Coronavirus Important Info

We are please to confirm that from 16th July our showroom will be open strictly by appointment. This is out of respect for the distance many of our customers travel, so it gives certainty that they will be given the time that they need, that we can manage the number of people in the showroom at any one time, and allow for the necessary cleaning between visits.

We will ask all visitors to take a temperature check on arrival using a non contact infra red thermal device, and for a face mask or face covering to be worn for the duration of the visit. If you or any recent close contacts are displaying any symptoms of Covid-19 we very respectfully ask you to refrain from visiting until a sufficient period of isolation has passed.

If you are happy with the above, please feel free to contact us by email or messenger to discuss booking an appointment.

In the meantime and going forward we will continue to process online orders, to answer questions and give friendly advice via telephone, email and messenger, and would very much appreciate your continued support during this difficult time. Please note that due to the exceptional volume of enquiries, that there maybe a delay in responding to some messages at this time. 

For those of you trying to come to terms with an extended period of isolation, we can thoroughly recommend exploring your local environment from the comfort and safety of your own home.  By day there are birds, insects, animals, plant life that can be explored, and by night look up and you will see an amazing universe above your heads!

A pair of binoculars will bring all these things closer, a telescope will gather more detail including the faint light from distant galaxies. If you need help with these just ask or check out some of the special offers below, but more importantly stay safe and we look forward to welcoming you back into the shop soon.

Availability and Leadtimes

Optical Vision Limited (OVL) - The Distributor for Sky-Watcher Products Whilst we do hold stocks of Sky-Watcher products here at Tring Astronomy Centre, like the vast majority of retailers we rely on their central warehouse for many larger and slower selling items. OVL are processing orders, but they have taken the wise decision to do so with skeleton staff on rotation. Please therefore be patient with any Sky-Watcher orders as in some cases they may take an extra day or so to process.  In addition, the availability information is also a little slow updating as the back-log is processed. Please note that a large quantity of Sky-Watcher products are now on back order, so whilst we have taken steps for our website to allow you to order, and even select an express option there maybe a significant leadtime for some of them. Known stock outages will be reflected on our website, together with very estimated leadtimes - but please accept our apologies in advance if you order something which we later find has subsequently gone out of stock or should a lead time change. Should this happen, we will contact you and offer you an alternative or of course to cancel the order.

Celestron / Baader

David Hinds Ltd are the distributors for Celestron and Baader products, and are working hard to process orders. Stocks are fast depleting and known outages are reflected on our website. We do hold our own stock too but please feel free to check availability of any individual items.

Explore Scientific / Bresser / Lunt

The majority of the above products are currently shipping direct from Bresser UK via their central warehouse in Germany.  In ordinary circumstances this takes 3-5 days, but we are advising to allow at least 7 working days as they work hard to cope with current order levels, again using skeleton staff.

We are constantly in the process of updating our website to reflect the items in stock, and to note when you are likely to have to wait across all brands. This is a particularly difficult and moving feat in these times, so please feel free to check any item with us in advance if your order is of an urgent nature. In the meantime if any of your orders are affected we will let you know. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Neil and Jane