H is for Heritage Open Days

Heritage Open Days – so what are they?

A selection of buildings which have opened on previous Heritage Open Days

The Heritage Open Days is a national initiative that sees buildings across the country open for the public to visit for free, and this is one of the main conditions: a building that normally makes a charge, opens for free, or a building that is not normally open to the public opens for the event.

Of course, it’s not just buildings that open – there are also events that take place, too, like talks, walks, art activities and so on. The event is held in September, with the main focus being on the middle weekend, but with things happening across the whole period.    

Over the years, a number of Loughborough buildings have been open over the weekend: I can remember the Taylors bellfoundry, the Freemason Lodge, the parish church, Unity House, the Grammar School, the Generator Building, Chesterton House, and a few other places being open, and I myself led a walk from the Carillon to the Bellfoundry for the event in 2019.

In previous years, those wishing to provide an offering on Heritage Open Days have done it independently, and provided details to the national organisation overseeing the event, so that potential visitors could check a national listing and plan their visits. This year, however, things are being done a little bit differently!

Some Loughborough sites are opening over the main weekend, and are liaising with other Loughborough sites to provide a wider variety of locations for people to visit, all of which will be listed on the national website. Planning is still in its early stages: the event isn’t until September, so locations are still signing up.

What I do know for definite is that this year's event will take place on Saturday and Sunday 14th and 15th September, and there will be four guided walks. These are being organised by those lovely folks at the Local and Family History Centre, otherwise known as the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteer Group, from the public library: two are being led by members of that group, and two are being led by me.

Here’s a link to the national Heritage Open Day website, on which Loughborough’s open sites will eventually be listed. Do keep popping back to the website, so you can plan your weekend!

We look forward to seeing you in September!

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This post is part of a series in the ‘April Blogging A-Z Challenge’

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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