The Observatory Science Centre
Local highlightHands-on science exhibits in the old Royal Greenwich Observatory buildings at Herstmonceux, its green domes still standing among the trees
When the Royal Greenwich Observatory outgrew a smoky, floodlit London, it moved out to the clearer skies of Herstmonceux after the war, and its green telescope domes still stand among the trees here. The research telescopes have since moved on again, but the buildings now hold the Observatory Science Centre, a hands-on place where children and adults alike can push, pull and experiment their way through the exhibits. Several of the domes are open, with some of the old equatorial telescopes still in place to look at, and there are science gardens and a discovery park to wander outside. Herstmonceux Castle, a moated brick castle, stands just across the parkland, and the village of Herstmonceux is a short way to the north-west.
