Opening Times
The Museum of English Rural Life
Our galleries, garden, shop, and café are open:
Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm
Closed on Mondays
For full details see our website.
Temporary café closure, Sept/Oct 2024: The museum café will be closed for refurbishment from 2pm on Sunday 22nd September and reopen on Saturday 5th October. You can find a variety of food and drink options in various outlets across the University of Reading’s London Road campus (such as The Dairy) or the Royal Berkshire Hospital over the road.
Archive and library reading room
This is the space to access the archive and library collections of The MERL and University of Reading Special Collections.
We are open Tuesday to Friday: 9.30am-4.30pm. We are unable to fetch items from the collection stores between 1-2pm each day.
Booking required, see here.
University closure days
The MERL (including, shop, cafe and garden) and the reading room are closed on Bank Holidays and on some University closures days at Christmas and Easter.
For a full list of University closure days click here, and please contact us to avoid disappointment.
Ure Museum
Opening varies between term-time and out-of-term. Closed at weekends.
For full details see our website.
Cole Museum
We are usually open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, although this can sometimes change at short notice. We may be closed for teaching during term time.
All other collections
By appointment, generally weekdays only, please contact the relevant curator.
Coronavirus update
For the most up-to-date information, please check out our COVID-19 updates blog.