Food Museum

About the museum

The museum grew from the work of collectors, a local farmer and the Suffolk Local History Council, who saved tools, equipment and buildings from rural East Anglia in the 1950s and 1960s. After several years of temporary shows around Suffolk, the sisters Vera and Ena Longe offered land on their Abbot's Hall estate for a permanent museum. About two acres including a medieval barn were placed in trust in 1964, and the Museum of East Anglian Life opened in 1967 as a volunteer-run rural life museum.

The estate has a long history: it was a manor belonging to St Osyth's Priory in Essex in medieval times, and the Longe family bought it in 1903. Abbot's Hall, a Queen Anne house, and further land were passed to the Abbot's Hall Trust and leased to the museum in 2004, after the Longe sisters had died.

In 2022 the museum became the Food Museum, after a three-year public consultation, because food was the thread running through its collection of barns, a watermill, a walled garden, carts, machinery, animals and domestic interiors. Today it covers 84 acres with 17 historic buildings and close to 40,000 objects, and it adds new displays each year, such as the School Dinners exhibition, which runs in the Bone Building until 2027.

Highlights

• 84-acre site with 17 historic buildings
• Alton Watermill, working on Fridays
• Steam engines in the Mortlock Building
• Farm area with Suffolk sheep, Red Poll cattle and Suffolk Punch horses
• Walled garden, river trails and 13th-century tithe barn
• Annual exhibition in the Bone Building

Permanent exhibitions

• Historic buildings and farm – Seventeen historic buildings including Abbot's Hall, the Boby Building, a blacksmith's forge, the Farm Barn and the Bone Building, with a farm area of rare breeds, growing crops and an orchard.
• Alton Watermill – A refurbished watermill that works on Fridays, with a mile of river trails nearby.
• Mortlock Building steam engines – A building housing the museum's steam engines.

Founded

1967

Operated by

The Food Museum Ltd (registered charity)

Admission & discounts

A day ticket can be upgraded to an annual pass at no extra cost, allowing unlimited visits for 12 months (not including workshops or ticketed events). Tickets can be bought online in advance or in the shop on the day.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Parking is available on site for visitors with access needs, about 100 metres from the ticket desk, with a drop-off option at the shop. Many paths around the site are unsurfaced and uneven, and the upper floors of some historic buildings cannot be reached without stairs. The river walk is relatively flat and its 1 km circuit can be used with a buggy in dry weather. Staff can give lifts around the site on electric golf buggies, requested on the day and subject to availability. There is a Changing Places toilet (card from reception) and accessible toilets at the entrance, in Abbot's Hall and in the collections building. Assistance dogs are welcome throughout.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations
• Playground / play area

The new play area has a zip wire, swings, slides, climbing features, tunnels and mounds, with accessible and toddler-friendly options, and is open all year. Families can meet the horses and farm animals and try hands-on farming activities, and the museum runs family activities, a Toddler Time session and holiday programmes.

Getting there & parking

The museum is in Iliffe Way opposite the Asda supermarket in the town centre and is signposted from the A14 and the B1115. Drivers should use postcode IP14 1PW and turn into Iliffe Way; there is no vehicle access via Crowe Street. Booked coaches use a separate coach entrance. Some road signs still use the old name, Museum of East Anglian Life.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

Feast Cafe serves seasonal hot and cold food daily and is open to the public without a museum ticket. The museum shop sells books, gifts, cards, toys and local products, and the printmakers work there on Thursdays.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events
• Weddings / ceremonies

Several spaces can be hired by day, or exclusively in the evening, for weddings, corporate events, meetings and private bookings; the cafe also offers private hire and event catering.

Plan your visit