Through interactive exhibits, toys and illustrations Oi Chelmsford! Kes Gray: Chelmsford Born and Read will celebrate the author’s best loved book characters and share how his childhood experiences across Chelmsford have influenced their adventures.

Oi Chelmsford! is an ode to Kes Gray’s quirky imagination. Children will be able to immerse themselves in the author’s books, with large, bold and colourful illustrations on display – including drawings by famed children’s illustrators, Nick Sharratt, Garry Parsons and Jim Field.

Increasing access for SEN families

Oi Chelmsford! has been curated by the museum in collaboration with Kes Gray and publishers Penguin Random House and Hachette Children’s Group. The museum has also worked closely on the exhibition with young Special Educational Needs (SEN) families through the charity Action for Family Carers. Local SEN families have been consulted during the design phase of the exhibition, to ensure interactive elements are widely accessible to all families and provide positive sensory experiences for SEN children. The outcome of this work will help build upon the museum’s existing offer for SEN families.

Exhibition opens 29 November

Oi Chelmsford! opens on Saturday 29 November and will run until June 2026.

An accompanying programme of events will provide opportunities for families to further explore the imaginative world of Kes Gray.

Watch this space for news of our special Oi Chelmsford! event taking place during Essex Book Festival 2026!

Read more about the Oi Chelmsford! exhibition in this Chelmsford City Life article.

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Recognising England’s best visitor attractions

Introduced in 2014, VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Accolades acknowledge the very best of England’s tourism experiences, from museums, farm attractions, and historic houses to churches, cathedrals, and country parks.

The accolades are awarded based on VisitEngland quality assessments, customer feedback direct to VisitEngland and online customer reviews.

This year, the museum increased its scoring in its annual VisitEngland quality assessment, achieving a personal high of 95% in 2024, compared to 92% in 2023.

The scores are based on visits from trained VisitEngland assessors, who review the entire visitor journey, scoring aspects such as parking, exhibits, retail offer, food and drink, cleanliness, and staff.

Chelmsford Museum’s assessor this year particularly praised the museum’s regularly refreshed collections and its current temporary exhibition ‘Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine’, which provide returning visitors with new content to explore.

Read the full article on the Chelmsford City Life website.

Image: Museums Manager, Sarah Davies (centre), and Operations Manager, Kieran Bacon, (right) with VisitEngland Chairman, Lady Victoria Borwick (left). Photo by Kit Fanner.

The post Partner News: Chelmsford Museum awarded VisitEngland Gold Accolade appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Co-curated by Chelmsford Museum and the University of Essex, Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine will be the first exhibition to explore the life and works of the influential yet relatively unknown nature writer. It will share his story through more than 60 objects, mostly loaned from the university’s extensive J.A. Baker archive.

Restless Brilliance will highlight Baker’s prominence in Chelmsford’s history. Born in Chelmsford in 1926, John Alec Baker lived in the district for most of his life. He was an enthusiastic bird watcher and environmental campaigner. The author is best known for his first and most successful work, The Peregrine, widely considered to be a literary masterpiece.

Baker was passionate about the Essex countryside. Over many years he recorded his observations of the landscape during frequent walks and cycles around the Blackwater estuary, Danbury Hill, and Chelmsford.

Published in 1967, The Peregrine summarises ten years of his obsessive observations of the bird, especially around Chelmer Valley and the Essex coast. The uniquely poetic book won the prestigious Duff Cooper Memorial Prize for the “evocative power and sheer beauty” of Baker’s writing.

The Peregrine quickly became a cult classic in British nature writing, and over the years it has attracted a remarkable list of famous advocates and admirers. Nature writer Robert MacFarlane described it as “a masterpiece of twentieth-century non-fiction”, while filmmaker Werner Herzog includes it as one of three texts that his film students must read. Broadcaster and national treasure, David Attenborough, is also a fan, having narrated the audiobook in 2019.

The post Chelmsford Museum exhibition to explore legacy of legendary local nature writer appeared first on Essex Book Festival.