A WEEKEND CELEBRATING THE ONSET OF SPRING, BRINGING TOGETHER THE VERY BEST OF SURREY’S FOOD, DRINK, ART AND CRAFTS AT THE RURAL LIFE LIVING MUSEUM, TILFORD,  SURREY

This Spring Fair is a unique opportunity to celebrate spring in the beautiful setting of the Rural Life Living Museum, where visitors can experience a wide range of fun and exciting activities that celebrate spring and showcase the richness of the culture, heritage and natural beauty of the Surrey Hills.

Fair-goers of all ages can expect a wide range of activities, including traditional country crafts, live music, art demonstrations, local food vendors, and outdoor woodland activities.

For tickets and further information please click the link below and pop over to the Surrey Hills Enterprises Website:

https://surreyhills.org/event/surrey-hills-spring-fair-2025/

The Old Kiln Museum first opened to the public in April 1973.

Each year in April we celebrate Founders Day to mark the astonishing achievement of the Museum's founders, Madge and Henry Jackson who lived onsite in Old Kiln Cottage and who built the Museum, with help from their friends, in their garden. In 1983 Henry and Madge created the Old Kiln Museum Trust to look after and care for their Museum, keeping it open to the public for future generations to explore and enjoy.

There will be lots to see and do around the Museum, including traction engine rides, games, activities and crafts for everyone to enjoy.

The Museum receives no external funding to pay its operating costs. All monies raised by the sale of tickets go to operating, maintaining and growing our Museum. In celebration of founders day, and to ensure that we remain accessible to everyone, ticket prices are set at the same rates they were on opening day in 1973. Adult tickets are 20p and child tickets are 10p.

Join us for the best day of the year!

May, 1944. Allied troops amass in the towns and villages of the South of England in preparation for the largest amphibious landing of troops the world has ever seen...

Villagers brace themselves as in the distance can be heard the rumbling of heavy trucks, heralding the arrival of the Americans in Tilford.

Tilford, a Village at War is one of the premier second world war reenactment events in the UK and the Rural Life Museum is pleased and proud to host this outstnading event once again in 2025. This year we will celebrate 25 years of Village at War and mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. This is not an event to be missed.

The day begins and ends with the colours ceremony on the village green, visitors explore the military encampments, visit the RAF plotting room, witness bomb disposal, learn about rationing and the war on the home front and experience the chaos of an air raid. Don't forget to drop into the Frensham dance hall and take a turn round the dance floor!

Village at War is an event not to be missed!

Visitors are encouraged to dress in period clothing to really experience the atmosphere (but its not essential!).

Visitors are warned that this event includes loud bangs and gunfire at notified times during the day.

Our ever popular steam rally, 'Steam at Work' returns once again for 2025.

When we started this event, we called it 'Steam at Work' because our rally is different. It is not in a field, engines are spread around the Museum grounds, and this is not a 'park and polish' rally with rows of gleaming engines, at our rally, engines moving, and working is the theme. Whilst not the biggest rally, our event certinaly captures the sights, sounds and smells of the age of steam. Visitors can immerse themsleves in this bygone world, and each day concludes with a mass parade of engines through the museum.

With 20+ full size tractions engines, steam rollers, steam lorries and road locmotives in attenandance alongside an array of miniature engines and stationary engines this is an event 'in motion' and really is not to be missed.

Exhibitor Entry Information:

Entries of full size engines, miniatures and stationary engines are all welcome. Coal is provided. Engines can arrive any time the week before the event and can be stored on site after the event by arrangement.

Those wishing to enter should email the event organiser, Rob Bentley - rob.bentley@rural-life.org.uk

• Name of Entrant
• Engine type
• Year of manufacture
• Whether you are attending Saturday, Sunday or both.
• Whether you require a camping pitch, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday night
• Whether you are roading the engine to us or using a low-loader / trailer and whether or not you require storage for your low-loader / trailer on site during the event.

Joining instructions will be sent out a few weeks prior to the event. 

Our annual fire engine rally returns!

Join us for a fun packed day for all the family where red paint, lights and sirens abound!

See the Museum filled with fire engines from the turn of the last century through to the present day.

Demonstrations will take place through the day, including rescue from the saw pit, a fire at the railway station,  rescuing the cat from the roof of the cricket pavillion and more!

There will be opportunity to live your own firefighter dream and climb in the cab (selected vehicles only with owners permission) see what's inside the lockers and take a ride round the Museum on a vintage fire engine.

This is a great summer event for all the family and one of the only events for fire engines only...

We can't wait!

Vehicle owners wishing to enter their vehicle.

Please email: jon@chiefgroup.co.uk

Stating:

Your Name

Vehicle registration number

Vehicle Make and model

Year of manufacture

Whether you are attending Saturday, Sunday or both

Whether you require a camping pitch Friday, Saturday, Sunday night.

See the Museum packed with shining paintwork and gleaming chrome!

Join us on Sunday 21st September for this very special 1 day event as we welcome classic, veteran and vintage vehicle owners and clubs for the day!

Whether you are an enthusiast, or on a family day out, the Classic Car show is a good all rounder, plenty to see and lots to explore!

All types of veteran, vintage and classic vehicles are welcome, along with vehicle clubs.

All Entrants, wishing to bring a vehicle, please enter using the online form on the event tile in the What's On section of the Museum's website.

Joining details will be sent out via email a few weeks before the event.

For each vehicle entry the driver and 1 (one) passenger gain free entry into the Museum, all additional passengers will need to book a ticket in advance, or will be asked to leave the vehicle on entry and pay in the shop on arrival. There is no vehicle entry fee to this event.

For all vehicle entry enquiries, please email: info@rural-life.org.uk marking the subject of your email: CLASSIC CAR SHOW 2025

Vehicle entry to the show is via the online form only.

We look forward to seeing you.

This October we once again welcome back the Central Southern Vintage Agricultural Club for Landrover day.

Landrover Day is one of the Museum's most enduring events, drawing each year, and extraudinary number of vehicle entrants with a great variety of vehicles, all of which of course are Landrovers!

This event is a must for any enthusiast, but is great for a family day out too, especially if a member of your family has 4 wheels and was made in Solihull!

Entry information for those wishing to show their Landrover or to book an autojumble stall is on the main Museum website, in the Whats On section under Landrover Day.

We are proud and excited to announce the launch of the inaugural Tilford Garden Show at the Rural Life Living Museum!

This event will see traders and organisations with a garden focus brought together in Madge and Henry's garden where they built their Museum. The Tilford Garden show will provide gardeners with that all important retail therapy, things to inspire, things to learn, discover and people to meet.

We have a wonderful line up of trade stands booked in, from nurseries to rare, exotic and unusual plants for you to discover.

We have blacksmiths with bespoke garden sculpture, willow weavers with scultpure and natural fencing and of course garden structures for storage and leisure!

We are pleased to be joined by Godalming Museum who will be showing all things Gertrude Jekyll alongside National Trust Mustead Wood.

There will be craft stalls to browse including natural remedies you could grow yourself.

We look forward to welcoming, the Physic Garden for all things plant medicinal. We will have inspriation to bring wildlife into your garden, and organisations showing the work of community gardens and the all important allotment.

The Tilford Garden Show is going to be a celebration of all things garden, and we cannot wait!

If you are a trader with products appropriate to this event and would like to book a stand, please email for more information: info@rural-life.org.uk

The Rural Life Museum is the heritage home of Dennis Brothers of Guildford, perhaps one of Surrey's most famous manufacturers. 

Whilst Dennis started out making bicycles, then motor cars, they are most famous for their commercial vehicles, buses, trucks and fire engines.

2025 marks the 135 anniversary of Dennis Brothers of Guildford, and to celebrate we are bringing together commercial vehicles of all makes and marques, from Albion and AEC to Dennis, Leyland and more. Buses, lorries, fire engines and everything in between.

We hope that this event will become an annual fixture, so join us and help make the first a good one!

For vehicle owners wanting to join us, please fill in the entry form which can be found in the event tile in the Whats On section of our website.

We look forward to seeing you!