20 Attractions to Explore Near Rural Life Living Museum

Bourne Wood is a quiet ancient woodland with mixed conifers and semi-natural broadleaf trees. The sand soil provides a good walking surface, and the many public footpaths give great access to the woodland, where you can take in the beautiful natural scenery. There is a car park and picnic area.

Waverley Abbey in Surrey was the very first monastery founded in Britain by the reforming Cistercian religious order. Despite being the first Cistercian abbey in England, and being motherhouse to several other abbeys, Waverley was "slenderly endowed" and its monks are recorded as having endured poverty and famine.

Frensham Common is a fine example of open Surrey heathland. It is one of the largest expanses in the Weald. This man-made beach stretches along a 13th century lake giving ample opportunity to sunbathe and swim in warm weatherIt covers roughly 1,000 acres of attractive countryside and is owned by the National Trust.

Farnham Maltings is one of the busiest and most diverse arts centres in Surrey offering theatre, film, craft, music, festivals, family theatre and more. Based in a set of buildings formerly used as a tannery and brewery, there is a variety of spaces available for education and leisure purposes. Farnham Maltings works with artists in a variety of ways. They produce, commission and tour national theatre and support creative businesses, artists and craft-makers.

The Museum of Farnham is a Grade I listed Georgian town house with a beautiful walled garden. The museum was founded in 1961 to provide the Farnham community with a collection dedicated to the history of the local area. The museum has a fine collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century British work and houses a collection of objects, fine art and archive material relating to the history of Farnham.

The Sculpture Park is an enchanting place to visit in Surrey and is suitable for all ages and tastes. It is sited within 10 acres of woodland, lakes, streams and walkways which are home to a number of wild birds and other creatures as well as the residential doves. With over 600 ever changing sculptures on exhibition from over 200 well-known and upcoming sculptors, throughout 2 miles of trail, there will always be something new to discover and a surprise around every corner.

Farnham Castle,is a 12th-century castle in Farnham, Surrey, England, formerly the residence of the Bishops of Winchester. The castle served as the seat of the powerful Bishops of Winchester. The location at Farnham was conveniently located on the main route used by the Bishops between London and Winchester. It is now a multi-award-winning wedding venue with stunning, historic buildings, beautiful grounds, world-class dining and guest accommodation.

This is one of the largest bird parks in the country, located on the Hampshire border with Surrey it is a great place to explore for a fun and informative day out. In addition to a walk around 26 acres of aviaries and beautiful landscaped gardens, visitors can admire over 800 birds and 180 species from around the world and take part in educational feeding sessions throughout the day.

Farnham Park is a 320 acre medieval deer park overlooking the town with an impressive 1km tree lined avenue and a large children's play area. This medieval deer park has an avenue of trees which is over a kilometer long. Originally the trees were mature elms, but these succumbed to the Dutch elm disease in the early 1970s and were replaced with lime and beech. There is grassland, woodland, ponds and streams.

Alice Holt Forest lies at the northwestern corner of the Weald where the bounding rim of Chalk swings round from a south-north trending outcrop to the west-east alignment of the Hog’s Back anticline. It is now planted mainly with conifers. The forest is now part of the South Downs National Park, which was established on 31 March 2010, and it forms the most northerly gateway to the park.

The Devil’s Punchbowl is a unique 1,310 acre geological wonder where visitors can walk, hike or take a horseback ride on a 7.5 mile round-trip trail through a deep canyon formed by the runoff of large quantities of water from the higher San Gabriel Mountains. The Punch Bowl is a large natural amphitheatre and is the source of many stories about the area. The London to Portsmouth road skirted the rim of the site before the Hindhead Tunnel was built in 2011.

Aldershot Military Museum tells the story of daily life for both soldiers and civilians in the town since 1854. The Museum tells the story of the British Army in Aldershot, the "Home of the British Army", from the Army's arrival in the area in the 1850s to the present day. Explore the site, admire the tanks and vehicles, join in with the hands-on activities and let your kids take on the assault course challenge.

The Watts Cemetery Chapel is a dazzling hodgepodge of Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Romanesque Revival, and Celtic Revival architecture. While the overall architectural structure is loosely Romanesque Revival, in the absence of any appropriate Celtic models, the lavish decoration in terracotta relief carving and paintings is Celtic Revival, here seen on an unusually large scale. One of the iconic attractions in this area and it is also a Grade I listed building.

Watts Gallery is a unique art gallery and heritage site consisting of historic Arts & Crafts buildings, learning studios for art and pottery workshops, an award-winning Tea Shop and beautifully landscaped woodlands and grounds. Nestled in the Surrey Hills, the Artists’ Village is just 40 minutes from London. This Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England is dedicated to the work of the Victorian-era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts.

The Farnborough Air Sciences Trust museum holds a collection of aircraft, satellites, simulators, wind tunnel,s and Royal Aircraft Establishment-related material. There are aircraft on display, some of which had significant design and/or development contributions from Farnborough. The collection of models in a wind tunnel, held in storage, along with the documentation and historical records of engineering development.

Haslemere Educational Museum was founded in 1888 by the eminent surgeon Sir Jonathan Hutchinson to display his growing collection of natural history specimens. The museum holds diverse collections relating to Geology, Natural History and Human History, as well as being a resource of local history. It has three permanent galleries, education room, two temporary exhibition rooms, library, archive, lecture hall and garden and so more.

The Museum of Military Medicine, formerly the Army Medical Services Museum (AMS Museum), is located in Keogh Barracks, on Mytchett Place Road, Mytchett, Surrey, England. The museum tells the story of army medicine and healthcare, human and animal, from the English Civil War to the current day. The collections on display include uniforms and insignia, medical, dental and veterinary equipment, ambulances and much more besides

Loseley Park is set in acres of rolling parkland just south of Guildford in Surrey and very close to the towns of Godalming and Farncombe. Loseley Park hosts luxury weddings, and special events that are bespoke and unique to each client offering exclusive hire throughout the summer months.

Frimley Lodge Park is a 24-hectare site that boasts a range of facilities for all ages and hosts events for all the family including lots of open space and woodland, picnic areas, two children's playgrounds, a trim trail, miniature railway, and meadows. The Basingstoke canal runs along the eastern boundary with a towpath and lots of space, woodland, cafeteria, miniature railway and pitch & putt course.