Weekly what's on: August 4th to 10th
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 […]
Weekly what's on: July 28th to August 3rd
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 The Arts of Peace: poetry in the garden Monday 28th July, 6.30-8.30pm MERL garden (or indoors if the event of bad weather) £3 per person. There are still tickets left, but to […]
Inspiring Creativity with Objects: Collections-based activities for families
During her time at MERL as Public Programmes Manager, covering maternity leave, Phillippa Heath has introduced some some great new workshops enabling families to get closer to our collections. In this post, Phillippa looks at how the positive reaction to the new sessions will influence our future planning for families… Whenever we plan a family […]
Weekly what's on: 22nd to 27th July
You can find full details of all our forthcoming events in our What’s On guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar Guided tour Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays, 3-3.45pm Free, booking advisable Let our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the […]
Huntley & Palmers and the MERL shop
Claire Smith, Visitor Services Assistant, looks at MERL’s links with biscuit company, Huntley & Palmers, and the development of new related products for the MERL shop MERL has very strong links with Huntley & Palmers. Not only do we look after their archives, we’re based in Alfred Palmer’s former home! The University of Reading Special […]
Rural Reads review #7: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator. For the warm, sun-filled month of June we read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, a quintessentially English book and author. We decided to read it because we realised that in the four years of our book group we had not read a single Jane Austen novel, so we thought […]
Weekly what's on: 7th to 13th July
You can find full details of all our forthcoming events in our What’s On guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar Graduation parties notice Weds 9 to Fri 11th July As a University museum we are delighted to be able to host graduation […]
Our Boneshaking connection to cycling
Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer. At the moment of writing, 198 lycra-clad men from across the world are cycling through the Cambridgeshire countryside. They’re riding the best bicycles in the world (with the best thighs in the world), aiming for a finish line at Buckingham Palace, the prize of a yellow jersey and a […]
Weekly what's on: 30th June to 6th July
You can find full details of all our forthcoming events in our What’s On guide, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar MERL Seminar series: The Great War & the countryside Eggs Enlisted? Egg production and the impact of war by Dr Nicola Verdon, […]
Our Country Lives goes ahead with £1.7m HLF grant
We are all very pleased and excited to announce that we have been successful in securing a further £1.7m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, in order to redevelop MERL as part of the Our Country Lives project! You can see our press release here. That we have got to this stage is testament to […]