Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse

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Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse is a truly unique museum.
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🐑 Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse
🕰️ Open every day 10am-5pm
📅 9 March -1 November 2026

🏛 Workhouse Museum & Museum of Norfolk Life, heritage farm, adventure playground, café and giftshop
🖼️ 2026 exhibition: 'Jacket Women' by Maria Pavledis Visit its 50-acre site and discover the historic workhouse, thrilling adventure playground, traditional farm with rare breed animals and beautiful, unspoilt grounds.

09/09/2026

Visit Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse for free as part of Heritage Open Days, the country’s largest community heritage festival. Take tractor trailer rides and see the 1899 Panhard and the historic laundry machinery in action. Explore Village Row and museum galleries including temporary exhibitions The Jacket Women by Maria Pavledis and The Clean Blue of Linen - a story from We Feed The UK. Walk the woodlands, farm, river walk and gardens, and pop into the Mardler’s Rest café, Marquee pop-up or playground cabin, giftshop and secondhand bookshop. Visiting vendors are also selling food, drinks and treats in the Courtyard.

Special activities include:
Meet the Artist and Farmers Drop-In, 11am-12pm (Union Farm) Photographer Yvette Monahan and Mallon Farm’s Helen Keys & Charlie Mallon.
Panel discussion - ‘Collaboration, Innovation, Resilience: The Gifts of Growing Natural Fibres’, 2-3:15pm (Chapel) Speakers: Helen Keys, Charlie Mallon, Juliet Boyce, Nick Evans & Max Mosscrop.
Flax and Fleece Project demonstrations, 10am-4pm (Union Farm)
Meet local metal detectorists and family history research experts, 10am-4pm (Marquee)
Catch up with the Friends of Gressenhall and learn more about our 250th anniversary in 2027, 10am-4pm (Marquee lawn)
Art Attack! Woolly Wonders, 1-4pm (Learning Centre)

Heritage Open Day at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse
Sunday 13 September 2026
10am-4pm (site closes 5pm)
Free entry, no booking required; assistance dogs only.

31/08/2026

Happy Bank Holiday Monday from the Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse team! Aren’t these flax flowers beautiful? Made by visitors, staff and volunteers over the first part of the summer holidays to celebrate the visiting exhibition on Union Farm, The Clean Blue of Linen. See the flowers on display in the Chapel until our big celebration as part of Heritage Open Days on Sunday 13 September!

29/08/2026

Did you know that a little piece of Norfolk Libraries can be found at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse? On the first floor in the Collections Gallery until the end of our season, visitors can get comfy in the Book Nook and read books selected by the library team. All of the family-friendly titles are on loan from the library, and have something in common with the themes of our temporary exhibition, Jacket Women by Maria Pavledis - who is an artist that also loves books, reading and libraries! Books like these can really help younger visitors to connect with the big stories and big feelings that accompany exhibitions featuring challenges faced by people in the past.

Visit the moving exhibition about single mothers of the workhouse and the Book Nook until 1 November, included with admission, and celebrate the National Year of Reading with us!

27/08/2026

A lucky penny for your Friday - and an apology from a little visitor who made a mistake AND made things right!

We received an anonymous handwritten letter with drawings in the post from someone who took something from our site during their visit, saying sorry and returning the item (a penny from the game in Village Row’s pub). The note reads:
‘Dear Gressenhall I’m very sory I took a coin fom the pub please take this donation as a sorry from em. I have learnt my lesson. SORRY’ (sic)

Thanks to their grown ups who also sent a generous donation and a note explaining what had happened, without a return address. We’re grateful to you and wish your young person all the best! Come back and visit us soon 🪙

26/08/2026

Good Boys: a selection of our photographic collection featuring Norfolk dogs. Which one is your favourite? 🐕

Although our site is for assistance dogs only, our team love a pooch or two, so we thought this might be a good way to celebrate National Dog Day!

A black and white photograph with a white border that depicts a young girl dressed in shepherdess outfit of frilly bonnet and holding crook. She is sat on a cushion with arm around collie dog. Taken in a studio with painted backdrop of trees and hills in the early 20th century. The photographer is unknown (1900-1930).

Photograph; black and white; showing Harry Etheridge; shepherd to SN Stobbs; Hall Farm; Scoulton; taken in 1920s and including horse and dog. Handwritten information on the reverse - “Harry Etherdige always known as ‘Old Harry’ and only 5 ‘ tall was shepherd to S.N Stobbs , Hall Farm Scoulton from 1899. This photograph was taken in the middle 1920s. During harvest he helped generally and is seen with horse rake, Blossom the horse and Ben the dog. He died not very long after this.”

A small black and white oval photograph of the Beetley School. The photograph depicts Miss Hubbard, Miss Nellie Atthow, Ada Gale, Mr and Mrs Gale with a small dog. The names of the people in the photograph are written on the back. Taken in c. 1920. The photographer is unknown.

Photograph, b/w print; Miss Madelaine Masters (later Mrs Mandell) holding two of Mr Masters’ dogs; c.1930s; photographer unknown

Photograph, b/w print; members of the Crane family (child and dog) in garden of house at Fransham; photographer unknown

Photograph, b/w print; David Scarfe, shepherd at Manor Farm, Weasenham St. Peter; around 1920 with his Smithfield dog (this is a breed of herding dog of the collie type, originally used to manage livestock at Smithfield Meat market in London); photographer unknown

Photograph, card photograph; 140 mm x 84 mm; black and white photograph postcard of woman sitting in field or garden with lurcher dog; c.1930; inscribed ‘For Ivy from Freda’; photographer unknown

Photograph, b/w print; Sam Massingham, gamekeeper, and Boss the dog; 1911; he was born 1850 and was gamekeeper for the Rippingall family, L

24/08/2026

Exciting things are coming next year from our collaboration with Norfolk Raider Cider who were on site today picking in the orchard - but if you can’t wait until 2027, they’ll be on site for Apple Day selling a select range of local Norfolk ciders, including their own lovely flavours, mulled cider and fresh juice 🌳🍎👀

22/08/2026

You might have already spotted it when browsing our Events Calendar, but we are here to confirm that the rumours are true - Apple Day 2026 tickets are online!

Book now via our website for an automatic 25% discount (and to check and confirm if your membership or group is entitled to free entry).

We can’t wait to celebrate 35 years of Apple Day at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse. Look out for more information about vendors and activities coming soon - including this year’s costume competition theme!

We’ll see you on 4 October, 10am-4pm (assistance dogs only) 🍎

20/08/2026

Commission: Freelance animator and workshop lead

Supported by funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund, we are commissioning an experienced freelance animator to facilitate workshops and support young people to create a short animation film about the 250-year history of Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse.

In 2027, Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse will mark 250 years since the site was completed and first opened as a House of Industry. Supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Friends of Gressenhall, new stories from two and a half centuries of welfare and care will be shared. Could you work with young people to create something special for our anniversary year?

Deadline for applications: 6 September 2026

For more information and to apply, visit: www.gressenhall.norfolk.gov.uk > ‘What’s On’ > ‘Gressenhall 250: More than a Workhouse’

https://www.gressenhall.norfolk.gov.uk/article/78062/Gressenhall-250-More-than-a-Workhouse—anniversary-project

16/08/2026

This incredible piece of folk art was gifted to us by Lu Towle of Braided Grain in generous exchange for a sheaf of wheat grown on site - corn dollies and decorative emblems of harvest like this have deep roots in local rural communities, serving as a reminder that the wheel of the year turns and acting as a symbol for our hopes for abundance in the coming year. Traditionally, a corn dolly (in other parts, similar designs are called a kern dolly or kirn babby, or a straw jack) would be made from the final sheaf of the harvest and either kept until the following year to retain the spirit of the grain, or burnt after a celebratory harvest procession. You can see more of Lu’s amazing third-generation skills in a current collaboration with British lifestyle brand TOAST until the end of the month - and if heritage craft and folkloric harvest practice is your thing, don’t miss our Apple Day on 4 October celebrating 35 years (tickets coming soon).

Happy harvest from the folk at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, which also contains the Museum of Norfolk Life. In a summer where British farming communities have had an incredibly hard job of it all, we raise this beauty as a toast to them in thanks for keeping animals well, land stewarded, and people fed! ‘Holla Lar! Holla Lar! Holla Lar-Jess!’

Address

Gressenhall
Dereham
NR204DR

Telephone

+441362860563

Website

https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/gressenhall-farm-and-workhouse/plan-your-visit/contact-us

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