A Take on Teen Twitter Takeover Day

Teen Twitter Takeover Day – Wednesday 27th August, written by Chloe On Wednesday 27th August I took part, on behalf of MERL, in ‘Teen Twitter Takeover Day’. Organised by Kids in Museums, this was a day designed to promote their national Takeover Day in November, by having teenagers take over the Twitter accounts of museums and […]

Project update: What happens next?

Having heard the news of our project funding earlier this summer, you may be wondering what happens next? So in this post Alison Hilton, marketing officer, answers some ‘frequently asked questions’ Has work on the project started yet? We are still going through the processes required before work on the Our Country Lives project can start. […]

Weekly what's on: Sept 15th to 21st

You can find details of all our forthcoming events at on our What’s On pages, but here’s what’s happening at MERL this week… Guided tours Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays, 3-3.45pm Free, booking advisable but not essential Let our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the objects on display and visit the object store to see […]

Weekly what's on: Sept 8th to 14th

You can find details of all our forthcoming events at on our What’s On pages, but here’s what’s happening at MERL this week… Events Heritage Open Day tours Thurs 11th, Fri 12th 11am & Sunday 14th, 3pm (house only) Free, booking required Join us for a free behind the scenes tour of our Victorian home and see some […]

Discovering the Landscape #6: Susan and Geoffrey Jellicoe catalogues now available online!

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Landscape Institute Library Officer Drawings donated to the Landscape Institute by Geoffrey Jellicoe and the photographic collection of Susan Jellicoe are now catalogued and are available to search via our online catalogue and by collection in PDF format (Geoffrey Jellicoe, Susan Jellicoe). These fantastic collections cover landscape architecture and landscape history […]

Conservation Diary 2: Repairing the damaged and dry

As promised, I am back with some more exciting and fresh updates. Good progress has been made! The first week flew by in the setting up of and preliminary preparations for the conservation project of the first 1951 wall hanging. In the second week I felt myself drifting off far away, swayed by the humming […]

Weekly what's on: 26th to 31st August

You can find details of all our forthcoming events at on our What’s On pages, but here’s what’s happening at MERL this week… Events Summer holiday family fun! For details of all our events and activities for families this summer, download our new MERL families guide or visit the Family events page. As well as the ‘Make and takes’ and workshops […]

Conservation Diary: Week 1 on our 1951 Wall Hanging

My name is Nitisha Ramrekha-Heeramun and over the next few weeks  I will be blogging about the conservation of two large and colourful resist-dyed textile wall hangings produced by the renowned artist, Michael O’Connell, for the Festival of Britain in 1951. I started volunteering at the Museum of English Rural Life in August 2013 under […]

Weekly what's on: 18 to 24th August

You can find details of all our forthcoming events at on our What’s On pages, but here’s what’s happening at MERL this week… Events Summer holiday family fun! For details of all our events and activities for families this summer, download our new MERL families guide or visit the Family events page. As well as the ‘Make and takes’ and workshops […]

A Day in the Life of a MERL-man…

Written by Tom Hewitt, MERL Intern. My name is Tom Hewitt and I’m currently working as an intern at MERL. The title of my post may be somewhat misleading, as I’ve actually been here for 40 days (and 40 nights!) already and have just been set the scary task of writing my first ever blog […]