The Old Prison
Museums & Science Centres · Northleach, Gloucestershire
No reviews yet
Closed — opens tomorrow at 9am
🏠 Indoor & outdoorEducational
What’s there
- Café on site
- Free parking
- Dogs welcome
Ample free parking for cars, vans, bikes and minibuses, with disabled parking at the entrance and turning space for buses and coaches.
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
The Old Prison is a historic house of correction on the edge of Northleach, a Cotswold market town. Built in the 1790s as a model prison, it still has its original cells and a Victorian-era courtroom that visitors can walk through, so children get a hands-on sense of how prisoners once lived and what the building was for. The grounds hold the Lloyd-Baker Rural Life Collection, a display of old wagons, carts and farm implements, along with a replica wheelwright's workshop and a working blacksmith's forge that bring Cotswold rural crafts to life. There is a cafe in the building and an enclosed garden with outdoor seating, which makes it an easy stop for a family break. The site is run by the Friends of the Cotswolds, and the venue says children are welcome when supervised by an adult. It suits families with school-age children who like history, old machinery and a slightly eerie building to explore.
Stuff to take with you
The things people wish they’d packed for a day out like this one.
- Refillable water bottleMost places will fill it for free.
- Snacks that survive a rucksackCheaper than the café, and buys you twenty minutes.
- Wet wipes
- Small first aid kitPlasters solve more days out than anything else here.
- Tissues
- Kitchen roll
- A penForms, competitions, name badges.
- Picnic blanket
- Travel games
- Travel pillow
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Reviews
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