House, Gardens & Cafe Open Tuesday - Sunday 10.30 - 17.00

Covid Re-opening FAQ's

Visiting Gilbert White & The Oates Collections what you need to know.

When are you open?

The House and Garden are open Tuesday- Friday 10:30-5:00 from the 18th May 2021

The White’s shop is open Monday 9am-12pm Tuesday- Sunday 10:30am-4pm

Do I need to pre-book?

No, but you can pre-book tickets if you wish to. To book click here.

How will you manage numbers if you are not pre-booking?

You can buy a ticket on the day but are always assessing numbers and what we feel is safe.

We have 25 acres of garden and parkland so it is easy to social distance in our grounds, however we reserve the right to cap numbers if we feel social distancing is becoming impossible for our visitors outside.

Inside the house we will allow 20 people in house at anyone time, if you buy a ticket and there is already 20 people in the house, we will ask you to wait a little while before you enter the house, depending on the wait we might suggest you visit the gardens first.

How much will it cost?  

Our admission prices are:

House & Garden

Adult: £12, Concession: £11, U16: £6, U5: Free, Family: £25

Garden only:

Adult £7.50, Concession £6.50, U16 £4.00,  Family £20

We encourage all our visitors to use contactless payments during their time with us. If you book online you get a 25% discount.

What can I expect when I visit?

We have made some changes to help our visitor social distance. Visitors to the house and garden can now enter from the car park (located behind the Selborne Arms), this is be clearly marked. The path will lead you round the edge of the grounds to the house, where we have installed a kiosk.

If you only wish to visit the garden you may purchase tickets at the kiosk, you will then be able to visit the gardens. We will issue you with a guide to gardens that will suggest a one-way route around it.

If you wish to visit both the garden & the house you will be directed to the museum shop where you can purchase admission to both the house and gardens. You will be issued with a guide that takes you around the house one way, you will exit the house directly into the gardens and then can proceed to look around them.

When you have finished looking around the gardens we advise you exit through the stable yard to the High Street.

What other measures will be in place around the house.

As well as a one way system we have a few measures in place to keep you and our staff safe.

You will only be able to visit the museum shop at the beginning of your journey around the house, to re-enter the shop you will have to re-enter, and a member of staff will let you look around if they feel there is enough space. You then will exist by going through the house again.

You may not touch anything in the house other than the banisters, door handles and the toilet facilities. This is because we must preserve our historic furniture and cannot clean it as required for covid-19 precautions. We will be cleaning banisters, doors and the toilets intermittently throughout the day.

No more than one household or party will be allowed in a room at anytime, if there are visitors in the room in front of you please kindly wait until they have finished with the room before progressing yourself.

Some of the smaller rooms will be barricaded so that you can look in but not go inside, this is because it is impossible to socially distance in these rooms.

Will we have to wear masks?

The wearing of masks is mandatory in the shop and museum, unless you are legally exempt.

What is the accessibility like?

The path from the car park is on gravel and slightly downhill. If this is difficult you may come into the garden from the High Street entrance. The grounds have some gravel pathways, but is predominantly grass, there are some inclines. The garden has plenty of seating.

The ground floor the house is accessible for wheelchairs, but not the first floor, you will be advised of the best route to take around the house.

For more accessibility information please see here.

Is the café open?

Our café is providing a village shop and takeaway service currently, and will continue to do so for some time. The shop sells essentials as well take-away food and ice-creams.

The admission kiosk will sell a range of refreshments and there will be outdoor seating for you to sit and enjoy.

How do we know which way to go around the house & gardens?

 

We have brand new garden guides which suggest a route around the garden and will help with social distancing. The guides also have plenty of information about the history behind the garden.

We have produced very simple guides for the house which will help you follow the one way system and mean you will not have to pick up or touch any interpretation.

Are there any places where it is hard to social distance?

There are areas where it is harder to social distance than others, for example our stable yard and around the kiosk as these are most busy areas.

In the house there are some tight corridors, which is why we hope our visitors will stagger their journey around the house. In the garden the herb garden and wild gardens have tight paths.

We hope our visitors will be considerate towards each other and observe a 2m gap between them.

Is there stuff for the kids?

Yes! In the garden we have updated our alphabet garden trail so that it is Covid-19 safe.

In the house there is a trail to find 12 tortoises which can be done without any contact.

You are responsible for your family observing social distancing on site and not touching anything around the house.

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