Grassholme Observatory

Name: Grassholme Observatory
Address: Grassholme Reservoir, Barnard Castle, DL120PW, GB
Telephone: +443451550236
Rating: 5

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Grassholme Observatory

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Grassholme Observatory, Event, Grassholme Reservoir, Barnard Castle.
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With truly dark skies and picturesque views over Teesdale’s Grasshome reservoir, Northumbrian Water, alongside lead astronomer Gary Fildes, are extremely excited to bring to you a visitor experience that is out of this world!

19/06/2026

Beautiful summer skies forecast for Saturday night!

Come join us for the moon, planets, stars, star clusters, galaxies and an incredible evening in beautiful Teesdale.

www.grassholmeobservatory.com

16/06/2026

For the lighter nights of June and July we have our Summertime Astronomy events, starting a little later in the evening (830).

Although the skies are lighter there are still fabulous sights overhead.

Jupiter and Venus remain bright and other objects are beautiful against the slightly blue evening skies of summer.

And with our robotic telescope we continue to see more distant objects and capture their detail with our cameras for guests to see.

All that and warmer weather alongside the sounds of birds on the reservoir behind us.

We love summertime astronomy - so come join us to experience it for yourself

www.grassholmeobservatory.com

14/06/2026

Gift someone an incredible night under the stars!

A night at Grassholme Observatory is a great gift for someone to stargaze under our dark skies.

A visit to the observatory offers a chance to learn about the wonders of our universe and explore them for yourself with our wide range of telescopes.

Maybe they are keen astronomers already, maybe they just want to learn more about what there is to see. Our events are suitable for everyone.

To buy, head to www.grassholmeobservatory.com and click ‘book’ to see the link for vouchers.

12/06/2026

A night at Grassholme Observatory is very straightforward

🚘 Arrive
🙋‍♂️Get a friendly welcome
👂Listen to a talk about the universe
✨ Go outside and see amazing dark skies
🔭 Use a range of telescopes to explore
☕️ Have a hot chocolate to warm up
🪐 See more amazing sights
🤯 Head home with mind blown

Want to join us for a fantastic evening?

Head to www.grassholmeobservatory.com and book your seat now!

10/06/2026

Our Summertime Astronomy events are a great way to enjoy a long summers evening.

With talks to introduce you to the universe around us, and then out to the telescopes. If it’s clear we will observe with our equipment - and if it’s not clear we have our dark sky pass to let you return on a clear night for free so you can book with confidence knowing you’ll have a great evening.

Join us for this Saturday’s event!

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08/06/2026

One of the best things about Grassholme Observatory is how many telescopes we have for our guests.

There are the fantastic 8” scopes which we train you to use - the best objects in the night sky are always the ones you find yourself!

There is the beautiful 12” where we can show you in detail some of the finer objects in the sky.

Finally in our observatory building is the mighty robotic 14” telescope - controlled by computer it can take us anywhere we want to go in the night sky, and take incredible photos.

Also, if the clouds roll in we have our clear sky pass, where you return free of charge, when the stars are out and that Grassholme magic is overhead

You can see why a night at Grassholme is a very special night indeed.

www.grassholmeobservatory.com

06/06/2026

An incredible evening awaits you at Grassholme Observatory - no matter what the weather!

Our events begin with a friendly talk and we have a whole host of activities to keep you entertained with our friendly astronomers even if the clouds roll in ☁️🌧️

But the second the skies clear we are outside with a host of telescopes to observe these beautiful skies. 🔭🔭🔭

8” telescopes that we will help you use to find stars and bright objects for yourself

12” telescope for us to bring you amazing views of star clusters and even the giant planets of our solar system

A 14” robotic telescope to let you see the fainter, more distant objects - stellar nurseries, dead stars, distant galaxies.

And if we don’t get to observe because of the clouds we have our CLEAR SKY PASS to let you return for free on a clear night to use our telescopes then.

So book with confidence at www.grassholmeobservatory.com

04/06/2026

We are getting into the time of year when noctilucent clouds are sometimes visible in our skies.

These clouds are incredibly high up in our atmosphere (around 75-85km high) and made of minuscule water ice particles. At our latitude they tend to be seen between June and August, when the darkest our skies get is astronomical twilight, meaning these very high clouds still catch the sun even when we on the ground are in shadow.

If you’re lucky enough to see them they are a very special sight in our summer skies

Photo by Kristian Pikner • CC BY-SA 4.0

02/06/2026

Galaxies.

If you’ve ever seen a galaxy through the telescope you will have been struck by their power to captivate you. A small, faint, fuzzy ball that in reality is home to billions of stars, planets and much more.

But it’s with photography that galaxies come to life; be it the dust lanes that drive the birth of new stars, or the gravitational interactions of galaxies that are close to each other, or the sheer countless number of them that can appear in a small region of sky.

At Grassholme we will help you see these for yourself through the telescopes, and with our cameras we can show you the fine detail of the galaxies you can’t see otherwise.

To visit Grassholme Observatory really is to see the universe in new ways!

www.grassholmeobservatory.com

31/05/2026

Come join our team!

As we head into the summer we have an opportunity for a new volunteer to join our incredible team.

Our astronomers make Grassholme Observatory a very special place, so if you have a love of stargazing and enthusing people about the night sky why not join us as a volunteer?

Drop us a line on messenger or visit www.grassholmeobservatory.com/careers/ to learn more and drop us a message

Address

Grassholme Reservoir
Barnard Castle
DL120PW

Telephone

+443451550236

Website

http://www.grassholmeobservatory.com/

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