Seven indoor things to do in Sevenoaks when it rains, Sunday hours included: £7 films at The Stag on Wednesdays, a free museum and Knole's showrooms.
Most lists of things to do in Sevenoaks when it is raining were written for a dry day and then given a new heading. They send you to Knole’s deer park and Riverhill’s woods, which is no help at all in a downpour. This page covers only what is actually indoors, and what is actually open.
Seven places pass that test. Each one has been checked against its own website on 6 October 2026, and the opening times below are the published ones. One warning before you start: Sunday is the hard day. The free museum and the library are both shut on Sundays. A wet Sunday comes down to the cinema, the leisure centre, the two toddler play centres and Knole’s showrooms.
The other trap this autumn is the big houses. Three of the four historic houses near Sevenoaks close their interiors in early November, so an indoor plan that works in October will not work in the second half of November.
Rainy day in Sevenoaks at a glance
| Place | Best for | What it costs | Open on Sunday? |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Stag cinema, London Road | Everyone | £11.50 off-peak, £13 peak, £7 all day Wednesday | Yes, box office 1pm to 8pm daily |
| Sevenoaks Museum and Library, Kaleidoscope | Under-11s, history fans | Free | No, closed Sundays |
| Sevenoaks Leisure Centre, Buckhurst Lane | Swimming, soft play up to 12 | Soft play £7 a child an hour at launch; swims priced per session | Yes, 7am to 8pm |
| Little Street, Riverhead | Walking age to 7 | Child £7.95, adult £4.95 | Yes, four sessions daily |
| Oakie Doke's Playhouse, Vestry Road | Babies to under-8s | Child £10.95 at weekends, £8.95 term-time weekdays | Yes, sessions 9:30am to 3:30pm |
| Knole showrooms | Older children and adults | Adult £19, child £9.50, family £47.50 | Yes, 11am to 4pm until 23 December |
| Bluewater, Greenhithe | A whole wet day out | Free parking; each venue charges | Yes |
Prices and times come from the sections below, each linked to the venue’s own page.
In the town centre, on foot
The Stag: the cinema with a Wednesday deal
The Stag on London Road is the town’s arts centre, run as a charity. It has two cinema screens of 128 and 110 seats and a 451-seat theatre (The Stag, venue capacity). It sits next to the post office, parallel to the High Street, with pay and display parking behind it (The Stag, contact).
Cinema prices are set out in its FAQs (The Stag, information):
- Off-peak (weekdays before 5pm): £11.50, or £38 for a group of four
- Peak (weekdays after 5pm, weekends and bank holidays): £13, or £44 for a group of four
- Bargain Wednesdays: £7 a ticket all day
There is no separate child cinema price on that list, so the group-of-four ticket is the one families should look at. It saves £8 on four off-peak tickets and £8 on four peak ones.
A few rules worth knowing before you go, from the same page. Babies up to 12 months go free to family shows on an adult’s lap. One necessary companion gets in free to most screenings with the right paperwork. The box office is open every day from 1pm to 8pm, closing only on Christmas Day, and the phone line is 01732 450175. Changing a cinema ticket to another time costs £1.50, up to two hours before the film.
Afternoon screenings run on most days, so a wet morning can become a film after lunch. The Stag does not run a cafe; food and drink come from its kiosks and bars.
Sevenoaks Museum and Library: free, but not on Sundays
The Kaleidoscope building on Buckhurst Lane, TN13 1LQ, holds the library, Sevenoaks Museum and a contemporary art gallery. The museum is run by Kent County Council and is free to visit (Sevenoaks Museum).
It is better for children than most people expect. Young visitors can try on historical costumes, play with a Kent peg tiles interactive and build with bricks. There is also an oral history telephone with recordings of local tradespeople.
This autumn there is a reason to go now. The Agatha Christie Clue Hunt runs until 2 December, marking 50 years since her death. Thirteen clues are hidden among the displays, and you pick up a guide and work out what links each object to her stories (Sevenoaks Museum, clue hunt). A second exhibition, on the story of Ide Hill’s football club and village, opens on 4 November and runs to 7 December (Sevenoaks Museum).
The museum keeps the library’s opening hours (Sevenoaks Museum, visit):
- Monday: 10am to 6pm
- Tuesday to Friday: 10am to 5pm
- Saturday: 10am to 4pm
- Sunday: closed
It is about a 20-minute walk from Sevenoaks station, with a pay and display car park nearby. Questions go to 03000 41 94 56.
Sevenoaks Leisure Centre: the pool and the soft play
Also on Buckhurst Lane, at TN13 1LW, the leisure centre is run by Everyone Active. It has a 25-metre six-lane main pool, a smaller teaching pool and a soft play area. It opens 6:30am to 10pm on weekdays and 7am to 8pm at weekends (Everyone Active, Sevenoaks Leisure Centre).
The soft play opened in May 2025 in the old cafe space. It is a three-storey frame for children up to 12, themed on Knole Park, with a slide, a ball pit, a rock wall and an enclosed tube. Sessions last an hour and cost £7 a child at launch, and gym or swim membership does not cover them (Everyone Active, May 2025). That makes it the town’s best indoor option for a seven to twelve year old who has outgrown toddler frames.
Family swim sessions are on the centre’s timetable, but Everyone Active does not publish session prices on the centre page. Check the app, or ring 01732 442365, before you go. The building has four accessible parking bays; for everything else, our Sevenoaks parking guide covers the council car parks a short walk away.
The two toddler play centres
Our soft play guide covers these in more depth, along with the centres a short drive away. In brief:
Little Street, Riverhead
Little Street is a role play town for children from walking age to 7. Its rooms include a theatre, a vets, a supermarket, a construction site, a beauty salon and a pizza parlour, with ride-on vehicles and a fire engine in the road area (Little Street, Sevenoaks).
There are four 85-minute sessions a day, starting at 9:25am, 11:30am, 1:35pm and 3:40pm. A child ticket is £7.95 and an adult £4.95, and babies in arms who are not yet walking go free. On term-time weekdays a “post nap” hour from 2pm to 3pm costs £4.10 a person.
It sits in the Miller and Carter car park at The Square, Riverhead, TN13 2AB. Parking is free once you enter your registration at reception. Little Street warns that satnav takes you to the wrong side of the road.
Oakie Doke’s Playhouse, Vestry Road
Oakie Doke’s on the Vestry Industrial Estate is the one for babies and toddlers. Sessions run 90 minutes (Oakie Doke’s, sessions and prices):
- Weekends, bank holidays and school holidays: child aged 1 and over £10.95, 4 months to 1 year £5.00
- Term-time weekdays: child aged 1 and over £8.95, 4 months to 1 year £4.50
- Under 4 months: £3.00, free if an older child is booked in
- Adults: £1.50
At weekends the sessions start at 9:30am, 11:30am and 2pm, finishing at 3:30pm. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays a fourth session runs from 3:30pm to 5pm. Book ahead, especially for a weekend.
Knole and the big houses: check the date first
The obvious wet-weather day out is a historic house, and on a rainy day you want one whose rooms are actually open. This autumn the dates matter more than usual.
Knole showrooms: open daily until 23 December
Knole is the best bet, because its showrooms stay open later into the year than the others. The National Trust’s calendar shows them open from 11am to 4pm every day until Wednesday 23 December. They close on 24 December (National Trust, Knole).
The showrooms ticket includes the Outdoor and Tower areas. It costs £19 an adult, £9.50 a child and £47.50 for a family, with under-5s and National Trust members free. The car park comes with the ticket and closes at 4pm from 2 November. Our Knole Park guide has the full winter timetable.
The three that close their interiors in November
- Chartwell: the house closes for winter after Sunday 1 November and reopens at the end of February. The garden, studio, shop and cafe stay open. From 26 October to 1 November the last entry to the house is 3:10pm (National Trust, planning your visit to Chartwell).
- Penshurst Place: the house, gardens and Toy Museum have their last day of the season on Sunday 1 November. After that only the cafe, the gift shop and the free parkland stay open until spring (Penshurst Place, opening times, checked 1 October 2026).
- Ightham Mote: the house is off sale from 2 to 20 November, when only a garden and estate ticket is sold. The house ticket returns from 21 November for the Christmas season, at £14 an adult (National Trust, Ightham Mote, checked 3 September 2026).
So from 2 to 20 November, Knole is the only one of the four with its historic rooms open. More detail on each is in our guides to Chartwell, Penshurst Place and Ightham Mote.
The whole-day option: Bluewater
When the rain is set in for the day, Bluewater at Greenhithe is the obvious all-day option. Parking there is free all day, every day, across 13,000 spaces (Bluewater).
Besides the 250-plus shops, its own list of things to do names three places for a wet day (Bluewater, things to do):
- the Showcase Cinema de Lux
- Hangloose Adventure
- Dinotropolis soft play
Each venue sets its own hours and prices, and Bluewater says those can change at short notice. Check the venue’s own page before you drive.
Making the most of it
A few things make a wet day go better:
- Book the toddler centres. Both Little Street and Oakie Doke’s sell set sessions, so the weekend slots are the ones to book early.
- Wednesday is cinema day. At £7 a ticket all day, four people at The Stag cost £28 rather than the £38 off-peak group price.
- Save the museum for a weekday or Saturday. It is free but closed on Sundays, and shuts at 4pm on Saturdays.
- Do Knole before Christmas Eve. The showrooms are the last big-house interior open near Sevenoaks this year.
Most Sevenoaks schools are off for two weeks this October, from 19 to 30 October, not one. Our October half term guide covers what is on across both weeks, and where kids eat free or for £1 helps with lunch.
Frequently asked questions
What can you do in Sevenoaks when it rains? The Stag cinema, Sevenoaks Museum, the leisure centre’s pool and soft play, Little Street in Riverhead, Oakie Doke’s Playhouse and Knole’s showrooms are all indoors. Bluewater, with free parking, covers a whole day.
Is there anything free to do indoors in Sevenoaks? Yes. Sevenoaks Museum in the Kaleidoscope building on Buckhurst Lane is free, with dressing-up and building toys for children. It is closed on Sundays (Sevenoaks Museum, visit).
How much is the cinema in Sevenoaks? The Stag charges £11.50 off-peak and £13 peak, with a £38 or £44 ticket for a group of four. Every ticket is £7 on Wednesdays (The Stag, information).
What is open on a Sunday in Sevenoaks when it rains? The Stag box office opens 1pm to 8pm, the leisure centre 7am to 8pm, and Knole’s showrooms 11am to 4pm. Little Street and Oakie Doke’s both run Sunday sessions. The museum and library are closed.
Is Knole open in winter? The parkland is open dawn to dusk all year. The showrooms open 11am to 4pm daily until 23 December and then close for the season (National Trust, Knole).
Is there soft play in Sevenoaks town centre? Yes. Sevenoaks Leisure Centre on Buckhurst Lane has a three-storey frame for children up to 12, in one-hour sessions (Everyone Active).
Sources
- The Stag cinema prices, box office hours and rules: information; screens and capacity: hire and facilities; location and parking: contact
- Sevenoaks Museum: home, visit and opening hours, Agatha Christie Clue Hunt
- Sevenoaks Leisure Centre facilities and hours: Everyone Active; soft play launch: Everyone Active, May 2025
- Little Street sessions, prices and parking: Little Street
- Oakie Doke’s sessions and prices: Oakie Doke’s
- Knole showroom calendar and admission: National Trust
- Chartwell winter closure: National Trust
- Penshurst Place season: Penshurst Place
- Ightham Mote seasons: National Trust
- Bluewater parking and leisure: Bluewater, things to do
Every venue’s own website checked on 6 October 2026, except Penshurst Place (1 October) and Ightham Mote (3 September), which come from our own guides to them. Prices and session times change, so confirm with the venue before you set off.
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