Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

The Sedgwick Museum is Cambridge's museum of rocks, fossils and the history of the Earth, and it is one of the best free things to do in the city. It stands on Downing Street in an Edwardian building named for Adam Sedgwick, the Victorian geologist who taught at the university for more than fifty years and was one of the founders of modern geology. The museum grew out of a collection begun in the early eighteenth century, which makes it one of the oldest geological collections in the country. The long ground-floor gallery is the heart of the visit, with an Iguanodon skeleton cast rearing over cases of fossils, marine reptiles from the age of the dinosaurs, ammonites, trilobites and the bones of animals that lived in the Cambridge area long before the colleges. Upstairs, mineral displays show crystals and gemstones in a range of colours, and the story of the planet is told through rocks, maps and specimens rather than through lengthy panels. The setting is old-fashioned in the best way, with polished wood cabinets, handwritten labels and plenty of objects that you can lean in and study at your own pace.

Plan an hour for a relaxed visit, or longer if you enjoy geology. The museum is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm, and it is closed on Sundays and over the Christmas and New Year period. Admission is free and individual visitors do not need to book, so it works as a flexible rainy-day stop.

Groups need to arrange a visit in advance. The museum also runs a rock, fossil and mineral identification service, which is a pleasant surprise if you have picked something up on a beach or a hike and want to know what it is.

Look for the pieces that bring the collection to life. The Iguanodon cast dominates the main gallery and gives children an instant reason to look around. Nearby, cases of marine reptiles and giant fossil sea creatures show how different the world looked when Britain lay under warm seas. The museum also holds rock specimens gathered by Charles Darwin on the voyage of the Beagle, a quiet connection to one of the great scientific journeys of the nineteenth century.

Smaller displays on earthquakes, volcanoes, climate and the long history of life on Earth make the science easy to follow even if you have no background in it.

The museum sits in the university's Downing Site, a short walk from Parker's Piece, the Lensfield Hotel and the Hilton on Downing Street, so it combines well with a walk through the museum quarter. Pair it with the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which is next door, and you can fit two free museums into a half day. It is a useful wet-weather plan, a good choice for families who need a break from colleges and chapels, and a natural stop for anyone interested in how science grew up in Cambridge.

Beyond the main gallery, look out for the smaller displays on how fossils form, how rocks are dated and what ancient climates were like, which give the exhibits a scientific backbone. Staff and volunteers are often on hand to answer questions, and the shop sells fossils, minerals and books that make good souvenirs.