National Museum of Rural Life self-led visit

A visit to the museum can be a unique, exciting experience for your pupils and can be used to explore a wide range of topics.

Self-led visits are only available Mondays and Fridays. 

Booking a self-guided visit provides you with:

• Free entry to the museum and working farm
• Access to a range of resources you can use beforehand, or print and bring with to use during the day
• Cloakroom and lunchroom space – subject to availability
• The day is yours to plan, and we’ve provided some top tips below to assist you in doing this. Details about timings, directions, and risk assessments will be included in your booking confirmation. 

What can we see and do?

Your class can plan to spend a full day visiting the National Museum of Rural Life: 

• Visit our museum and discover how 300 years of farming and rural home life have shaped and altered Scotland’s countryside. Trails will be sent to you following booking, these trails can be printed out at school and are designed to improve learning within the museum.
• Take an interactive, larger-than-life look at plants and flowers and pick up tips to help you find out what lurks at the bottom of your garden in our interactive gallery, Garden Detectives.
• Jump aboard the farm tractor trailer to go to our working farm and get up close to our animals.
• See our large purpose-built museum housing tractors, combine harvesters, threshers, and many other inventions. Find out how machines have increasingly replaced people in farming.
• From Spring 2026 our new Science and Agriculture Gallery will be open to explore.

Before you visit

Plan your visit in class using our museum map and museum information. Teachers can also book a pre-visit to help you plan your day.

Supervision 

Please be aware that pupils need to be supervised at all times when visiting the museum. We recommend splitting your class into small groups.

Be prepared

Please ensure pupils come dressed for the outdoors and all weathers.