Visitor Information

The Cowper and Newton Museum is an independent, registered, museum owned and administered by a charitable trust. It is staffed by a House Manager, who is supported by a team of volunteers, many drawn from the Friends of the Museum.

Opening times

The Museum is now closed until March 1st 2012.

1st March to 23rd December: Tuesday to Saturday and Bank Holiday Mondays: 10.30am - 4.30pm (closed Good Friday)

Also open for local events: (see Events for details)

Tel/Fax: 01234 711516 (International: +44 1234 711516)

Location
Olney is on the A509, 5 miles North of Newport Pagnell and Junction 14 of the M1.

Olney is easily accessible by car from Bedford, Northampton, Wellingborough, Milton Keynes and the M1 motorway.

See A day out in and around Olney to plan a visit including the Museum.

Admission prices

Schools
We welcome visits from school groups. Please see Educational Group Visits.

Eating Out
There are plenty of restaurants and cafes close to the Museum for morning coffee, lunch, or tea.

Disabled access
There is access for wheelchair users to the garden, and limited access to the house. A portfolio of photographs of the exhibits in the upper rooms is available for those who find the steep stairs difficult to manage.

Coach parties and groups
Coach parties and group bookings are welcome by prior arrangement. We can offer groups at a special price of £4.50 for an introductory talk on arrival in our courtyard. This gives you a brief history of the museum, Cowper and Newton.

For £5.50 we can provide you with a guided tour of the museum and/or gardens. For the museum tour groups are limited to 12 visitors per guide as some of our rooms are very small.

In our experience groups prefer an initial talk then the chance to wander around the museum at their leisure.

Groups often find benefit in us providing refreshments for their group at £1.50 per person. They are served from our Viper Barn and you are welcome to enjoy them whilst looking around our beautiful historic walled garden and summer house vegetable garden.

A visit can last from 90 minutes to 3 hrs depending upon the size and ability of your group. We are a Georgian town house consisting of 4 floors; these are broken up by flights of 6 steps and half landings. Each floor has plenty of chairs for visitors to sit on. Wheelchair access is to the ground floor only in the museum but unlimited around the gardens.

You can download a group booking form here (.pdf, Adobe Reader document).

Museum shop
The shop stocks a wide variety of books and merchandise.
Click here to buy on-line using eBay.