The Museum of English Rural Life

Food takes first prize at the Berkshire Show

Science engagement officer, Robyn Hopcroft, gives a recap of a busy weekend for The MERL at the Royal County of Berkshire Show. Photography by Anna Bruce for First Food Residency. I don’t think there’s anything quite like the Royal Berkshire Show. It’s a weird and wonderful melting pot of British culture. In amongst dancing sheep, […]

Ladybird books needed!

Do you have any Ladybird books at home that you no longer want to keep or that your children no longer read? Would you like to help contribute to a display in the new galleries at The MERL? We are looking for Ladybird books to form part of a duplicate set of the books which we will use […]

Pledge your apples!

Do you have an apple tree? Do you hate to see rotten apples on the ground going to waste? We have a solution!! At our Grand Opening Festival on October 22nd, Richard Paget from ‘My Apple Juice’ will be pressing apples into delicious juice. Richard is on a mission to reduce food waste and bring communities […]

Fun and festivities at the Big Band Lunch

Science Engagement Officer, Robyn Hopcroft, reveals what we got up to at the Big Band Lunch on Sunday. Last Sunday we enjoyed glorious weather and fabulous big band music at the University of Reading’s annual Big Band Lunch. This was a chance to bring the University and local communities together over lunch, and celebrate the […]

Chalk or Cheese? Winner announced!

The votes are in, the people have spoken and the wall hanging chosen for display in the new Museum of English Rural Life is…Kent! Over the past month we asked you to vote between our Kent and Cheshire wall hangings, two of a series of seven made by the artist Michael O’Connell for the 1951 Festival […]

Discovering the Landscape: World Landscape Architecture Month (#WLAM2016)

April is World Landscape Architecture Month (#WLAM2016): an international celebration of landscape architecture. Read on to find out more about #WLAM2016 and how you can get involved. Established by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the purpose of World Landscape Architecture Month is to celebrate landscape architecture in our public spaces. The aim is to highlight how the […]

Chalk or cheese? Choosing a wall hanging

Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer. Here at the MERL we have a problem. We need to decide which of our two enormous, beautifully decorated wall hangings to display, and we’d like your help. The wall hangings are two of seven which were originally displayed at the 1951 Festival of Britain, and were made by the ‘lost […]

MERL at Tractor World Show

Written by Caroline Gould, Deputy University Archivist MERL was invited to the Spring Tractor World Show which took place weekend by the group creating the 80th anniversary display of Ransomes MG crawlers and implements. The display, formed of around 35 Ransomes, won best in show! MERL was keen to attend to promote the archives that are held at the Museum. […]

Discovering the Landscape #22: Treasures Exhibition in our Staircase Hall

We’re delighted to share with you our current Staircase Hall exhibition: Discovering the Landscape: treasures from the collections of the Landscape Institute Where? Staircase Hall, Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road When? Wednesday 13 January – Friday 1 April 2016 (during our opening hours) What? This display will showcase a selection of important archive materials and books from […]


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