Stockwood Craft Museum, set in historic Stockwood Country Park, focused on garden history and rural crafts in Bedfordshire and was managed by Luton Museum Service. The museum held important collections, but was under-used and not realising its potential to engage the region’s communities. Luton Museum Service saw the opportunity to develop the site into a hands-on discovery centre where local people could explore their heritage and become more aware of the sustainability issues affecting them today.

The centre is situated in beautiful Grade II listed grounds and includes social history, archaeology, geology and rural crafts displays. It houses the Mossman carriage collection, the largest collection of its kind in the UK. It offers visitors changing exhibitions, extensive themed and period gardens, a café and a children’s outdoor play area.

Concern for the environment was central to the development of the centre and it was built using sustainable materials and construction methods by local contractors. The centre is also run on green principles; for example it features sedum roofs, solar panels, natural ventilation and a biomass boiler. Interpretation has environmental themes running through it and the centre offers a range of sustainability-related programmes for schools and other audiences.

Luton now has a popular, sustainable attraction that engages a larger, more diverse audience with their heritage within an environmental context.  

Stockwood Discovery Centre is now managed by The Culture Trust Luton, an arts and culture charity that delivers services in the town.