Visit FAQs

The 49 bus runs from Swindon Bus Station to the Park regularly—please check the bus schedule for up-to-date information. From the train station entrance, cross the road at the pedestrian crossing and follow Milford Street to the bus station.  

A Day Rider ticket is the best value if you are planning to use the bus for your return journey. Tickets can be bought using contactless payment on the bus or on the Stagecoach app. Visitors should ask for the Wroughton Science Museum stop.  

When getting the return bus to the bus station, use the Stagecoach app to check the timetable.  It’s best to check the app 30 minutes before the bus is due to arrive. 

It takes around 40 minutes to cycle from Swindon Train Station to the Science and Innovation Park entrance. Please note, there is large hill to climb to reach the Park. Cycling around the Park can take between 5–20 minutes.

Cycle parking is provided at the Park, but this is at your own risk.

Tickets to these tours must be booked in advance online on our website here or over the phone. Tickets are not available in person from the Science and Innovation Park. 

Public tours will explore the Hawking Building, our new purpose-built collection management facility, which houses over 300,000 objects from the Science Museum Group Collection. 

You can log in to your online account to view your tickets. Please be ready to show your e-tickets on arrival. If possible, please avoid printing your tickets. We will scan your tickets so make sure that your brightness is turned up on your mobile phone screen. Our staff will be on hand to help. 

You will receive your tickets by email which you will need to bring with along with you, either on a mobile device or as a print-out. As part of our commitment to sustainability we ask that you avoid printing tickets where possible.  

The tickets will have a barcode that will be scanned by on arrival at the Park.   

If you are unable to find the email, you can log into your account on a mobile device and access your tickets from there. If you don’t have an account, please speak to our Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058.  

We will do our best to accommodate latecomers, however if we’ve reached capacity, you will be asked to wait until the next available timeslot or book again for another day. 

Yes. All ticket bookers will receive a pre-visit email with helpful information about how to have a safe and enjoyable day out at our site.

Visitors should receive this at least 24 hours before their visit. If not, please check your spam folder and make sure we’re marked as a safe sender.

If you are unable to find the email, you can log into your account on a mobile device and access your tickets from there. If you don’t have an account, please speak to our Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058.

If you would like to move your paid tickets to a different day, please call our Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058. Our phone lines can get very busy so please bear with us.

If you would be happy to donate the value of your tickets to the site, please email our Contact Centre at info@ScienceMuseumGroup.ac.uk with your name and order number.

We offer free carer tickets for our public tours.

These are currently unavailable to book via the website so you can either book online without carers’ tickets and then email the Contact Centre at info@ScienceMuseumGroup.ac.uk with your order number, and the team will be able to add free carer tickets onto the order.

Alternatively, you can call the Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058 and they’ll be able to book in the complete order over the phone.

Advance tickets are released regularly throughout the year. Sign up to our newsletters to hear when new dates go on sale. 

There is no food or drink available to purchase at the Science and Innovation Park.  

For the long-term preservation and care of our collection, no food or drink is allowed within the Hawking Building at the National Collections Centre. Visitors should leave any food and drink in the lockers provided.

Researchers visiting the National Collections entre should speak with the Collections Access team about food and drink once their visit is confirmed.   

Toilets are available across the Science and Innovation Park.   

Accessible toilets are located in the entrance to the Hawking Building. 

Our priority is providing an enjoyable and safe visit for everyone and it is a condition of entry that you abide by our guidelines and the instructions of our staff.   

If it is necessary to close all or part of the site temporarily for any reason, we may direct you to leave by certain routes, or prevent you from leaving by certain routes.  

You must leave the site directly after your tour. 

While you are at the Park, please take care of your own health and safety and our collections and do not:  

• Disregard alarms, signs or directions given by staff  
• Run within any of our buildings, particularly in the collection stores or on staircases  
• Leave personal property unattended 
• Bring any restricted item into the site (see below)  
• Cross barriers, cordons or protective spaces in front of objects on open display   
• Touch objects on open display 
• Climb on any part of the collection, or the fabric of the building including walls, barriers, and columns 
• Affix items (anything from stickers to people) to any part of the collection, or fabric of the building  
• Block or obstruct entrance/exit doors or steps in any way  
• Eat and drink other than in designated areas  
• Smoke on site (including electronic cigarettes and vaping products)  
• Fundraise, demonstrate or distribute campaigning material, without prior agreement  
• Exhibit behaviour which is considered antisocial or disruptive by staff 
• Use any laser pointer or laser pen for any purpose 
• Ride bicycles or scooters inside the buildings 
• Leave any children in your care unattended or allow them to behave antisocially.  
• If you do not comply with any part of these regulations, you may be asked to leave the Park.  

If you don’t follow the conditions of entry, the Science Museum Group (SMG) reserves the right, at the discretion of our staff, to refuse you entry to the site or to ask you to leave. If you are asked to leave you will not be entitled to a refund.

Please respect other visitors, the collection and our staff. 

Our public tours offer a behind-the-scenes experience of a working collection store where objects are on open display so you can get close to them. To protect them for future generations, please remind your group not to touch or climb on them. CCTV and security officers are in place throughout the building to monitor this. 

We expect visitors of all ages to adhere to this code of conduct and poor behaviour could mean that people are asked to leave. 

We require all visitors to keep footwear on while on site. For your own health and safety and the safety of our collections, children under 7, including babes in arms, aren’t allowed on  the public tours.

Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

For education groups, separate advice and guidance on supervision of children is available in our Learning section.  

For safeguarding, and to ensure health and safety on the site, our adult to child ratio policy for groups is: 

• Ages 7 to 11 – 1:8  
• Ages 11 to 16 – 1:10  
• Ages 16 to 18 – 1:30 
• Over 18s – 1 responsible adult per group 

Please ensure you have enough accompanying adults before you request your visit. They must be aged 19 or over. 

Children arriving without accompanying adults may not be allowed on to the site. Find out more about booking a group visit.

We take the safety of our visitors and guests very seriously.  Please cooperate fully with security checks and support our team as they carry out their role.

We will sometimes conduct bag searches at the Science and Innovation Park. This may be on arrival, at a secondary search point or on entry to our collection store. If asked, you must allow our security officers to search your bags.  

The searches look for restricted items (see list below) and any other material that might be considered a risk to our collection, or to the health and safety and enjoyment of our visitors.    

If, on searching your bag, our security officers find any of these items (or other item that may be a risk to other visitors, staff, the collection or building) they will remove it, and return it to you when you leave the site.   

If our security officers find an illegal item in your bag they will confiscate it, and hand it to the police.   

We may ask our security officers to carry out more general searches as a condition of entry to the site and reasons for this will be explained.

• Alcohol
• Clothing with offensive messages or logos  
• Animals, with exception of working guide and assistance animals  
• Potentially dangerous items such as fireworks, knives, paint or sprays. Knives which are carried for religious or cultural observance (such as the Kirpan) are normally exempt from this policy  
• Items designed to be thrown, which could cause harm to visitors, our staff or objects on display   
• Balloons, as these can interfere with our alarm systems if they float away  
• Flags, banners, leaflets, posters and similar items  
• Loudspeakers, voice amplifiers or microphones  
• Illegal items  
• Any other item deemed unnecessary for a visit to the Park. 

Please look after your personal property while at the Park. Any property left unattended may be removed. If you lose any item during your visit, please speak to a member of staff.    

You must not leave any of your property unattended in any of our buildings. We reserve the right to remove and/ or destroy unattended property without warning in the interests of safety and security. You will not hold us liable if we remove or destroy any property that you have left unattended.  

If it is handed in to us, we will keep your lost property for three months in accordance with our lost property operating procedure.  

Mobility scooters are welcome at the Park. Electric mobility scooters may not be charged in any of the museum power points without permission of a member of staff.  

No electric scooters are allowed in our buildings. There is cycle parking available at the Park.

You are not permitted to cycle or ride scooters anywhere inside our buildings. Any bicycles or scooters parked at the Park are done so at your own risk.

All our staff are identifiable from their Science and Innovation Park passes. Staff are available on site whenever we are open to the public, to ensure that you have a safe and enjoyable visit.  

Our staff are authorised by the Park to require you to comply with these visitor guidelines or other directions. If you fail to do so, or staff believe you are intoxicated or behaving antisocially or that your conduct causes or is likely to cause risk, annoyance or disturbance to other visitors, to our staff, to the collection or to property, you may be refused admission to the Park, you may be asked to leave and/or you may be escorted from the site.  

We will not tolerate abuse or violence towards any visitor, contractor, or member of staff. Failure to cooperate with the lawful directions of our staff may put you at risk of committing a criminal offence.  

Visitors are permitted to use hand-held cameras or phones, without flash, within the Park for private and non-commercial purposes, but must not:  

• Use cameras in any areas where video or photography is restricted (this will always be clearly signed)  
• Make any recording or take any photograph of any person without their permission  
• You must respect the privacy of other visitors while taking photographs, filming, or making audio recordings in the Park. If a visitor or staff member complains that your photography, filming, or recording is intrusive you may be asked to stop and/or delete any imagery and/or leave the site.  

We will always let visitors know if filming or photography is taking place in the Park during their visit.  

Non-private or commercial use of cameras/recording devices, and the use of tripods or lighting, is only allowed by prior arrangement. For any media filming or photography requests, please contact the Press Team.  

CCTV is in use throughout the Science and Innovation Park; images are recorded for the purpose of prevention and detection of crime, safety and good management, in line with Data Protection legislation. 

If you are asked to leave the site, you may be barred from returning to the site in the future. SMG reserves the right to report any visitor deemed to be exhibiting antisocial or disruptive behaviour to the police for further investigation.  

There is step-free access to our publicly accessible buildings.  

All lifts are wheelchair accessible, have tactile labelling and some have audio announcements. 

The Upper Mezzanine in the Hawking Building can be accessed via both a lift and a staircase.  

The Park is large and you will need access to a vehicle, whether this is your personal vehicle, or transport that has been arranged by your site contact. It is a 10-minute drive from the main entrance to the Hawking Building. 

We require you to wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the weather conditions whilst visiting the Park.