Dean Heritage Centre

14/09/2026

🎟️ Could you help us reach our Forest Lottery goal?

Every ticket bought in support of the Dean Heritage Museum Trust helps us continue preserving the stories, heritage and history of the Forest of Dean for future generations.

Tickets are just £1 per week, with the chance to win prizes including a £25,000 jackpot. And right now, every weekly ticket also gives you an entry into the Forest Lottery Autumn Super Draw to win a brand-new iPhone. 📱✨

We’re currently halfway towards our ticket goal, with 25 of our 50-ticket target already reached, so we would love your help to get us all the way there. 💚

Your support helps us care for the Centre, develop new exhibitions, improve the site and continue sharing the stories of our local communities.

🎟️ Buy your ticket and choose Dean Heritage Museum Trust as your cause here:

Support Dean Heritage Museum Trust through Forest Lottery

£1 a week. A chance to win. And a simple way to help protect our local heritage. 🌿

18+ | T&Cs apply.

Support your favourite good cause before Saturday 29th August, and you could win a £2,000 Luxury Holiday - or take the cash - in our huge end-of-summer draw!

13/09/2026

Some Sundays are made for slowing down. 🌿

For wandering beside the millpond, walking beneath the trees, noticing something new in the galleries and spending time together without needing to rush. Maybe it's a stroll through the Dennis Potter exhibition.

The Dean Heritage Centre is more than somewhere to visit. It is somewhere to pause, explore and reconnect with the stories and landscape of the Forest.

And if your afternoon includes coffee and cake, even better. ☕🍰

How would you spend your time here?

🎟️ Free entry
🕙 Open daily, 10am–5pm

12/09/2026

A new way of seeing the world has arrived at the Dean Heritage Centre. 📷

Your World, Our Eyes, a photography exhibition by the Forest of Dean Camera Club, opens today.

Originally formed as the Cinderford Camera Club in 1944, the group has a long history of bringing local photographers together. This exhibition shares a selection of members’ favourite pieces, with different subjects, styles and ways of looking at the world around us.
The exhibition is open from today until 28 November.

Come along, take your time and tell us which photograph catches your eye.

Find out more:

Photography exhibition by Forest of Dean Camera Club

10/09/2026

We are still open and ready to welcome you! 🌿

If you are planning a visit before 16 September, please remember that the road towards Blakeney at Brains Green is temporarily closed.
You can still reach the Dean Heritage Centre, but your journey may take a little longer than usual. Please follow the local diversion signs and allow some additional travelling time.

Once you arrive, there are five acres of history, woodland and family discovery waiting for you.

Please share this with anyone planning a visit over the next few days.

📍 Camp Mill, Soudley, GL14 2UB
🕙 Open daily, 10am–5pm

09/09/2026

Should human remains ever be displayed in a museum?

It is a question without a simple answer.

Human remains can help archaeologists understand health, diet, burial practices and the lives of people from the past. But they were also real individuals and their care raises important questions about dignity, consent and respect.

Our free Heritage Open Day session on Wednesday 16 September will explore these questions with archaeologist Janet Bailey.

We would also like to hear what you think. How should museums approach the care and display of human remains?

📅 Wednesday 16 September
⏰ 2pm–2.30pm

What can human remains tell us about the people who lived before us?

08/09/2026

How many stories can be hidden inside one museum gallery?

Sometimes it only takes someone who knows where to look to reveal the details you might otherwise miss.

Our guided gallery tours offer a closer look at the history of the Forest of Dean, led by knowledgeable volunteer guides who help bring the collections and their stories to life.

Tours take place on selected Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ask at reception or check our What’s On page for the latest available times.

What part of Forest history would you most like to learn more about?

All of our upcoming events are listed here - to find out more please select the event you are interested in from the list below.

07/09/2026

How do you see the Forest of Dean? 📷

Through its wildlife? Its people? Its changing landscapes? Or the small details others might walk straight past?

From Saturday 12 September, the Forest of Dean Camera Club will be sharing some of its members’ favourite work in a new exhibition at the Dean Heritage Centre.

Your World, Our Eyes will feature a variety of photographic styles, subjects and perspectives.

The exhibition opens this Saturday and continues until 28 November.

Find out more:

Photography exhibition by Forest of Dean Camera Club

06/09/2026

What can human remains tell us about people who lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago?

On Wednesday 16 September, archaeologist Janet Bailey will take visitors behind the scenes for a fascinating and thought-provoking look at human remains recovered during archaeological excavations and now cared for within our collection.

The session will explore what archaeology can tell us about these individuals, as well as the important questions museums face when caring for and representing human remains.

📅 Wednesday 16 September
⏰ 2pm–2.30pm
🎟️ Free
📍 Dean Heritage Centre

Come curious. Leave seeing archaeology, museums and the people behind the objects a little differently.

Find out more:

What can human remains tell us about the people who lived before us?

05/09/2026

What is your earliest memory of the Forest of Dean?

Perhaps it is the sound of the woods, a family walk, stories told by a grandparent, a particular village or memories of the industries that shaped life here.

The history of the Forest is not only found in museum cases. It lives in the memories of the people who know and love this place.

We would love to hear yours. Tell us about a Forest memory that has stayed with you. 🌳

04/09/2026

What does your perfect weekend in the Forest of Dean look like? 🌿

A woodland walk? Discovering stories from the Forest’s past? Searching for the Gruffalo? Or perhaps finishing your adventure with coffee and cake?

You can do all of that at the Dean Heritage Centre.

With five acres to explore, museum galleries, the Gruffalo Trail, outdoor spaces, the Heritage Coffee Shop and free entry, it is an easy way to spend a few hours together this weekend.

Who would you bring with you?

📍 Soudley, Forest of Dean
🕙 Open daily, 10am–5pm
🎟️ Free entry, with donations welcomed

Plan your visit:

Find out about your visit here, FAQs, opening times, parking, how to find us and more.