A number of venues across the South West will be offering free entry and other treats at special open days for just one week in March.
Between March 15-23, hundreds of National Lottery funded UK heritage sites will be opening their doors to visitors who just need to show a National Lottery Ticket, Instant Win Game, or scratch card (in either physical or digital form) to get their offer. Last year’s event saw more than 500 venues take part across the country, with a similar figure expected this year too.
You can search the official National Lottery Open Week website to find your nearest venues and sites taking part, here. You can type in your postcode or narrow down your search by region, to investigate where your next day trip might take you.
In our neck of the woods, you can expect half-price entry at Brunel’s SS Great Britain, free entry a bit further south at The Eden Project, and free entry to a whole host of National Trust sites (from Tyntesfield to Lacock, Dyrham Park to Dunster Castle and Watermill), free bowling at Bristol Indoor Bowls Club, and even free tours of Aerospace Bristol, Glenside Hospital Museum, and the Bristol Old Vic.
You can even get special access to a Time Detective Archaeology Experience at the Roman Baths, in Bath.
The National Lottery Open Week is described as being a way for National Lottery funded venues to say thank you to those who play and raise £30million for its ‘Good Causes’ every week.
Elsewhere across the country, you can also find historical houses, castles and museums, wildlife hotspots, famous sports venues, galleries and theatres, all taking part in the week-long events.
Bristol’s very own SS Great Britain, which is part of the scheme, has launched a number of new experiences for 2025, including a new sensory trail, which will invite visitors to touch, look, smell, and listen, as they explore all that the SS Great Britain has to offer. For those intrigued by Brunel’s genius, ‘Brunel’s Curiosity Quest’ will dive into his pioneering engineering feats within the Being Brunel museum.
It aims to ‘celebrate his spirit of innovation’ and visitors will be able to get more hands-on by borrowing Brunel’s Apprentice Satchel, containing the tools and activity instructions for every aspiring young engineer. Back in January, BristolLive reported how you can also ‘adopt’ a treasured item from the SS Great Britain Trust’s collection – from Brunel’s last cigar, to a commemorative cricket ball awarded to E.M. Grace in 1864, and one of the last SS Great Britain tickets ever issues.
Meanwhile, another Bristol venue featured in the list of those taking part in such open days – Aerospace Bristol, which recorded 109,000 visitors in 2023/24 – has lots going on this year. From a Red Arrows Experience Simulator, to after hours tours of Concorde, Sunday lunch under the iconic plane for Mother’s Day, and an Easter chocolate ‘time travel adventure’.