Chiltern Open Air Museum

The Chiltern Open Air Museum:
Buckinghamshire’s Biggest Attraction

The Chiltern Open Air Museum is one of the attractions that the county of Buckinghamshire is famous for and so one of the attractions that you absolutely must go and visit when you are in the area. It is most definitely something different and somewhere that will hold the attention of all of the family because there literally is something for everyone.

Chiltern Open Air Museum is located specifically in Chalfont St Giles and was opened to the public in 1976. It was designed to help preserve the buildings in the Chilterns and educate the people about them. The buildings are essential to preserving the history of the area and were actually marked for demolishing when they were rescued for restoration in the early 1970s. Instead, they are now preserved in the condition that they would have been as far back as the 17th Century.

The Chiltern Open Air Museum has around thirty buildings for you to explore at the minute and are arranged on the site, which occupies a total of 45 acres of land. There are barns, outhouses, farm buildings and homes in the collection, all of which are completely unique so unless you have visited before, you will never have seen anything like it! The buildings could have been found all over the area when they were originally in use. There is a Victorian tollhouse that was once in High Wycombe, a cottage that once stood at 57 Compton Avenue in Leagrave, a 1940s prefab that was from Amersham and there is even a reproduction house that is though to resemble those that could have been found in the area during the Iron Age!

There is also a lovely park for you to stroll around at your leisure at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, which is brilliant for a picnic on a fine day, but whatever the weather you can visit on any day of your choosing. The Chiltern Open Air Museum is usually open from April to October check web site www.coam.org.uk for specific dates or ring information line 01494 872163 for current opening details. So visit when you have time because you will find the buildings a joy to behold!