Sewerby Hall to Reopen from Monday

The next phase of the reopening of Sewerby Hall and Gardens will begin on Monday, 17 May, with the reopening of the house itself, including a brand new exhibition, ‘Our Sewerby’.

In addition, the Bridlington venue says that a limited events programme will return in the school half term holidays.

‘Our Sewerby’ in the main house will mark 85 years since Amy Johnson opened Sewerby as a public amenity owned by the council. The new exhibition will chart the house and parklands' development from private house surrounded by fields through Enclosure, the various building phases and land acquisition, to today’s beloved destination.

The rest of the house will also reopen, featuring its elegant appearance as it would have looked at the height of the Edwardian era.

The Clock Tower Café will remain open for takeaway only, with outdoor seating, to allow for social distancing.

The zoo, Welcome Centre, gardens and toilets are all open.

Visitors will need to respect social distancing rules and be prepared for queues  for the house, zoo, cafe and welcome centre. Visitors to the house will be restricted to one group per room and in the zoo to one group per enclosure. Face coverings will be required in the house, cafe and welcome centre, and track and trace details will be required in the house, cafe and welcome centre.

During the school half term holidays, Rusticus will be back with a limited events programme for the first time in over a year.

On Bank Holiday Monday, 31 May, Rusticus Woodland Creatures Theatre will present Frog and Rabbit performing The Three Musketeers; brim-full of French Royals, swashbuckling swordsmen and featuring Rabbit’s legendary carrot collection in an outdoor interactive performance.

On Tuesday, 1 June - Fox and Mole will perform The Odyssey, featuring powerful Gods, fearsome monsters, and distracting singing, in an outdoor interactive performance.

On Thursday, 3 June - Badger and Dormouse will perform Robin Hood, with campfire silliness, musical interludes and an epic tournament! Help the Sherriff get lost in the forest as you discover the greatest legend of our time – Robin Hood! This will also be an outdoor interactive performance.

Customers will need to book for the performances -  they will need to contact the Welcome Centre (by phone or in person) to book their pod for each performance - each pod can accommodate up to four people. Each event will be included with the standard admission fee.

General manager Marie Gascoigne said:

“We are very excited at being able to reopen the house again, and to be able to offer a limited events programme in the school holidays! This all feels like further steps back towards normality again, and we look forward to welcoming visitors back to even more activities here at Sewerby Hall and Gardens.”

Visitors can download the free Love Exploring app from ether the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, and enjoy the Dinosaur Safari.

The fox trot trail will be on display in the walled gardens, with visitors challenged to find 20 Foxes that are hidden in the gardens. Visitors to the zoo can scan QR codes to access short talks by head zookeeper John Pickering and assistant head zookeeper Melissa Tate about a wide range of the animals.

In addition, East Riding Archives have created a new, free app that turns smartphones or tablets into virtual ‘time machines’.  ‘What Was Here?’ uses historical photos from the archives, plotted onto a Google Maps base map, to show users literally ‘what was here’ at their location and elsewhere across the East Yorkshire region.

The app features heritage trails that guide users to various points of interest, where they can use their device’s camera to overlay the featured historic image on top of the modern scene and get a feel for how it looked in the past.  One such heritage trail is currently part of the Sewerby Hall and Gardens visitor experience.

Full details of the exhibition, performances, the zoo, opening times and facilities available are at www.sewerbyhall.co.uk  Visitors should book online in advance.