What's on in our museums

Come in out of the cold

We loved this review by a John Muir’s Birthplace visitor “We ended up here on a freezing January afternoon. What an excellent find - thoughtfully curated, warm and friendly. We got a real feel for John Muir's life and legacy, which has inspired us to learn more. Our daughter also enjoyed the little corners with books, toys, and activities to keep her occupied whilst we went around.”

Museums are warm, friendly and free to visit with regularly changing craft activities suitable for children and families as well as temporary exhibitions and reference books available to browse and read.

warm and friendly new

New exhibition

Visions of Haddington

Friday 16 January to Thursday 2 April

Free admission

John Gray Centre - Museum, 15 Lodge Street, Haddington, EH41 3DX

An exhibition combining mixed media images by local illustrator Thomas Small, with artworks from our council collection. Dating from the 1700s to the present day, they show Haddington people and places and are brought to life with fascinating captions by Haddington’s History Society.

Flight disruption

Lapwings 2

Saturday 6 December to Saturday 31 January

Free admission

Wednesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm

John Muir’s Birthplace, High Street, Dunbar, EH42 1JJ

This exhibition is a collection of prints of wild British birds that are impacted by climate change. Climate change is affecting our birds in many ways: warming seas impact the food chain, rising sea levels change the geography of where birds can breed and lay eggs, bad weather can make it hard to find food and feed young and extreme temperatures can make survival difficult. Numbers of British birds are predicted to fall drastically over the coming years. The exhibition features original, hand-pulled, linocut prints of birds seen along the coast of East Lothian. Many of the birds featured are impacted in some way by climate change and are either on the red or amber list of the BTO Birds of Conservation Concern in the UK.

Winter season museum opportunities

Explore historic records and online exhibitions at johngraycentre.org

Revisit past exhibitions from John Muir’s Birthplace jmbt.org.uk

Explore the paths around Prestongrange Museums using the mobile phone tour as a guide through 400 years of local industry. eastlothian.gov.uk/prestongrange

Take a tour of Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery with Dunbar and District History Society on a Saturday afternoon. eastlothian.gov.uk/dunbar-town-house

snowy village

January 2026