🏠 Indoor & outdoorEducational
What’s there
- Limited parking
- Picnic area
Very limited parking on site; free parking available on the adjacent Oborne Road.
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
The Sherborne Steam & Waterwheel Centre is a heritage site built around a large 1869 waterwheel that once supplied the town with clean water. Volunteers have restored the wheel and its listed pumphouse, and a refurbished Hindley steam engine runs in its own engine house on open days, so children can watch machinery that is usually only seen in photographs. A visitor centre with an audio-visual presentation covers the history of Sherborne's water supply and the restoration work. There is a picnic area and plenty of open ground, which suits a relaxed outing with a packed lunch. The centre runs as a set of open days rather than daily, so families should check the dates before travelling. It suits school-age children and anyone curious about industrial and engineering history.
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.
Spare shoesOne puddle and the day is decided otherwise.- Hair bobbles
A penForms, competitions, name badges.
Sick bagsYou only forget these once.
Kids' headphones- Sun cream for after
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Photos: 維基小霸王, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Renée Kools, CC BY 4.0 · I AM GIFTY, CC BY 4.0 · Politikaner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · david falkner from Birmingham, England, CC BY 2.0
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