Suffolk Museum of the Year 2022
Summer Programme 2023
What a year 2022 was!
We created a new annual exhibition space in the William Bone Building and opened an exciting new demonstration kitchen where we prepare tastings inspired by our exhibitions.
We finished works to bring 18th-century Alton Watermill back to working order and you can now sample our very own stonemilled wholewheat flour.
We created a kilometre of paths along the river, installed a new Sculpture Trail and set up 50 community allotments.
See all this and more when you visit our 84-acre estate with many beautiful historic buildings, woodland and meadows. Meet our animals, take a tour or just drop by to try out our cafe.
In October, the museum was crowned Suffolk Museum of the Year which was an honour and celebration of everything the museum had achieved over the past 12 months.
What does 2023 have in store? Take a look inside this guide to see just some of the exciting events, exhibitions and activities coming up during our upcoming season.
Still time to catch Hedgerow
On until 4 June
What would the paintings of Constable be without their tall and spreading hedgerows?
The English and Welsh countryside are patterned with hedges. Hedges can appear to us as part of the natural world but they are made and maintained by people. For hundreds of years, we have used hedges to contain land, protect crops and manage livestock.
In collaboration with a collective of artists, chefs, farmers, historians and specialists, this exhibition celebrates hedges and how they have become part of our food system. Taste a delicious range of hedgerow and foraged foods in our demonstration kitchen and visit the living hedges in the museum grounds.
Meat the Future
Annual exhibition in The Bone Building, From 20 June 2023
From a bacon sandwich to a roast dinner, a lamb curry to a pepperoni pizza, our diet in the UK revolves around meat. But what is the environmental cost of having meat on the menu?
The award-winning Meat the Future exhibition, produced in partnership with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and LEAP (Livestock Environment and People) and generously funded by the Wellcome Trust, is coming to the Food Museum in June!
There will be opportunities to taste a variety of recipes. The menu will change with the seasons. As well as produce from our own Walled Garden, we will be showcasing recipes and cuisines from around the world that use alternative proteins, edible insects and local sustainable produce.
Easter at the museum
1–16 April
We’ve got fun-filled Easter holidays for families with lamb feeding, an Easter trail and baking in the bread oven.
Join us for daily feeding sessions with our cuddly lambs at 11.30am and 3.00pm.
Meanwhile, we’ll be firing up the bread oven, giving you the opportunity to have a go at making your own hot cross buns.
Whilst waiting for your buns to bake, why not explore the site with our Easter Trail. Search high and low, find the clues and collect a prize!
Coronation Scones Baking Workshop
6–8 May
Our popular scone-making workshops are back for the Coronation of King Charles III. This year you will have the choice of making either sweet fruit scones or wild garlic and cheese savoury scones in our outdoor wood-fired bread oven. We provide ingredients, as well as clotted cream, jam and butter so you can enjoy them fresh out of the oven.
Booking essential
Adult: £15, Child: £10, Family: £40 (two adults and up to three children. Tickets include museum admission)
Museum members: £5
Suitable for ages 6+
Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Gluten-Free ingredients available
East Anglian Storytelling Festival
12–14 May
The East Anglian Storytelling Festival is celebrating its eighth festival, and the second to be held here at the Food Museum!
The lineup includes superstar storytellers Hugh Lupton, Ben Haggarty, Sally Pomme-Clayton, Stephe Harrop and Lynette Hill - with more announcements still to be made.
There will be plenty of stories for families, workshop sessions, music and crafts. Meet poet-rapper Mic Master Lyon, Lobo the Wild, Wild West Wolf, The King’s Knickers, Bear Witch Project, Boudicca Border Morris and Hells Bells Morris. Festival-goers can look forward to stories told in the fantastic spaces of the museum and story circles under the trees.
Anglo-Saxon Week
This May half-term, travel back in time to discover a world of Anglo-Saxon food and feasting in collaboration with the Sutton Hoo Society.
Anglo-Saxon Bread Workshops
Saturday 27 May-Sunday 4 June (except Tuesday 30 May)
10.30am-11.30am and 2.00pm-3.00pm
Discover Anglo-Saxon milling techniques and try your hand at making historic flatbreads. During this workshop you will learn to make three types of bread: a peasant bread made from pea and fava bean flour, ‘dredge’ using oats and barley and ‘maslin’ which mixes wheat and rye flour. Booking essential.
Food in the Age of Sutton Hoo
Saturday 27 May, 11–4pm
Volunteers from the Sutton Hoo Society will be joining us in historic dress to demonstrate Anglo-Saxon recipes, known as ‘spells’, over an open fire. Recipes will include pottage made with purple carrots and delicious honey oatcakes.
Nine Sacred Herbs
All week, 11–4pm
In the demonstration kitchen we will be exploring the Anglo-Saxons’ Nine Sacred Herbs: camomile, fennel, mugwort, plantain, nettle, chervil, watercress, crab apple and betony (although some believe the ninth was cockspur grass) which, according to Anglo-Saxon beliefs, protected against disease.
26th Festival of Beer & Brewing
29 June-2 July
Enjoy a fantastic selection of real ales, craft beers and ciders. Discover a range of breweries with our regional showcase.
With food stalls and live music, our popular festival has been long supported by local CAMRA members, who bring a wealth of beer expertise.
The Sunday of the festival coincides with the Stowmarket Food and Drink Festival.
CAMRA members and Museum Silver and Gold members have free entry to the festival.
Primadonna Festival
29–31 July
Primadonna is a three-day, family-friendly festival of books, film, music, comedy, food and therapies.
This year’s line-up includes JB Gill, formerly of JLS, Emma Kennedy, Angela Saini, Rebecca Humphries, Daisy Buchanan, Miki Berenyi, frontwoman of Lush and filmmaker Iggy London.
Joanna Cannon, Adele Parks, Patrice Lawrence and Joanne Harris will lead the line-up for the festival’s sessions targeted at writers and aspiring writers... Plus late-night disco, pop-up dance classes, nature walks, stand-up and loads of things for kids. See primadonnafestival.com for more info.
This is a closed-site event. There will be no access to the museum grounds for non-ticket holders or members.
WoodFired Pizza Workshops
Thursdays & Saturdays, 11.30am-1.30pm
From Thurs 27 July-Sat 2 September
Make your own delicious flatbread pizzas from scratch and see them being baked in our wood-fired pizza oven. This workshop will explore food sustainability and use ingredients from our Walled Garden.
All ages welcome
Booking essential
Adult: £15, Child: £10, Family: £40 (two adults and up to three children. Tickets include museum admission)
Museum members: £5
Suitable for ages 6+
Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.
Gluten-Free ingredients available
Thrills and Grills
Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the summer holidays
25, 26 July and 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 August
Pasta, paella, pizzas!!! Come and feel the heat in our summer cooking programme!
Led by friendly and experienced chefs and leaders, learn to cook using a wood-fired oven and open fire pit. Work together with new friends to prepare a tasty lunch from scratch. The menu changes for every session.
Suitable for: 7-11 year-olds, unaccompanied
See our website for more details
Free places are available for recipients of free school meals
Booking essential
Forest School
Term-time:
Fridays 21 April, 19 May, 16 June, 21 July 10.30am–2.30pm
Summer Holidays:
Fridays 4 August, 11 August, 18 August, 25 August, 1 September
10.30am–2.30pm
Let the kids go wild, in the glorious woodlands of our 84-acre site. Our Forest School is a unique experience that offers children the opportunity to develop confidence through hands-on activities outdoors.
Children will discover nature, make new friends and take part in woodland activities, crafts and cooking. All sessions are designed and led by trained Forest School practitioners.
Booking essential
Child: £12
Child Members: £10
Suitable for ages 6 -11, unaccompanied
Theatre School
With Footprints Theatre Company
Monday 14 August 2023–Saturday 19 August
In this week-long drama course for 8–16-year-olds, you will work with professional actors and directors from Footprints Theatre Company to explore local heritage, the Museum’s collection and your own local stories.
During the week, young people will take part in a series of drama and movement workshops and collaborate on a unique production. The experience will culminate in an outdoor promenade production for parents, friends and museum visitors.
Tickets for the Summer School are free, but booking is essential. See www. footprintstheatrecompany.org for details.
Tickets for the performance on Saturday 19 August are free with Museum admission.
The Summer School is suitable for ages 8–16. Participants will be grouped by age.
Feast Café
Feast Café is open to both museum and non-museum visitors, with lots of indoor and outside seating.
The menu at Feast celebrates local. We grow as many of our fresh ingredients as possible working with the museum’s gardener to develop the menu. Our meat is locally-reared and bread is sourced from local bakeries. We have a regular menu of Feast favourites, as well as a changing selection of specials.
We have a selection of loose leaf teas and different varieties of coffee. All our tea and coffee comes from Farrer & Co, one of the oldest independent coffee roasters and tea blenders in the UK. Our soft drinks include Posh Pops from Breckland Orchard and juices from James White Drinks in Suffolk.
We’re also licensed to sell alcohol and sell wine from Giffords Hall Vineyard, near Bury St Edmunds and beer from Humber Doucy Brewery based in Bacton, perfect for if you’re looking to toast a special occasion over lunch.
Feast is open Tuesday–Sunday 10am-4.00pm and Mondays in the school holidays and on bank holidays.
Membership
Becoming a member is a cost-effective way to enjoy everything the museum has to offer and to support the charitable work of the museum.
A range of benefits include a discount in the museum shop, free or discounted access to sessions and gate access to the site.
Gold members are invited to an annual event and private launches.
For current membership prices visit www.foodmuseum.org.uk/membership
Volunteering
Looking for something enjoyable and interesting to do in your spare time? Want to get some experience of working in a museum? Interested in history? Want to make new friends? Like the outdoors? Want to learn to run a watermill?
Try volunteering at the museum! We have over 100 active volunteers and are always on the lookout for passionate people to join us.
For more details contact us on volunteering@foodmuseum.org.uk or 01449 612229
Weddings and Events
Host your wedding in our beautiful grounds! Whether you’re looking to hold a ceremony, a daytime or evening reception, or to have the whole day with us here at the Food Museum, we offer unique buildings and spaces which can be adapted for each part of your day.
We pride ourselves on our friendly, flexible and professional approach to creating the perfect day for couples planning with any budget. We can cater for indoor and outdoor ceremonies and the site offers a beautiful backdrop for your wedding day photoshoot. For more information visit www. abbotshallweddings.co.uk
We also offer a range of spaces for meeting hire, award ceremonies, parties, wakes and other occasions. To discuss options for your event, contact marie@foodmuseum.org.uk
The Museum could not run without the support of our funders and partners. Particular thanks to:
Opening times
April – October
Tues–Sun: 10:00–17:00
Open Mondays on bank holidays and in school holidays
For winter opening times, see website
For current prices see www.foodmuseum.org.uk/admission
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 museum car park.
What3words? Find our entrance at ///consoles.today.shuttling
www.foodmuseum.org.uk
Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 1DL
