Housed in the only surviving brick-built barrack blocks left in Aldershot, the museum tells the story of daily life for both soldier and civilian.

The story of Aldershot Military Town and the towns of Aldershot, Farnborough and Cove is told using our vibrant collections within the fascinating, original buildings. Explore the site, admire the tanks, take on the assault course and join in with the hands-on activities. Throughout the year, we also run a programme of fun, family-friendly exhibitions and events.

Things to do

The museum is a great place for the whole family to enjoy. Here are just a few of the things on offer:

  • Take on the challenge of our World War II-inspired assault course
  • Explore our collection of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other military vehicles
  • Learn the basics on our driver training unit
  • Take a turn in our replica scout vehicle
  • Spot the objects around the museum with our fun activity sheets
  • Picnic areas for all weathers
  • Welcoming cafe serving tea and roasted coffee, cold drinks, snacks and Jude's Ice Cream
  • Browse the museum shop for military-themed books, toys, gifts, souvenirs and pocket-money treats

The Local History Gallery

The Local History Gallery tells the story of Aldershot and Farnborough, the local people and businesses. See a Victorian shop and find out about the French Imperial Family, the construction of Farnborough Abbey and the pottery industry of Farnborough and Cove.

Also situated in this building is the Cody Gallery. In 1908, Farnborough was the site of Britain’s first powered flight by the American, Samuel Franklin Cody. Cody was a flamboyant character, frequently seen wearing a Stetson and riding a white horse. When flying, he never strapped himself into his aircraft or wore a parachute, but a helmet did provide some measure of head protection. This helmet was purchased in 1996 and can be seen in the gallery, along with a reconstruction of part of his workshop.

The Boyce Building

This 1930s wooden barrack block came from Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Church Crookham, and was once the home of the Regimental Administration Offices for the camp. Carefully reconstructed at the museum thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the Boyce Gallery explores the users of the barracks, which were once home to the Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, Royal Corps of Transport and many battalions from the Brigade of Gurkhas, before closing in 2000.

The Military History Gallery

The Military History Gallery is in one of the two surviving barrack blocks built in North Camp in the 1890s. It contains the John Reed Gallery, named after Brigadier John Reed who established the museum in 1984. Here you can see recreated barrack displays of the 1890s and 1950s and even a married quarters living room from the 1960s.

Montgomery's Barn

This building once stood in the grounds of Field Marshal Montgomery’s home at Isington near Alton. It was built for him in 1947 to house his wartime caravans and was moved to the museum in 1996. It houses some of the museum’s collection of larger exhibits including field guns and other vehicles.

World War II Assault Course

Challenge your little soldiers to jump, leap, climb and swing through our action-packed assault course, inspired by real assault courses used in training during World War II!

Assault course

 

 

Your visit

Admission

Pay once, visit all year! With your ticket, you can enjoy unlimited visits to Aldershot Military Museum and return as many times as you like for a whole year!

Ticket Price - pay once, visit all year
Adult £10.00
Child (5-15 years) £7.00
Concession £9.00
Under 5s Free
Family Ticket (up to 5 people, max. 2 adults)  - discount applied at checkout £33.00

Find out more about our concession and discounted tickets.

Prices exclude some special events and activities which may be charged separately – please check our What’s On for details. Last admission 30 minutes before closing.

Hampshire Cultural Trust is a charity and so, with your help, we’re able to benefit from the UK government’s Gift Aid scheme. Find out more about Gift Aid.

Group visits

To arrange a group visit to Aldershot Military Museum, please call 01252 314598.

Accessibility

The museum is located within four separate buildings. There are walkways between the Local History and John Reed Galleries. The museum buildings are on one level with access by ramps. Accessible toilet available in Boyce Building.

Assistance dogs are welcome, as long as they are clearly identifiable.

Café and picnics

Hot and cold drinks and snacks are available from our café and picnics are welcome outdoors.

Bring your own cup!

Get 30p off your hot drink in the museum café when you bring your own reusable cup! Simply present your cup to a member of café staff to claim your discount.

How to get here

By public transport: we are two miles from both Aldershot and Farnborough railway stations and the No.1 bus service runs from both stations every 12 minutes to outside the museum, taking about 15 minutes for the journey. Alight at Hammersley Road stop if travelling from Aldershot, or Napier Gardens stop if travelling from Farnborough. The museum is also one mile - 25 minutes' walk - from North Camp railway station.

By car: the museum is located on Queens Avenue, Aldershot, between the town of Aldershot and the village of North Camp. There is free parking on site.

School Visits

We are able to accommodate School Bookings on Thursdays and Fridays during Term time only. We currently have three workshops available including:

  • KS2: Children and WW2
  • KS2: Local History Time Detectives 
  • KS2: Remembrance

Availability: We are able to facilitate school bookings on Thursdays and Fridays during term time only. 

Included: All of our programmes take place between 10am – 2pm and include one 90-minute facilitated session and one 90-minute self-led session per class plus use of lunch-room facilities and our WW2 Assault course.

Cost: £280 per class.  We are able to accommodate up to 2 classes per day. 

KS2: Children and WW2

Travel back in time and come to the aid of the children of WW2 by participating in a War Effort workshop led by Women’s Voluntary Service member, Mrs Smith! It’s all hands on deck to complete activities which would have been carried out by children as well as understand the changing roles of adults during the Second World War.

Pupils will have the opportunity to:

  • Use mental maths methods to assemble the ingredients for their wartime recipe in our ‘pop up’ 1940s shop;
  • “Dig for Victory” to explore wartime shortages in our mini allotment ;
  • Practice their teamwork skills to earn their ‘Cogs’ badge and salvage waste to help the war effort;
  • Problem solve to crack the code and unlock real WW2 artefacts! 

Self-led activities include our museum hunt, hands-on rag-rugging activity, aircraft identification and much more! 

KS2: Local History Time Detectives (Aldershot) 

Led by a friend of Samuel Cody, pupils will become Time Detectives to complete a variety of challenges and reveal 3 local people in Aldershot’s past as well as exploring key events that have shaped the surrounding community. Get ready for a hands-on local history experience as local engineer Samuel Cody needs help with his latest experiment – are you up for the challenge?  

Pupils will have the opportunity to:

  • Explore the chronology of Aldershot’s development as a town;
  • Handle genuine and replica historical objects from Aldershot’s history ;
  • Use their problem-solving skills to uncover clues that tell us about the past;
  • Time travel to help local engineer Samuel Cody with his latest experiment! 

Self-led activities include “building” Aldershot to see the development of the town, a census activity to find out more about the social history of the area and a directed trail of the local history museum!

KS2: Remembrance

A sensitive introduction to the act of Remembrance using relevant historical objects to prompt meaningful conversations about who we remember and why we remember them. Pupils will take part in a variety of thoughtful activities to discover who we remember, why we remember them and how we remember them. 

Pupils will have the opportunity to: 

  • Handle genuine and replica objects from WW1 and WW2 that help us to remember, prompting questions about the past and its impact on our lives today 
  • Immerse themselves in the time period through dressing up and discovering the roles that people a range of different people played in the wars 
  • Consider the ways that symbols of remembrance differ around the world and plant their own Forget-Me – Not flower 

To find out more about our learning programme, make an enquiry or check availability, please complete this enquiry form.

What is the nature of your enquiry?
  • Just what a museum should be. A good balance of artefacts and interpretation telling the story of Aldershot as a military town and the British Army bases there from the 1850’s to the present day, all done without gimmicks. Friendly staff, nice cup of tea!

    Nick B
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