South London's Horniman Museum is getting a major revamp next month

The Horniman Museum will get a handful of new outdoors attractions next month, to be unveiled as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations.

From May 21st you’ll be able to check out the Horniman’s new areas, which include a cafe, kids’ play area, community garden and a revamped nature trail.

The main new area is where you’ll find the cafe and play area, which live in the same blob of land in the Horseman Museum’s 16-acre grounds.

The Kusuma Nature Play area is part of the museum’s Nature + Love revamp project, which was announced in November 2025. It includes a slide and wooden jetty, webbing for kids’ climbing and balance beams.

It backs out onto the cafe, which will offer sourdough pizza as well as more familiar cafe fare. It will be operated by Colicci, which runs numerous comparable sites across London parks and attractions, including the Serpentine Lido Cafe, spots at Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, we all as the Horniman’s main cafe.

Elsewhere in the grounds, you’ll find the Community Garden and Gardens Nursery. These are much chilled-out spaces with a more adult and wellbeing bent, and they will be used as a place for NHS social prescribing, suggesting we can expect regular events to be held there.

A touch of tech

Back to the kids’ stuff, the Horniman Gardens nature trail is getting an AR-based revamp. Using a phone or another internet-connected mobile device, you’ll be able to see 3D animated creatures pasted onto the camera’s view of the Horniman grounds.

It’s been designed to create minimal faff, with no need to download apps or pay any fees. You just scan the sign.

All of these new elements to the Horniman Museum grounds are part of a £10 million revamp of the South London attraction. But there’s still more to come.

The Horniman Museum’s famous Natural History Gallery has been closed since 2024. And while it was originally pencilled in for a 2026 opening as part of this wider Nature + Love project, it’s now not due to re-open until 2027.

However, you can still visit other parts including the aquarium (adult tickets £6.50) and a Natural History pop-up exhibition, which is open until June 30th.

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