John Carr was an eminent architect of the 18th Century and was commissioned to build this fantastic Palladian mansion for Francis Sykes, a wealthy man who had made his fortune in India. As well as being a spectacular sight...

Beale Park - part of the Child-Beale Trust - isn’t just home to an extraordinary bird collection (including peacocks, swans, owls and parrots) but offers a narrow gauge railway, unusual farm animals, a new pet’s corner, meerkats and Deer Park....

Founded in 1997, the heritage centre is focussed on the rich and interesting developments in medical science that have taken place not only in this hospital, but across the region throughout the ages. The collection is large and contains...

Housed in the Old Laundry (1881) of the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the Centre preserves and displays items of historical medical interest particularly those with a local connection. The collection includes many hundreds of artefacts and photographs relating to medicine,...

The Cole Museum of Zoology contains some 3500 specimens of which about 400 are on display at any one time. The collection was mainly built between 1907 and 1939 and represents one of the most interesting and extensive zoological...

The Forbury Gardens, originally part of Reading Abbey, were laid out between 1856 and 1864. The gardens are dominated by the Maiwand Lion, an 1886 memorial to the dead of the 66th Berkshire Regiment who fell during the battles of...

Set up in 1993, the gallery moved to the town hall in 2004. The aim of the gallery is to give a place of prominence to quirky, adventurous and fun art projects, those that might not usually end up...

Located next to the banks of the River Kennet in the very centre of Reading, this museum tells the interesting story of the two rivers that run through this community, the Kennet and the Thames. Situated within the Screen...

This museum was founded by the University of Reading in 1951 and offers an insight into the lives of people who live and have lived in the English countryside. A great deal of the exhibition is dedicated to agriculture...

Reading Museum is home to many collections devoted to the town’s ‘beer, biscuits and bulbs’ history. There’s a gallery featuring the influence of biscuit makers Huntley & Palmer’s on Reading’s industry and people. Another houses Britain’s 70-metre copy of the...

Most of the buildings that made up Reading Abbey, whose 30-acre site dominated the town from 1121 to its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539, now lie in impressive ruins. But St Laurence’s Church, built to serve east Reading parishioners,...

The museum tells the story of Reading’s two rivers, the Thames and the Kennet and occupies two former industrial buildings. The centrepiece is Dunton’s gypsy caravan which was built on the Kennet banks and is housed in the Screen House...

Known locally as the ’church next to the prison’, St James was built between 1837-1840 on the site of the north transept of Reading Abbey. The architect was A.W. Pugin (1812-52), considered one of the foremost of the 19th Century...

The current building dates from around 1200 although there has probably been a church on the site of St Mary’s for over a thousand years. As a minster church, the vicar and clergy looked after the townspeople as well as...

This museum is dedicated to the long and interesting history of crime fighting in an organised fashion in the Thames Valley. Based at the training academy for new recruits close to Reading, the collection has exhibits that show equipment...

The first professor of classics at the university, Percy Ure, started this collection in the early 1920s, and since that time it has grown into one of the most important of its types in the region. The collection mainly...

Wellington Park near Reading is one of the premier woodland areas in Berkshire boasting over three hundred and fifty acres of beautiful countryside for visitors to enjoy. The park was established by the Eighth Duke and Duchess of Wellington in...