Mercedes-Benz World is free, Claremont is £14 and Brooklands is £23 until 1 September. Verified 2026 prices for Esher, Cobham, Weybridge and the Moleseys.
Elmbridge has two eighteenth-century landscape gardens, the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit, a Concorde you can walk into, a racecourse and a free museum of Mercedes-Benz, all within about six miles of each other. What it does not have is a single town centre they cluster around, so this is a list by place rather than a walking route.
One thing to know before you book. The government’s temporary VAT cut, from 20% to 5% on admission, runs from 25 June to 1 September 2026. Brooklands, Claremont, Painshill and Garsons are all passing it on. Prices at several of the places below go up on 2 September, so if you have been meaning to go, this month is cheaper than next.
Cobham
Painshill
An eighteenth-century landscape garden built as a walk through a series of staged views, with a serpentine lake, a Gothic Temple, a Ruined Abbey, a Turkish Tent and a crystal-lined grotto. It is a registered charity and independent of the National Trust, so National Trust and English Heritage cards do not get you in.
Adult admission is £12.50 booked online or £15.00 on the door. Children aged 5 to 16 are £5.50 online and £7.50 on the door, and under-5s are free. A £1 booking fee applies per online transaction. Open daily 10am to 6pm with last entry at 5pm, every day of the year except Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The Crystal Grotto is closed on Mondays for maintenance, except bank holiday Mondays, which is worth checking if it is the thing you are going for.
Fairmile Lane
Not an attraction, a warning: the lane is shut in sections for gas main replacement until early September, with a diversion via Portsmouth Road and Stoke Road. See our roadworks page before you drive to Painshill from the south.
Esher
Claremont Landscape Garden
The other great landscape garden, and a grade 1 listed one, shaped in turn by four of the most influential designers in English landscape history: John Vanbrugh, Charles Bridgeman, William Kent and Capability Brown. Bridgeman’s grass amphitheatre and Vanbrugh’s belvedere tower date from about 1715 to 1725; Kent enlarged the pond into the irregular lake and made the island and its pavilion from 1734. There is also a serious play area.
Run by the National Trust, so free to members. Otherwise adult £14.00, child (5 to 17) £7.00, family £35.00, or £21.00 for one adult with up to three children. Under-5s free, parking free, and no need to pre-book. Open 9am to 5pm through the summer, with last entry an hour before closing and the Gardener’s Bothy Café shutting at 4:30pm. Bikes, balls and scooters are asked to stay at home because of the slopes and open water.
Sandown Park
Jump and flat racing on the edge of Esher town centre, a little over half a mile from Esher station. The next fixtures are Killik & Co. Family Festival Friday on 28 August 2026 and BetMGM 80s Day on Saturday 29 August. Grandstand enclosure tickets for the Friday start at £22.00 booked online against £26 on the gate. The Equus restaurant packages start at £135.
The course also hosts non-racing events through the year, including toy fairs, a wedding show and the National Honey Show.
Garsons
Pick your own fruit on a working farm off Winterdown Road, plus a large farm shop and garden centre. Entry is by Farm Ticket at £2.50 per person for anyone aged 2 and over, and it must be booked online before you arrive; they are not sold at the gate. The ticket covers entry only. What you pick is weighed and paid for separately at the end. Infants under 2 are free. The 2026 season is running, though the farm warns that ticket numbers and sessions can be limited in hot weather while they watch the crops.
Weybridge
Brooklands Museum
The site of the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit, established in 1907, which later became an aircraft factory. You get a surviving section of the banked track, the Brooklands Concorde, a hangar of historic aircraft, racing cars, motorcycles and a new exhibition on Britain’s Grand Prix story.
Adult admission is £23.00 online for visits up to 1 September, then £25.70 online from 2 September to 1 November. Children aged 4 to 17 are £9.50 now and £10.70 from September, under-4s and carers are free. On-the-day prices are about a pound higher. The museum is open 10am to 5pm until 1 November and has been cashless since 1 January 2026.
The Concorde Experience, a 35-minute tour inside the aircraft, is booked separately, and there is a longer technical version on selected dates including 22 August, 17 September and 10 October.
Mercedes-Benz World
Next door to Brooklands, on the old circuit. Free entry and free parking, with three floors of cars including the ‘140 Years of Innovation’ exhibition, F1 simulators in The Grid, and free screenings of every F1 broadcast during opening hours. The driving experiences, from AMG laps to young driver sessions, are the paid part.
It is the best free half-day in the borough with children, and it shares the old Brooklands site with the museum, so the two can be done in one trip. Mercedes-Benz World’s own advice is to allow extra travel time when Brooklands runs a big event, because the whole area fills up.
Walton-on-Thames and the Moleseys
The river
The Thames path along Cowey Sale and under Walton Bridge is free, flat and open, and links Walton to Sunbury one way and Hampton Court the other. Walton Bridge itself is the only road crossing between Hampton Court and Chertsey, which is why it is the landmark everyone navigates by.
Hurst Pool, Molesey
Note the dates if you swim here. The pool closes on 7 September 2026 for a £1.45 million refurbishment, with completion scheduled for January or February 2027. Places Leisure, which runs it for the council, is directing customers to the Xcel Leisure Complex in Walton-on-Thames in the meantime, and is working with swimming groups and schools on an alternative programme. The park and play area at Hurst Park stay open throughout.
Riverhouse Barn, Walton
A converted barn arts centre by the river running music, comedy, theatre and exhibitions. A new Elmbridge Museum photography exhibition, Then and Now, opens there in September 2026, showing how the borough’s streets have changed.
Elmbridge Museum, and where to actually find it
Worth setting expectations. Elmbridge Museum has no single building open to the public at the moment: it works as displays in library hubs, online exhibitions and outreach, and its collection is in the middle of a move to new storage. In 2026 it has run displays at the Weybridge Library Hub and at Cobham Library, with the Then and Now exhibition at Riverhouse Barn from September. Check what is on before you make a trip for it.
Its online exhibitions, on the borough’s high streets, its wartime years and Brooklands racing, are free and open at any time.
A free day out in Elmbridge
You can fill a day here without paying anything. Mercedes-Benz World costs nothing to enter or park at, and the F1 screenings are free to watch during opening hours.
The Esher Commons are the big one. They cover 360 hectares, about 4% of the borough, running from Esher to Cobham and Oxshott to West End, and were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1995 for their mix of woodland, heathland and wetland and the rare butterflies, beetles and reptiles they support. They are one of 20 council countryside sites totalling around 625 hectares, all free to walk. The council’s countryside team runs free guided walks. One rule to know: barbecues, campfires, fire pits and all other naked flames are banned across Elmbridge parks, commons and open spaces under a Public Spaces Protection Order, and the council has been reminding people of it after wildfires this summer.
The Thames path through Cowey Sale, Walton and the Moleseys is free and level. Hurst Park in Molesey keeps its park and play area open even while the pool is shut. And Elmbridge Museum’s online exhibitions cost nothing at all.
Parking is the only cost, and even that has a free tier: the council’s car parks give 30 minutes free across 22 sites and are free after 6pm in the four town centres and all day on bank holidays. Details are on our roadworks and travel page.
Frequently asked questions
What is there to do in Elmbridge for free?
Mercedes-Benz World at Weybridge is free to enter with free parking, three floors of cars and free F1 screenings. The Esher Commons, 360 hectares of SSSI-designated woodland and heath running from Esher to Cobham, are free to walk, as are the borough’s other countryside sites and the Thames path through Walton and the Moleseys. Council car parks give 30 minutes free and are free after 6pm in Esher, Cobham, Walton and Weybridge town centres.
How much is Painshill?
£12.50 for an adult booked online or £15.00 on the door, with children aged 5 to 16 at £5.50 online and £7.50 on the door. Under-5s are free. A £1 booking fee applies per online transaction. National Trust and English Heritage membership does not cover Painshill.
How much is Claremont Landscape Garden?
£14.00 for an adult, £7.00 for a child aged 5 to 17 and £35.00 for a family of two adults and up to three children, or free for National Trust members. Parking is free and there is no need to book.
Is Brooklands Museum cheaper before September?
Yes. An adult ticket booked online is £23.00 for visits up to 1 September 2026 and £25.70 from 2 September, because of the temporary VAT reduction. Child tickets go from £9.50 to £10.70 on the same date.
Is Hampton Court Palace in Elmbridge?
No. Hampton Court station is in East Molesey, on the Elmbridge bank of the river, but the palace itself is over the bridge in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is about a ten minute walk from the station.
When does Hurst Pool close?
7 September 2026, for a £1.45 million refurbishment scheduled to finish in January or February 2027. Swimmers are being directed to the Xcel Leisure Complex in Walton-on-Thames. Hurst Park itself, including the play area, stays open.
Sources
- Painshill ticket prices and opening times for admission and hours.
- National Trust, Claremont Landscape Garden for admission, opening hours and the VAT reduction note.
- Brooklands Museum tickets and prices and plan your visit for the summer and peak prices and opening hours.
- Mercedes-Benz World for free entry, free parking and what is on site.
- Sandown Park, Killik & Co. Family Festival Friday for the 28 August fixture and grandstand prices.
- Garson Farm PYO farm tickets for the £2.50 entry ticket and booking rules.
- Elmbridge Borough Council, Hurst Pool refurbishment update, 7 August 2026, for the closure date, cost and alternative venue.
- Elmbridge Museum for its displays, online exhibitions and collection move.
- Elmbridge Borough Council, Esher Commons and countryside sites for the 360 hectares, the 1995 SSSI designation and the 20 sites totalling 625 hectares.
- Elmbridge Borough Council, help prevent wildfires, 8 July 2026, for the Public Spaces Protection Order on barbecues and naked flames.
- National Trust, history of Claremont Landscape Garden for the designers and dates.
- Brooklands Museum, our history for the 1907 date.
Every price and opening time above was checked against the venue’s own website on 10 August 2026. Several are temporary VAT-reduced prices that end on 1 September 2026, and racing fixtures sell out, so confirm before you travel.
More Elmbridge local information: trains to London, roadworks and travel, house prices and planning news.
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