The Museum in the Park is home to an outstanding collection relating to the human and natural history of Stroud and the surrounding district. The parkland setting is adorned with mature specimen trees and a lake.
The Museum was founded in 1899. For the first century it occupied rooms in Stroud College of Science and Art, before moving to a larger home in Stratford Park, Stroud in 2001. Permanent displays in a seventeenth century mansion (re-modelled by architect Anthony Keck in the late eighteenth century) are complemented by temporary exhibitions in a modern gallery. Paintings in the collection include works by local artists and others depicting local landscapes, townscapes and people. Among the outstanding paintings are a portrait of Sir Paul Baghott painted c. 1812 by an unknown artist, a view of 'Stroud from near Rodborough Fort' painted c. 1845 by Alfred Newland Smith, and Modern Times painted 1992–1993 by Nick Cudworth.