Our partnership with Gilbert White’s House & Gardens
Exploration, discovery and a shared connection with the natural world.
Exploration means more when it brings us closer to the places, wildlife and people we encounter. That belief sits at the heart of Cruise Routes – and it’s one we share with Gilbert White’s House & Gardens.
Set in Selborne, Hampshire, Gilbert White’s House & Gardens is the former home of pioneering naturalist Gilbert White and home to the Oates Collections, which tell the stories of naturalist and explorer Frank Oates and Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence Oates.
We’re proud to support the charity’s work encouraging people to look more closely at the natural world, understand it better and develop a deeper connection with it.
A partnership built around curiosity and exploration
There’s something wonderfully simple about Gilbert White’s approach to the natural world: go outside, look closely and take the time to understand what you find. More than two centuries later, that idea still resonates.
Gilbert White’s observations of the wildlife and changing seasons around his Hampshire home helped shape the study of the natural world. The Oates Collections take the story of exploration much further afield, from Frank Oates’ travels through Central America and southern Africa to Captain Lawrence Oates’ journey to Antarctica with Robert Falcon Scott.
They are very different stories, but curiosity runs through all of them – the desire to explore somewhere properly rather than simply pass through it. This is something we understand at Cruise Routes.
Supporting
Endangered Emperors
Our partnership begins somewhere especially close to our hearts: Antarctica.
Cruise Routes is sponsoring Endangered Emperors, a temporary exhibition at Gilbert White’s House & Gardens exploring the emperor penguin and the challenges facing this remarkable Antarctic species.
Running from 6 October to 20 December 2026, the exhibition will introduce visitors to the world’s largest penguin and ask what we can do to help protect its future.
It also sits alongside the museum’s permanent Antarctic collection, where visitors can discover the story of Captain Lawrence Oates and Scott’s expedition to the South Pole.
Inspiring the next generation of explorers
Gilbert White’s House & Gardens is an independent charity, welcoming thousands of visitors and around 6,000 schoolchildren each year.
Through its historic house, collections, gardens and education programme, it gives people the opportunity to encounter nature for themselves – whether that means discovering the wildlife of a Hampshire garden or learning about exploration at the other end of the world.
For us, supporting that work is about more than our shared connection with Antarctica. It’s about encouraging curiosity, understanding and respect for the natural world – values we want to carry through the way we travel, too.
Visit Gilbert White's
House & Gardens
You’ll find Gilbert White’s House & Gardens in the Hampshire village of Selborne, on the edge of the South Downs National Park.
Explore Gilbert White’s historic home and gardens, discover the Oates Collections and find out what’s happening throughout the year.