WARWICKSHIRE County Record Office and Market Hall Museum in Warwick are both set to reopen their doors to the public next week.
The Heritage and Culture Warwickshire (HCW) team has continued to offer their services and access to their collections virtually during the lockdown, but are now ready to welcome visitors safely back to the buildings.
Visits to both sites will be on a pre-booked basis only and tickets will be limited to allow visitors space to social distance while viewing the exhibits at Market Hall and researching documents at the record office.
People keen to use the record office for their family or house history will need to pre-order documents when booking, with archivists creating a safe system of storing touched archives.
Heritage and Culture Warwickshire is unable to run events at the moment, so the Learning and Community Engagement team has been busy preparing free activity packs ready for the school holidays.
Each week a different theme of activities will be released, and families will be able to collect them from Market Hall Museum. Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/heritageboxoffice
to arrange a timeslot to pick up a free activity pack register.
To keep visitors safe, some of the interactive displays and toys have been removed from Market Hall Museum, but there is a trail for children to take part in including challenges, quiz questions and games.
The Heritage and Culture Warwickshire team will still be offering a daily online activity for those unable to visit their sites. Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/heritage for details.
County heritage spokeswoman Coun Heather Timms said: “Having put our archives and collections to bed during lockdown, I’m delighted that we will be welcoming visitors of all ages back to Market Hall Museum and the County Record Office and providing them with a fun and meaningful experience that is also safe.
“Heritage and Culture Warwickshire have been working hard to modify their buildings in a way that ensures the safety of their visitors and staff, while still providing an experience that is as engaging as possible.
“In addition to re-opening buildings, the team have also been busy looking at how they can re-imagine the Heritage and Culture offer in Warwickshire by engaging with visitors in a different way.”
Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/heritageboxoffice to pre-book.
