Discover more at The Children's Country House
Find out when The Children's Country House is open, how to get here, the things to see and do and more.
Project
Creating The Children's Country House at Sudbury
The curators and conservators at Sudbury Hall have worked alongside children and experts in heritage engagement and learning to create an experience where children are encouraged to be curious and have fun with history. All while protecting the late 17th-century collections.
How it started
The development of The Children’s Country House at Sudbury started in 2017.
Sudbury Hall has always been a popular destination for families, largely due to the Museum, which was installed in the Victorian wing of the Hall in 1974 by Derbyshire County Council.
From children's viewpoint
With this family audience growing rapidly in recent years, we recognised we had an opportunity to reassess the property and its programming with families in mind.
It felt like a natural step for us to think more deeply about how children experience historic country houses. Through hours of conversations and sharing ideas the concept of The Children’s Country House was born.
Bringing it all together
The Children’s Country House at Sudbury sees all three components of the property - The Hall, Museum and Garden - coming together under one core proposition.
We have considered every aspect and asked, 'how can we make this a place where every child feels comfortable, welcome and can lead their own visit?'
Recruiting child ambassadors
To ensure we stay true to our ambition, The Children’s Country House has been created with, for and by children, underpinned by a range of expertise and research. We recruited a group of over 100 child ambassadors who have helped us along this journey to creating The Children’s Country House.
Through developing ideas with us, designing elements and trialling and testing some of the activities, their enthusiasm and creativity has blown us away.
Opening The Children's Country House at Sudbury
We want to engage children with the collections in our care, with stories and with history by providing a fun, heritage day out where children can use their natural curiosity to safely explore the property.
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