The Spaceguard Centre

A very interesting an informative tour with lots of great visuals and you get to go inside a big telescope dome 😃 Guide Jay explained everything really well so that people of any knowledge level can follow/understand. Set in a beautiful landscape location although we went mid winter so it was rather cold outside admiring the view.

Excellent tour. Although I expected it to be interesting, I was still surprised at the number of features - the scale models, the pitch black dome etc etc.

The Director Jay gave the entire tour without using a single filler word (like 'er', 'um' etc). It was remarkable.

My favourite part was when he demonstrated the movable floor of the observatory, which is so moved to make it easier to use the telescopes. Jay said 'any idiot can be uncomfortable'. He is clearly no such idiot.

The centre is also atop a ludicrously picturesque landscape. Outside, we saw a redstart.

Went there with my other half who's a engineer and my kids today. Good tour but when I made a general comment about how clever the solar system is i was informed very condescendingly that it was 'nature' and 'physics I understood this already but really put me off asking anything else. Not really kid friendly either. Would have been better with a different tour guide

Firstly, thanks to the Spaceguard Centre for an excellent guided tour, including diverse media, demonstrations, a planetarium session and being elevated on the lift in the original dome. Jay Tate's talk is well balanced for people with the mildest interest in science and nature, interested kids and for the keen amateur astronomer alike. You will leave the centre having learnt something new about the our place on Earth and the technology and global organisations we didn't know we needed - until we need them. The view from the top of the hill is also wonderful, but is easy to see how the exposure to the weather causes more than the occasional problem.

The centre is a working facility that really benefits from kind public support. Simply phone ahead to book a tour time in advance. Outside of the tour times the staff are understandably busy with maintenance, construction and planning the evening's observations.

The tour itself is a bargain so I would certainly consider making an additional donation to help complete Project Drax. Despite its unpolished exterior, the centre (a registered charity) and its directors capture the spirit of what achievements can be made with a skeleton budget and a huge amount of goodwill from public, business and volunteer support.

Don't forget to book in advance and plan your trip. The centre only has tours at certain times of the day and is volunteer based.

An incredibly interesting and educational experience. Jonathan Tate was fantastic and we both came away buzzing. Thankyou and all the best for the future 👍

SafeGuarding Earth against space rocks! This little known observatory helps to track comets, asteroids & meteors in our solar system. They give a very informative tour with immersive imagery and real meteorites for you to touch & feel. Totally unfunded by UK government, its totally worth the small £8 fee!

We were staying in the area and wanted to fill out some time so we booked a tour at the Spaceguard centre, assuming it would be another generic tour talking about planets and stars. It's not!
Jay is so knowledgeable and passionate about the work they do there and the information you get on what they do and different kinds of asteroids/meteors etc is amazing. Jay even has a documentary voice to rival Attenborough, I could listen to him all day.
It's amazing that this centre is only run by two people and is totally funded by donations, well worth a visit even if you just want to ride up and down on the telescope lift.