We are the UK’s Food Museum, located in East Anglia, ‘Britain’s Breadbasket’. Our mission is to connect people with where our food comes from and the impact of our choices: past, present and future.
The Food Museum is a large, semi-rural visitor attraction in the centre of Stowmarket, Suffolk. We are the UK’s only museum dedicated to presenting the story of foodhow it’s grown, made and eaten. We have a daily programme of talks, tours and demonstrations, as well as plenty of historic buildings, woodland, meadows and farm animals to explore.
Over the spring and summer months, we’ve got a wide range of activities and events lined up for all ages, from Easter baking to storytelling festivals.
The museum is in the middle of an exciting programme of development to restore historic buildings and create new displays. To find out more, visit our website.
An 84-acre oasis
Take in the tranquil atmosphere of our 84-acre site in the heart of Stowmarket. Discover the heritage of farming and the beauty of the Suffolk countryside, from crops and meadows, to our mile of river trails and historic walled garden.
17 fascinating historic buildings
Explore historical buildings telling the story of food production and rural life. See flour being made in our working 18th-century watermill, tour our historic dairy cottages preserved as they were in the 1940s, or take in the Queen Anne house at the heart of our historic farming estate.
Over 40,000 objects
Our extensive collection covers a diverse range of subjects, with historic objects relating to farming and industrial food production, kitchen and dairy equipment, local communities and traditions, trades and professions, advertising and more.
Animals and farmland
Visit our farm area, where you’ll meet animals key to the story of farming in East Anglia, including rare breed Suffolk Punch horses, Red Poll cattle, Suffolk sheep, hens, turkeys, pigs and more. We rotate crops seasonally and manage an orchard.
Taster kitchen and exhibition
A don’t miss experience is our annual exhibition, which includes tasters from our demonstration kitchen. Using ingredients sourced from our site and local producers, learn more about cooking processes from our learning team.
Café, shop and workshop spaces
Whenever you visit, there’s something to eat, see or take part in. Talks, tours and activities take place daily, along with seasonal workshops at our wood-fired oven and kitchen. Our café Feast serves delicious food using local ingredients, and our shop offers a range of produce, gifts, prints and more.
No matter which day you visit the Food Museum, there’s always a talk, tour or demonstration to enjoy around the site.
Daily tastings
11.00–15.00, Daily
Seasonally revolving tasters using foods grown on site, inspired by stories from our annual exhibition.
Meet our horses
11.00, Daily
Get up close to our beautiful Suffolk Punch horse and foal.
Have-a-go farming
11.30 Daily
Try your hand at a range of different farming practices and techniques, from traditional to modern.
Down at the Dairy tour
14.00, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays
Explore our early 18th-century cottages, used as the dairy for Abbot’s Hall farm.
Charcoal talk
14.00, Thursdays
Discover the history and process of traditional charcoal-making, as well as its many uses.
Watermill tour
14.00, Fridays
See our 18th-century watermill in action and learn more about the importance of mills in historic food production.
Windpump tour
14.00, Saturdays (and Mondays in school/bank holidays)
Learn about our majestic Victorian windpump, used to drain marshes for food production.
Animal feeding
15.00, Daily
Say hello to our animals during feeding time as you learn about the breeds kept here on site.
School Dinners Exhibition
29 March 2025–21 February 2027
Semolina, custard, turkey twizzlers… What are your memories of school food?
Explore school dinners past, present and future at the Food Museum as memories and tastes of school food are brought to life through our new annual exhibition, opening in March 2025.
From the meals themselves to the people behind them, have you ever thought about why school dinners are the way they are? And the reasons why they divide the nation?
The exhibition will feature tasters that may provoke delight or disgust, depending on your memories of school food.
Included in admission
School Dinners Lunch
Available from April 2025
Immerse yourself in the full School Dinners experience as our café transforms into the canteen of your childhood with our School Dinners menu!
Choose from a menu from the 1950s, 70s or 90s, using historic recipes to take you back in time... allow your tastebuds to take you back in time!
£16.50 per person, pre-book only
Food for Thought Talks
The talk series about what we eat
The Food Museum and EA Sustain present our second series of Food for Thought in conjunction with the ‘Forty Farms‘ exhibition, discussing the sustainability of our food industry. Hear from acclaimed food and sustainability experts, writers and innovators as they share their expertise on food, farming and sustainability. The events will be moderated by Joanne Ooi, founder and director of EA Sustain Festival.
Ages 14+. Booking essential.
£10 – talk only Dinner options available, see website for details.
Produce Pioneer: Franco Fubini
Saturday 25 January, 5pm
Using flavour as the starting point to reconfigure the fruit & veg business since 2004.
Food First: A Society Built Around Food – Josiah Meldrum in conversation with Carolyn Steel
Thursday 20 March, 6.30pm
Hodmedods co-founder Josiah Meldrum talks to architect and author Carolyn Steel about Sitopia, her book that seeks to address this question.
Helen Browning: Farming Icon & Soil Advocate
Tuesday 29 April, 6.30pm
The CEO of the Soil Association talks about a life full of firsts and the crucial challenges for British farming that lie ahead.
To book tickets visit our website
The Fishing Lodge
A stunning new bridge will give public access to the Fishing Lodge for the first time, thanks to support from DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, Suffolk Growth, Trusts and private donors.
Built in the mid-18th century, this building was used by the former residents of Abbot’s Hall as a summerhouse to take tea while looking out over the tranquil pond.
From April 2025 onwards, you will be able to experience this. In the mornings the Lodge will be open as part of the general visit. In the afternoons, it can be pre-booked as a private space to take afternoon tea.
For £30 per person, you will have the Lodge and island to yourselves for 2 hours to enjoy a picnic hamper. The minimum party size is 2 and the maximum is 8.
Booking essential
New for 2025
Easter Truffle workshop
Thursday 3 April, 6pm – 8pm
Learn to make delicious chocolate truffles in our fantastic demonstration kitchen. All materials are provided, and you’ll leave with a beautiful box of handcrafted treats to take home.
Suitable for ages 12+. Booking Essential.
Easter tastings
Daily from 5 April 11AM – 3.30PM
Discover how Easter is celebrated through baking in the different regions of our country. From simnel cakes and spiced breads to high tea patisserie, discover the symbolic meanings of our Easter celebration foods and what they reveal about our springtime foodie festival.
Included in entry
Easter Family Baking Workshops
5 April–21 April, 10.30am / 1.30pm
Get hands-on this Easter with family-friendly baking workshops at our wood-fired bread oven! Join us to make easter nests in the morning and simnel cupcakes in the afternoon.
Easter Nests, 10.30–11.30am
Simnel Cupcakes, 1.30–3.00pm
Suitable for ages 5+. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Booking essential.
Lamb feeding
daily from 5 April, 11.30am & 3pm
We welcome this year’s newborn lambs to the museum!
Free with museum admission/membership
Spring Feast
Sunday 6 April, 12.30pm – 3.30pm
Join us in the grand, historical surroundings of Abbot’s Hall for a pop-up Spring Feast.
Blending the best seasonal produce sourced from the Museum site and local area with Middle Eastern flavours, our menu celebrates the joy of springtime food and the cultural history of Easter.
Visit our website for prices and bookings
Marzipan Easter animals
Tuesday 8 April & Thursday 10 April, 10am – 11.30am
Shape, paint and decorate a selection of favourite Easter animals from marzipan! Explore your food creativity in this fun, family workshop making sweet little chicks, lambs and rabbits. Too sweet to eat?
Visit our website for prices and bookings
Easter Activities
Easter Trail
Daily from 5 April
Purchase your Easter trail from the shop, complete Easter puzzles and see what fun things you can discover on the way. Complete the trail to receive a special chocolate treat! All ages.
Visit our website for prices and bookings
36th National Vintage Tractor Road Run
Sunday 20 April 2025
The National Vintage Tractor Road Run will be stopping off at the Food Museum this Easter Sunday!
With around 300 entrants from across the country, the tractor run is a great way for vintage tractor enthusiasts to have an enjoyable day out while raising money for charity. This year’s charities are SARS999 & St Nicholas Hospice
Starting and ending at Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, the Road Run stops off at the museum from 12-2pm with an opportunity to see the tractors all in one place and get your close-up photos!
Normal museum admission applies.
Akenfield Exhibition
10 May 2025 – April 2026
50 years on from the release of the film, the Food Museum is pleased to tell the story of Akenfield – the groundbreaking book, the film and the people who made it all happen.
The exhibition will display original objects and photographs belonging to late author Ronald Blythe, director Sir Peter Hall and producer Rex Pyke.
Ronald Blythe’s Akenfield: Portrait of a Suffolk Village blends fact and fiction as it draws on interviews with 49 Suffolk residents to portray change in rural Suffolk from the 1880s to 1960s. Adapted in 1974 by Sir Peter Hall and Rex Pyke, the film was acted by ordinary people and was seen by a quarter of the population when it was first broadcast on TV.
Free with museum entry
Milkshake Workshop
3 & 10 May
Do you love chocolate milkshakes? Discover more about the science of taste and flavour with Suffolk-based, awardwinning natural flavour specialists, Omega Ingredients. During this hands-on workshop, family groups will be challenged to create a chocolate flavouring from natural ingredients and make a delicious chocolate milkshake.
This workshop is recommended for children aged 6+. All children must be accompanied by an adult.
Booking is advised
Bread Week
24 May – 1 June
Inspired by school lunch boxes from around the world, tastings this bread week are all about the magnificent sandwich in its many forms!
Cookery Demonstration: The Ultimate Lunchbox Sandwich
Tuesday 27 May, 11.00-12.30
Join the Food Museum chefs in the Demonstration Kitchen as they live demonstrate their takes on the ultimate lunchbox filler.
Recipes will include:
Best Club Sandwich and Best Falafel Wrap
Free to attend. Sandwiches available to buy in café.
Watermill Tours
Daily during Bread Week
See our 18th century watermill in action and learn more about the importance of mills throughout Bread Week.
After learning more about the mill, why not pick up a bag of flour, milled here onsite, or a loaf of freshlybaked sourdough bread from the museum shop.
Pizza Pinwheels
Tues 27, Thurs 29 & Sat 31 May, 10.30 – 11.30am
Our family-friendly workshop will guide you through the steps involved in making these tasty rolls. Add fillings of your choice and take away a neat recipe for the summer term!
Savoury Lunchbox Muffins
Mon 26, Weds 28 & Fri 30, 10.30 – 11.30am
Using fresh ingredients grown at the Museum and cooked in our wood-fired oven these little bakes are a healthy lunch box alternative that freeze well for weeks ahead.
Bread Trail daily
Follow the trail around the museum site and see what fun things you can discover.
Purchase your trail from the shop at the start of your visit.
The Watermill Lunch
11 May, 12.30pm - 3pm
Join a panel of special guests to debate the impact of the sliced white loaf. Taking place in the truly unique setting of the Alton Watermill, this roundtable lunch with a curated menu is perfect for those looking to delve deeper into the theory and practice of what we eat.
Welcome drink: Sparkling orange and bitters
Start: Venetian cicchetti
Middle: Summer vegetable terrine with popped wheat
End: Neapolitan rum baba with malted ice cream
For more information and booking, head to our website
Bread Week
East Anglian Storytelling Festival
Friday 30 May – Sunday 1 June
Enter a world of stories! From travellers and farmers to giants and dragons, the spaces of the Food Museum come alive as we celebrate the land through story.
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Find out some of the hidden histories of the Museum. Take part in story walks through the trees and meadows, late night bat walks and even late night horror, with daytime fun including hands-on workshops, puppets and treasure trails for children, music and dance.
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Craft stalls, open-mics and story rounds by the fire mean anyone can join in. From music and traditional dance to interactive sessions for families and tales from local communities, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Booking essential.
Storytellers Supper
Friday 30 May, 5.30-8pm
Food for the ears! Get salivating for a mouthful of stories all washed down with a delicious home-cooked three-course Greek themed meal.
This extra special event is held in conjunction between the Food Museum and the three-day East Anglian Storytelling Festival. We welcome guests to join master storyteller Daniel Morden as he welcomes you to a banquet fit for the gods! Enjoy dark and strange stories from Greek myths and legends, all accompanied by a delicious three course meal that will transport you to warmer climes.
This is a rare chance to experience this wonderful storyteller and enjoy a wonderful intimate night out at our Feast café.
£40.00 per person, booking essential.
IFST Science Day
Wednesday 18 June, 10am-4pm
Explore the science behind how our food is made and sample delicious tasters!
Visitors will be able to explore stalls in our medieval barn from food manufacturers and take part in interactive activities to learn more about how our food is made. Talk to local producers and food scientists, try tasters and discover the science behind what we eat.
Free entry to the event
Festivals
28th Festival of Beer & Brewing
Thursday 3 – Sunday 6 July
The Food Museum’s popular beer festival, in partnership with CAMRA members returns for another celebration of all things brewing.
Enjoy a range of delicious real ales, craft beers and ciders in the picturesque surroundings of the museum, including the stunning medieval barn where the main bar will be located. There’ll be food throughout the day and entertainment on offer every evening.
Our regional showcase this year will be of London breweries.
Admission on the door, free for CAMRA members and museum members.
Thrills and Grills
tuesdays and wednesdays for five consecutive weeks during the summer holidays
Pasta, paella, pizzas! Come and feel the heat in our summer cooking programme for 7-11 year olds.
Using our wood-fired oven, open fire pit and outdoor cooking area, you’ll work with new friends to prepare tasty food from scratch.
Each day you’ll cook a different lunch and afternoon treat, learn skills from a professional and gather freshly grown fruit and vegetables from our garden.
As well as cooking, you’ll discover the Museum’s beautiful grounds - foraging in the hedgerows, exploring historic food, buildings and visiting the exhibitions - and everyday there’ll be games, sports, crafts and free play for you to enjoy.
Booking essential
Summer Holidays
Family baking pizza
Thursday, friday, saturday across the summer holidays10.30am–12pm
Shape and bake your own delicious sourdough pizzas at the wood-fired pizza oven, using veggies picked fresh from the beautiful walled garden.
Book online
School Puddings
Thursday, Friday, Saturday across the Summer Holidays, 2–3.30pm
Chocolate Crunch, Cornflake Cake, Jam Sponge, Custard...
Make you own retro pudding in the surround of our School Dinners exhibition. These are the perfect workshops for all the family to get involved with and share memories of old school days.
Booking essential
Wedding open day
Saturday 15 March, 10am – 3pm
Are you looking for the perfect venue for your wedding. Join us for our open day, as we showcase our wonderful venue and everything that we can offer to help your plans come together.
Meet our events manager, the team from Stowmarket registry office and a number of our favourite vendors as you explore the venue and envision your dream day.
Free entry, booking required
Contact - marie@foodmuseum.org. uk to book.
Private hire & Weddings
We offer a range of unique options and spaces for weddings and corporate hire for a truly memorable event!
From our 14th-century barn and Victorian stable block, to Abbot’s Hall’s picturesque conservatory and dining room overlooking the walled garden, to the large back lawn with marquee, we’ve got something for every type of event.
To check room availability, current prices, or if you wish to view the rooms prior to booking, please get in touch.
Contact bookings@foodmuseum.org.uk or phone 01449 612229.
Christmas 2025
Looking for a space with a difference for your Christmas party?
We are taking bookings now for Christmas parties of all sizes. Let us work with you to create an unforgettable Christmas experience.
Contact bookings@foodmuseum.org.uk or phone 01449 612229
Toddler Time
Looking for fun, educational activities for under-5s?
Join us for Toddler Time at the Food Museum! You’ll get to take part in exciting, creative and stimulating sessions in the beautiful grounds of the museum, including caring for our special Toddler Time patch in our walled garden.
Forest School
Throughout the year, see website for details
Forest School offers participants the opportunity to develop confidence, self-esteem and social skills through physical hands-on learning experiences in a woodland environment. Supports the development of a relationship between your child and the natural world.
Suitable for ages 6 -11, unaccompanied
Booking essential
Toddler Time sessions are available for Food Museum members only. For
kids
Educational & Group Visits
year-round
We offer free pre-booked trips for school groups, allowing you to explore our site and exhibitions, we also offer workshops for schools developed to enrich learning.
We also offer pre-booked group trips for organisations, societies or friends, where you can enjoy exclusive group rates, tours tailored to your interests and delicious meals from our café Feast.
Learn more on our website.
Feast Café
Tuesday–Sunday, 10am–4pm (+ Mondays in school/bank holidays)
We serve a variety of hot and cold dishes, cooked on site by our talented team. Join us for brunch, lunch, tea and coffee, or even just an ice cream!
We grow as many of our ingredients on-site as possible, working with our garden team. Our menu and specials change seasonally.
Open to museum and non-museum visitors. See our menu on our website.
Shop
Discover our ever-changing range of locally-sourced goods, including delicious products from local producers, breweries and vineyards plus a selection of homewares, cookware, cards and gifts.
We also sell products created right here at the museum, such as our stoneground flour, walled garden produce, apple juice and bags made by our printmaking team.
Membership
Becoming a member is a costeffective way to get the most out of your museum experience, as well as support our charitable work.
Benefits include a 10% discount in our cafe and shop, free or discounted access to workshops and events, behind-the-scenes news, and special access to the site.
For current membership prices visit our website.
The Museum could not run without the support of our funders and partners. Particular thanks to:
Opening times
Museum
Tuesday–Sunday: 10am–4pm Mondays in school/bank holidays: 10am–4pm Shop
Tuesday–Friday (+ Mondays in school/bank holidays): 9am–4pm
Saturday–Sunday: 9.30am–4pm
We are also open Tuesday–Sunday (+ Mondays in school/bank holidays) over summer (1 April–31 October), closing at 5pm
For current admission prices, please check our website.
The museum is easy to reach by public transport - it’s a short walk from Stowmarket train station. If coming by car, use the postcode IP14 1DE or search for ‘Iliffe Way’ to find the nearest car park.
