Saturday, May 22, 2021
Outer London museums and attractions (unlockdown edition)
As London's indoor museums and attractions reopen, most of the media attention is on the centre of town. So here's a list of what's open (or opening soon) in Outer London (zones 3, 4, 5 and 6).
Greenwich
• Royal Museums Greenwich welcome you back to the National Maritime Museum (free), Queen's House (free), Royal Observatory (£16) and Cutty Sark (£15) [blogged], all pre-book only. Across the road is the restored Painted Hall (£12.50).
• Eltham Palace house and gardens are open, bar the smallest rooms, but must be pre-booked (£17.30, EH). [blogged]
Bexley
• William Morris's Red House is open for pre-booked guided tours, Friday-Sunday only (£10, NT). [blogged]
• The Crossness Engines have an Open Day this Sunday (sales ended) and are steaming on 13th June (£15). [blogged]
Bromley
• Charles Darwin's historic home at Down House (£16, EH) must be pre-booked. [blogged]
• Crofton Roman Villa hopes to reopen in June. [blogged]
Lewisham
• The Horniman Museum (free) must be pre-booked. It's closed on Wednesdays.
Southwark
• The current exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery (£16.50, Wed-Sun) is Unearthed: Photography's Roots. Please pre-book.
Croydon
• The next open day at the Croydon Airport Visitor Centre is on Sunday 6th June (free). Limited tickets are available. [blogged]
Sutton
• Honeywood Museum in Carshalton (free, Thu-Sat) is open for walk-in visits. [blogged]
• Whitehall Historic House in Cheam (free, Thu-Sat) must be pre-booked.
Merton
• Wandle Industrial Museum has already reopened on Wednesdays and reopens on Sundays from 6th June (50p).
Richmond
• Ham House and Garden are open daily but must be pre-booked (£13, NT).
• Richmond Museum also requires pre-booking (free, Tue-Sat)
• Almost all of Kew Gardens (£17.50) is back open but Kew Palace won't reopen until 4th June. [blogged]
• In Twickenham Orleans House Gallery (free) accepts walk-in visitors, but Strawberry Hill House (£12.50, Sun-Thu) must be pre-booked. [blogged]
• Hampton Court Palace (£25.30) is open for pre-booked visitors, but the Maze remains closed. [blogged]
Hounslow
• Chiswick House reopens on 27th May (£8.50), the Musical Museum on 28th May (£12) and the London Museum of Water & Steam on 29th May (£17). All require pre-booking. [blogged] [blogged] [blogged]
• Hogarth's House is open to groups of up to 6 with a free timed ticket.
Hillingdon
• Harmondsworth Great Barn (2nd & 4th Sunday of the month, free) reopens this weekend. Just turn up.
• One hour tours of Uxbridge's Battle of Britain Bunker (£7) must be pre-booked. [blogged]
Harrow
• Bentley Priory Museum, another Battle of Britain attraction, (£8, Wed, Sat) requires pre-booking. [blogged]
• Headstone Manor and Museum (free) are happy to welcome walk-up visitors. [blogged]
• Pinner's Heath Robinson Museum (£6.60, Thu-Sat) reopens from today with an exhibition of John Hassall illustrations and posters. [blogged]
Barnet
• The capacious RAF Museum in Colindale (free) requires pre-booking. [blogged]
Camden
• In Hampstead, Kenwood House (free), Fenton House (£10, NT) and Keats House (£7.50) require pre-booking. [blogged]
Enfield
• Just north of Enfield, Forty Hall Museum (free) requests pre-booking.
Waltham Forest
• In Walthamstow the William Morris Gallery (free) and Vestry House Museum (free) both recommend pre-booking (but don't insist on it).
Redbridge
• Valentines Mansion (free, Sun, Mon), has reopened with an exhibition of dolls from around the world. [blogged]
Havering
• Rainham Hall (Thu-Sat, NT) is releasing new tickets every Friday. Admission isn't normally free, so make the most of the opportunity. [blogged]
» I derived my list from a four-day feature on this blog in April 2015 where I tried to list all the interesting attractions in Outer London.
» I only checked indoor attractions, so there are lots of fabulous outdoor locations listed there if you're in need of further inspiration.
» Only about half of the indoor attractions on that list are currently open. It's mostly the smaller ones that are closed, or still trying to work out how to open safely.
» For further ideas, try my April 2019 list of Days Out (just) Beyond London.
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