Chiltern Open Air Museum

Chiltern Open Air Museum

Chiltern Open Air Museum is an outdoor museum with a collection of historic buildings that were the workplaces or homes of ordinary people. The museum has over 30 historic buildings in its collection which include a 1940s prefab, tin chapel, earth cottage, blacksmith’s forge, Victorian toll house, Nissen war huts, historic working farm, and lots more. Lots of the buildings are dressed to show what they would have looked like inside and visitors are able to go inside and explore many of them.

The museum is set in a 45-acre landscaped site. There are a number of traditional cottage gardens, a Victorian fernery, and a ‘Dig for Victory’ allotment.

Accessibility information from Chiltern Open Air Museum.

If you require any assistance on your visit you will need to contact the museum directly to arrange this

Mobility scooters are welcome on site. The Museum has a couple of off-road wheelchairs and mobility scooters available to borrow. These are free of charge, however, a security deposit is required while the scooter is on loan. As numbers are limited, these are available on a first come first served basis. Please ring the Museum Office on 01494 871 117 to check availability and to pre-book (lines are open Monday – Friday 9.30am – 4pm).

Visitors are welcome to use personal mobility scooters around the site. Due to the size of our exhibit buildings mobility scooters are unable to go inside them.

The Museum has a golf buggy and our team of staff and volunteers are happy to provide lifts to those who need it. Please let a member of our team know if you require assistance.

The Museum has ramps into the prefab, Henton mission room, WWI Nissen hut and Borehamwood dairy. Please be aware that our compact gravel paths are not ideal for wheelchairs and some paths can become very muddy in bad weather. We are in the process of seeking funds to make our pathways more accessible. We regret that the Woodland Walk is not suitable for wheelchairs.

There is an accessible toilet to the left of our Caversham Edwardian toilets which has a changing space bed. There are accessible toilet facilities at our ‘Bakerloo’ mid-site toilets on the Village Green (No.14a on the Museum map). We do not have a changing places toilet but have plans to include this as part of a capital project that we are working on.