Southeastern will pay the train fare for Canterbury school trips to the Bayeux Tapestry, January to July 2027. CT1 to CT4 schools can apply for up to 40 places.

Schools in and around Canterbury can now get free train travel to see the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. South Eastern Railway is giving away 700 return tickets for pupils and the adults travelling with them.

The operator announced the offer on Wednesday 28 October. It covers trips between 1 January and 31 July 2027.

It copies a scheme Southeastern ran for Hastings and Rother. There, 30 schools took 1,138 pupils and adults to London to see the tapestry.

Who can apply

The offer is for schools in the CT1, CT2, CT3 and CT4 postcode areas. That takes in Canterbury itself and villages such as Sturry, Blean, Chartham, Littlebourne and Bridge.

It does not cover Whitstable (CT5) or Herne Bay (CT6). Southeastern’s release names only CT1 to CT4.

The terms, from Southeastern’s notes to editors:

  • up to 40 places per school, per term
  • 700 return tickets in total, allocated first come, first served
  • off-peak trains only, with no arrival in London before 9am
  • groups are “strongly advised” to leave London before 5pm
  • no more than two groups of 40 travelling on the same date
  • visits from 1 January to 31 July 2027

Questions about the travel offer go to Bayeux@southeasternrailway.co.uk. Questions about the visit itself go to the British Museum.

Why Canterbury

Southeastern says it wants to help pupils from the city “where modern research shows the tapestry could have been created”. The British Museum’s exhibition page says the tapestry was likely made by English embroiderers “using manuscript drawings from Canterbury”.

In September the city council complained that Canterbury had been left out of the priority ticket booking given to Hastings and Rother residents. Today’s offer is about train fares, not museum tickets, so it does not settle that complaint.

George Paterson, Southeastern’s stakeholder engagement manager, said: “We know that for many parents, tight budgets cannot always stretch to cover school trips.”

“By removing the cost of travel, we hope more pupils will be able to experience this remarkable piece of history for themselves,” he added.

What it means for you

The free train travel is only half of the booking. Schools also need a slot at the museum, and those are going fast.

The British Museum’s page says school bookings for 1 January to 12 February 2027 are already full. Three more windows will open for booking “in early 2027”:

Visit dates Booking opens
22 February to 25 March 2027 early 2027
12 April to 28 May 2027 early 2027
7 June to 11 July 2027 early 2027

The exhibition closes on 11 July 2027, so the rail offer’s end date of 31 July gives no extra time in practice.

If your child’s school is in CT1 to CT4, it is worth asking whether it plans to apply. Teachers will need to line up a museum slot and a rail allocation for the same day, and the tickets are first come, first served.

The visit inside the exhibition lasts about 40 minutes, the museum says, and school groups share the space with other visitors.