Museums & Exhibitions

Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery
The City Museum and Art Gallery in Brunswick Road has undergone a facelift thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and reopened in August 2011. There are plenty of new displays and interactive exhibits charting the history of Gloucester including Iron Age artifacts, a Roman kitchen and a medieval street scene. The ground floor has been completely redeveloped and features a dinosaur display, a Gloucester night garden and the new Cafe Nerva, named after the Roman Emperor who granted ancient Gloucester (or Glevum) the prestigious ‘Colonia’ status.

Gloucester Folk Museum
The city’s Folk Museum in Westgate Street tells the story of Gloucester’s social history over many floors in a delightfully crooked, timber framed old building. Exhibits include accurate recreations of a Victorian classroom and an 18th century pin factory. The Folk Museum recently enjoyed a makeover, adding a ‘Retro Room’, a fantastic ‘country kitchen‘ tea room with an idyllic garden and a Folk Boutique gift and curiosity shop. The Folk Museum run themed childrens activities every Saturday.

The Tailor of Gloucester Beatrix Potter Museum & Shop
The Tailor of Gloucester Beatrix Potter Museum and Shop in fairy tale-like College Court is based in the original building used by Beatrix Potter in her wonderful story, and brings her magical world to life with displays, illustrations, unique gifts and lots more – and entry is free.

The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum
The fascinating and illustrious history of the Gloucestershire Regiment. Nicknamed "The Glorious Glosters", the regiment carried more battle honours on their regimental colours than any other British Army line regiment. The exhibition explores the relationship between the soldiers and the people of the county, and charts the regiment’s involvement from the War of Spanish Succession, the Napoleonic Wars and both World Wars through to the Korean War.

Gloucester Waterways Museum
Housed in one of the fine Victorian warehouses in the docks, Gloucester Waterways Museum tells the story of our wonderful canals and rivers. Visitors can climb aboard historic boats, enjoy hands-on fun, watch archive films and browse galleries rich in canal heritage and wildlife. The museum also offers boat trips along the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and River Severn, with historic commentary along the way.

Sula Lightship
Just across the canal on West Quay floats the unique and beautiful Sula Lightship. Described most simply as ‘a lighthouse on board a ship’, Sula is more than 50 years old and was decommissioned in 1985, before finally coming to rest here in Gloucester, where she offers complementary therapies and has become a tourist attraction in her own right.

Nature In Art
Nature in Art is the world’s first museum and art gallery dedicated to art inspired by nature, and is housed in a magnificent Georgian mansion, Wallsworth Hall, located in idyllic grounds just two miles north of the city centre.

The Barn Owl Centre of Gloucestershire
Just a short swoop from the city centre in Hempsted, the Barn Owl Centre offers visitors the chance to see beautiful owls, hawks, buzzards, falcons and golden eagle up close and to find out more about the conversation and welfare of these incredible birds of prey.