brexit and the impact of European Union membership on rural life has been one issue raised by some of our interviewees both before and after Britain’s […]