Cumberland House Natural History Museum

A lovely message passed on by Cumberland House Natural History Museum Friends 'I came to Cumberland House today to see the butterfly museum and wow it is fantastic thank you, the staff are lovely as well and it is such a relaxed environment that you can take everything in fully. Thank you for a lovely couple of hours here's just one of several butterfly photos I took'

Join us for beach fun and sea creatures - run by Southsea Wildlife Watch on Saturday 21 July, 10am - 12 noon. Suitable for ages 5 -12 (children to accompanied by adults). Sress to be outside. Suggested donation £4 per child

It's official! We have just been awarded a Zoo Licence. Well done to the Butterfly House team - it shows that your hard work and dedication has paid off.

Have you visited our beautiful Butterfly House? Here is one of the residents feeding on pineapple

The Wild About Portsmouth HLF funded project is looking for help with the Natural History collections. Here's our stand at the Volunteers Fair at the Guildhall

Please note - The Cumberland House bees will be removed tomorrow (Thursday 24th May) so essential repairs can be made to the hive. During this time the hive will not be accessible to the public. Apologies for the inconvenience. We are expecting the bees to be back within a week - updates to follow. 🐝

There's an exciting development at The Butterfly House today... Expect some news on when we'll have butterflies back on the wing very soon.

🚨 Job alert! 🚨 We're looking for a Curator of Natural History to join the Museums team. Take a look at the job description via the link below and share with anyone who you think may fit the bill.

Great news! We've secured a £79,700 Heritage Lottery Fund grant to deliver Wild About Portsmouth - a two-year project aimed at sharing and raising the profile of our natural history collection. Read more about the announcement here:

📢 Museum opening update 📢 There has been a change to the previously announced opening hours of Cumberland House Natural History Museum, as staff and volunteers get ready to open the new D-Day Story museum. Please see the updated information below. Week commencing 5th March: open Thursday - Sunday Week commencing 12th March: open Thursday - Sunday Week commencing 19th March: open Saturday and Sunday... Week commencing 26th March: open Good Friday - Easter Sunday.
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📢 Please note: From 27th February to 29th March, Cumberland House Natural History Museum will only be open on Saturdays and Sundays. This is to enable staff to focus on the final stages of the D-Day Story project. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Butterflies turn up in the most unexpected of places!

Wow! What a shot, our local weather can be amazing.

Don't miss out on this great event we have coming up at the museum in half term!

Lovely shot from Love Eastney

Behind the scenes work is still being done on the fabulous watercolours by Henry Guermonprez and his family. This gorgeous image of a guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) is in fact by Henry's daughter, Harriett. The specimen came from a copse on Cocking Down, West Sussex and is dated 11 May 1893.

Very exciting new discovery by the University of Portsmouth http://bit.ly/2yceu5Q

We have a lovely event on tomorrow here at the museum from 10.30 until 3.00. Check out the website for details http://bit.ly/2zPtdF6

Visited with family, there is lockable pram and buggy storage, interesting displays, baby change and toilet facilities, a small shop with rubbers, pencils dinosaurs and such for children, they sell bottled water also, entry free but on leaving there is a donation box that is fun for children to put the money in, great little museum, well worth a visit

Totally amazing place and I can't belive its all free!!!!

The kids loved it here yesterday. The new butterfly house is lovely and there were some fab half term activities going on! Such a great and free treasure in Portsmouth!

Its a really lovely place. Kids are very fond of it. New butterfly house is great!

Cumberland House is I believe Portsmouth's greatest Museum. Small and friendly with very special interests catering for those who have an inquisitive mind.

The new Butterfly House will I am sure outshine its predecessor and hopefully the highly trained staff will soon be able to show tropical butterflies in there abundance.

The live bee exhibition still amazes visitors being able to look into a hive is spectacular. The talks by the be keepers is so interesting.

A astronomy section, geographical samples, one must not forget the dinosaurs and don't forget to look up to see the early mammals!

Hopefully the A to Z exhibition will be back (Maybe with different items?) when the museum reopens.

A great place for the little ones in your family, with A to Z of natura hiistory, Emily and Iggy the dinosaurs, live butterflies in the summer (returning spring 2017) and live observational beehive.

A good place to take kids, small but still lots to see and is FREE to go in

Visited yesterday my little boy loved the dinosaur and the bones

Was very pleased

To pierwsze muzeum, jakie odwiedziłem zaraz po przyjeździe do Anglii. Szkoda, że nie mogłem obejrzeć motyli ale za to bardzo zainteresowałem się historią lisów, które z dzikich drapieżników, stały się amatorami domowych śmietników. Świetny, zadbany ogród, którym można przejść z Canoe Lake na pobliskie osiedle. No i jeszcze jedna zaleta: darmowy wstęp (puszka na datki).

Think staff could be a bit more lient when it's comes to children. The whole place design for children and family after all.

Lovely house for butterflies which is good and high for them to fly well. Beautiful flowers and plants giving an excellent environment. One thing missing which is a bench to sit and enjoy it all for even longer. Also maybe information charts about the types and names of butterflies there.

Love the new butterfly house, brings back memories of when I was a kid.

Didn't think much of the museum itself, small and limited in quantity and quality. But the bees were interesting and the new butterfly house is fantastic. The staff were pleasant too.

A lovely quirky museum to visit with the kids. Lots to do nearby also. Often has reptile displays! :)

A little gem for lovers of natural history and the renovated butterfly house is a must, especially for butterfly lovers and photographers.

A great little museum that we visited on a very rainy day in Portsmouth and wiled away an hour !

Bees were very interesting, and nice little area with a few puzzles to entertain the children, although maybe some colouring / word searches or something for the older children would be a good idea �

We visited on good Friday a little Easter trail would of been a nice touch too



Would be nice to return when the butterflies are there

Sweet place especially for small children. Is free so great if you are on a tight budget. Butterflies are lovely

Visited with family, there is lockable pram and buggy storage, interesting displays, baby change and toilet facilities, a small shop with rubbers, pencils dinosaurs and such for children, they sell bottled water also, entry free but on leaving there is a donation box that is fun for children to put the money in, great little museum, well worth a visit

Totally amazing place and I can't belive its all free!!!!

The kids loved it here yesterday. The new butterfly house is lovely and there were some fab half term activities going on! Such a great and free treasure in Portsmouth!

Its a really lovely place. Kids are very fond of it. New butterfly house is great!

Cumberland House is I believe Portsmouth's greatest Museum. Small and friendly with very special interests catering for those who have an inquisitive mind.

The new Butterfly House will I am sure outshine its predecessor and hopefully the highly trained staff will soon be able to show tropical butterflies in there abundance.

The live bee exhibition still amazes visitors being able to look into a hive is spectacular. The talks by the be keepers is so interesting.

A astronomy section, geographical samples, one must not forget the dinosaurs and don't forget to look up to see the early mammals!

Hopefully the A to Z exhibition will be back (Maybe with different items?) when the museum reopens.

A great place for the little ones in your family, with A to Z of natura hiistory, Emily and Iggy the dinosaurs, live butterflies in the summer (returning spring 2017) and live observational beehive.

A good place to take kids, small but still lots to see and is FREE to go in

Visited yesterday my little boy loved the dinosaur and the bones

Was very pleased

To pierwsze muzeum, jakie odwiedziłem zaraz po przyjeździe do Anglii. Szkoda, że nie mogłem obejrzeć motyli ale za to bardzo zainteresowałem się historią lisów, które z dzikich drapieżników, stały się amatorami domowych śmietników. Świetny, zadbany ogród, którym można przejść z Canoe Lake na pobliskie osiedle. No i jeszcze jedna zaleta: darmowy wstęp (puszka na datki).

Think staff could be a bit more lient when it's comes to children. The whole place design for children and family after all.

Lovely house for butterflies which is good and high for them to fly well. Beautiful flowers and plants giving an excellent environment. One thing missing which is a bench to sit and enjoy it all for even longer. Also maybe information charts about the types and names of butterflies there.

Love the new butterfly house, brings back memories of when I was a kid.

Didn't think much of the museum itself, small and limited in quantity and quality. But the bees were interesting and the new butterfly house is fantastic. The staff were pleasant too.

A lovely quirky museum to visit with the kids. Lots to do nearby also. Often has reptile displays! :)

A little gem for lovers of natural history and the renovated butterfly house is a must, especially for butterfly lovers and photographers.

A great little museum that we visited on a very rainy day in Portsmouth and wiled away an hour !

Bees were very interesting, and nice little area with a few puzzles to entertain the children, although maybe some colouring / word searches or something for the older children would be a good idea �

We visited on good Friday a little Easter trail would of been a nice touch too



Would be nice to return when the butterflies are there

Sweet place especially for small children. Is free so great if you are on a tight budget. Butterflies are lovely