Opening times
25 March to 5 November 2026
Monday – Sunday, 11am – 4pm
Bakewell Old House Museum is a five hundred year old time capsule. Originally constructed as a tithe house in 1534, it is the oldest standing residence in Bakewell and the in situ Tudor wattle and daub, grand fireplace and windows attest to this fact. Now a museum spanning eleven rooms, it charts the development of the house from a gentleman’s residence in the Elizabethan period to a condemned row of tenements saved by the Bakewell and District Historical Society in the 1950s. There is also an extensive display of objects relating to Bakewell and the wider Peak as well as our current special exhibition: Home Sweet Home: The Doll’s House. This exhibition hosts over thirty doll’s houses and various miniatures from a variety of time periods. Entrance is £7.50 per person but pre-booked groups (of over 6 people) are able to obtain a £1 discount when paying by invoice.
2026 exhibition: Home Sweet Home
Throughout 2026, Bakewell Old House Museum has an exhibition of doll’s houses and miniatures. Explore locally-made doll’s houses from the 1870s, a large collection of historic early 20th Lines Brothers (Tri-Ang) doll’s houses, as well as other historic and modern variants on the doll’s house and beautifully-crafted miniatures. Scenes and miniatures from Valerie Claire Miniatures, Mini McGregor Dolls House Miniatures, Jane Harrop, Delph Miniatures, and Birdhouse Miniatures, as well as some 3d printed minitures and book nooks bring the exhibition up-to-date.
The exhibition is included in the admissions ticket, which is valid for 1 year.
Derbyshire Days Out Discount
Derbyshire Day Out Discounted Adult ticket: £6.50 on production of a valid ticket from a participating organisation (available on the door only). Dogs are welcome!
Children’s trails
We have new children’s trails this year: an updated Rat Trail, our Scavenger Hunt and Journey with George, a choose your own adventure trail. Rewarded with a special pin badge!
Free when you purchase a ticket or £1 when you return on an annual ticket.
Collect all the badges!
The House
What stories these walls could tell! Built in the reign of Henry VIII as a tax collector’s cottage, the building was expanded into a gentleman’s residence in the Elizabethan period – complete with garderobe (Tudor toilet). In the Industrial Revolution, it was repurposed as mill workers’ cottages, by none other than Richard Arkwright himself who had built his third cotton spinning mill in Bakewell at Lumford. The house retains surviving features from all these periods: so there are plenty of details for all architectural enthusiasts.
The Collections
Our collections are as varied as the building itself. Artefacts found encased in the walls from the Tudor period, to ceramics, textiles and costumes, toys and cameras, there’s all sorts hidden away in every nook and cranny. Donated by local residents over the last sixty years, there is a story behind every one of these artefacts, linking them to this particular corner of Derbyshire.
If you want to donate an item to the collection please contact us to make an appointment with one of the collections team. We cannot accept items dropped off at the Welcome Desk.
