What’s coming up this year
In 2026 we're celebrating the organisations, artists and activists who defend the voice and soul of rural England
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Author
- Ollie Douglas
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Published Date
- January 5, 2026
Happy New Year! The festive season may be behind us but we’re still in a party mood. 2026 will be a year of celebrations, with anniversaries and centennials for a range of organisations and movements (including ourselves).
The MERL turns 75
Seventy-five years ago, The Museum of English Rural Life was born on 1 January 1951. As our predecessors recorded the museum’s first-ever acquisition (a sheep bell), perhaps they turned on their radio and tuned into the first episode of a brand-new farming-themed radio show: The Archers. Wonder how that will go?
It’s actually no coincidence that The MERL and The Archers share a birthday. We both formed in response to the same circumstances: dramatic changes in English farming resulting from the rapid technological advances of the Second World War. While The Archers dramatised a farming community adapting to changing technologies, we collected the tools and ways of life that risked being left behind.
For our friends in The Archers and all those who’ve played a part in the story of The MERL, the rest (as they say) is history. Look out for upcoming episodes of our podcast, Absolute Units, where we’ll be zooming in on 75 years of The MERL, following how our own plotlines have evolved in time.
100 years of the University of Reading
If The MERL’s big birthday isn’t reason enough for revelry, throughout 2026 we’ll also be celebrating the centenary of our parent institution, the University of Reading, which was granted its charter in 1926.
The University of Reading was a fresh-faced 25-year-old when we came into being. Yet The MERL and the University share roots in deeper histories, and we’ll be delving into these origin stories later in the year.
One of the joys of being part of a University is that we’re part of a museum service containing other amazing University collections. These include the University’s Special Collections, whose brilliant James Joyce: Enigmas and Puzzles exhibition remains in our Staircase Hall space for two more months. It’s a unique chance to explore rarely-seen letters, documents and artefacts from James Joyce’s personal archive. Not to be missed!
Voices of the Countryside: 100 Years of the Campaign to Protect Rural England
The English countryside is much more than a passive and natural space. It’s precious and precarious, political and important. Its tranquil green fields, woodlands, hedges, and lanes endure in an ever-changing world because of people and organisations who campaign for its survival and to keep as much of it as possible open to all.
This dedication to safeguarding England’s countryside lies at the heart of an extraordinary charity, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
Like the University of Reading, the CPRE was founded in 1926. In the century since then they have built a 100-year track record of pushing back against the forces that threaten, alter, and destroy the English countryside.
The CPRE’s story, achievements, and archives feature in our next Staircase Hall exhibition, Voices of the Countryside, which opens on 14 February 2026, Valentine’s Day. Find out more.
Radical Rural
The forces of modernity, damage, and development still threaten our rural worlds and green spaces today. Yet the fight keeps on for access, biodiversity, and support for all of England’s rural landscapes, championed by radical activists, artists, nature guardians, writers, and allied movements.
We’re celebrating these voices, stories and organisations in Radical Rural, a new trail of displays across our galleries opening on 14 February. Discover the history of the grassroots campaigns that care for England’s rural spaces through archives, artworks and installations displayed across our galleries: from the protest song of a folk musician, to the physical manifestation of a folk tale; from radical mapping and campaign banners, to artefacts marking small acts of service.
Find out more about our Radical Rural trail.
If you’re further afield or oceans apart and can’t make it to Reading in person, then fear not: we’ll be featuring all these stories online and on our podcast.
75 years is a fine age for anyone, even a museum. And more than ever before, we welcome you to come and visit us; to learn, relax, and explore. Discover how you can join the movements to care for the English countryside we celebrate, add your voice to our wild and celebratory chorus, or simply spend a while soaking up the museum ambience. We’re free to visit and here for everyone.
