The Natural History Museum’s lesser-known location outside London is one of Time Out’s Best Museums in the UK

If ornithological true crime is your thing (and why wouldn’t it be?), you’ll know about the Great Feather Heist. On a June night in 2009, an American flautist called Edwin Rist broke into the Tring Natural History Museum using a glass cutter, a suitcase and a pair of latex gloves. His plan? To steal rare bird specimens and sell the feathers on eBay to buy a golden flute. 

Rist, who planned out his heist on a Word doc titled ‘PLAN FOR MUSEUM INVASION’, made off with 299 birds, but was later arrested and confessed to the crime. The majority of the specimens were returned to the museum intact.

It’s been 17 years since that fateful night, and although the robbery will continue to form part of the cultural hub’s history, it’s not the only reason the Natural History Museum at Tring deserves recognition.

In fact, the quirky family-friendly time capsule and treasure trove of naturalist delights made it onto Time Out’s list of the 20 best museums in the UK in 2026. Coming in at number 12, the Hertfordshire historical hub is made up of six galleries displaying everything from a great auk to a Tasmanian tiger (stuffed, of course). Plus, its hallowed halls are completely free to wander. 

Time Out global film editor Phil de Semlyen, who’s a big fan of the museum, said: ‘It’s high time someone made a movie about Lionel Walter Rothschild, the animal-loving eccentric behind this lesser-known Natural History Museum in the painterly-pretty town of Tring.’ Phil’s fave exhibits include the viper display on the top floor – ‘many decades deceased and still awe-inspiring’.

As well as its plethora of stuffed animal specimens, the Natural History Museum in Tring also historically championed female palaeontologists. Earlier this month, the organisation applied for permission to erect a Historic England plaque honouring Dorothea Bate, one of the first female scientists at the Natural History Museum who started working there in 1898 when she was just 19. Cool, huh?

🏛️ The best museums in the UK to visit in 2026.

Did you see that one of Oxford's best museums has had its biggest ever transformation?

Plus: a new exhibition celebrates one of the UK’s most important music venues.