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Learn about the various creatures who call Ancient House home, find out which insects we must control to keep the museum collections and building safe using a brand-new digital trail created by young people, make your own bug hotel, learn classification of arthropods, and make your own fantasy bug to take home.

Join us to knit, natter and enjoy a hot drink and biscuit.

Bring your craft project, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, and have a mardle.

Join Rachel Kidd, Curator of Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, as she discusses new research about the workhouse nurses who lived and worked at Mitford and Launditch Union Workhouse (now Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse) in the 1800s to 1940s. Find out how these pioneering women forged careers and cared for some of the most vulnerable people in Norfolk before the NHS, and discover how these stories inspired textile artworks as part of the 2024 exhibition "Making the Rounds: Stories of Workhouse Nurses Told in Textiles".

Wednesday 23 and Wednesday 30 April 2025 10.30am to 12.30pm You must be able to attend both workshops In the Summer of 2025, Thetford will be celebrating the rich diversity of Thetford's community through a pop up gallery in the centre of town and at the Royal Norfolk Show. The exhibition will showcase work by community members and young people from across the town including artwork, poetry, film and audio projects that explore the identity of the people living and growing up in Thetford. As part of this project, we'll be holding two art workshops at Ancient House Museum for Home Educated families. In these workshops, families will look at the work by the photographer Angelica Dass and use this as inspiration for creating self-portraits. These portraits will be displayed in the pop up gallery in the Summer. Workshops are aimed at children aged 7-11 but older and younger children are welcome too. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Embark on a mission to keep Churchill's secret papers away from Nazi eyes! Meet the Home Guard, handle real objects from the Second World War, make your own piece of Thetford Pulpware and keep an eye out for enemy parachutes! £5 per child (one accompanying adult is included in a child ticket. If you would like to bring extra accompanying adults, please email ancienthouse@norfolk.gov.uk)

Join our costumed characters to find out the extraordinary stories behind VE Day. Learn about the role of the armed forces and the code breakers. £4 per child (one accompanying adult is included in a child ticket. If you would like to bring extra accompanying adults, please email ancienthouse@norfolk.gov.uk)

Join our costumed characters to find out the extraordinary stories behind VE Day. Learn about the role of the armed forces and the code breakers. Learn how the local people celebrated VE Day and get hands on with real Second World War objects.

Join Hayley Simmons (Museum Learning Assistant) as she explores the colourful world of fashion and beauty in the Ancient Roman Empire. Where the status of the Roman citizen was paramount and hygiene a necessity. Find out what influenced Roman clothing, by looking at their own words and art, and how they, in turn, influenced the fashions of societies to come through artefacts re-discovered over time.