Visits

The Holburne Museum is housed in one of Bath’s most beautiful buildings and the collection comprises Renaissance treasures, porcelain, paintings and sculpture. Sir William Holburne, who founded the museum, collected art from the Dutch Golden-Age and gems and portrait miniatures. In the former ballroom a banqueting table is laid with silver and china from the eighteenth century and the top floor houses paintings by William Hoare and Thomas Gainsborough.
There is much to see so we shall have a curated guided tour. We are then free to explore the museum independently. The museum has its own Garden Café which opens onto the historic Sydney Gardens and offers seasonal fresh food.
In the afternoon we are free to walk into Bath city via Pultney Bridge (10 minute walk) and explore the Roman and Regency historic sites or visit the many museums, tea rooms and shops!
The coach will drop us at the Holburne Museum in the morning and pick us up at the Cathedral in the city centre at 3.30pm.
Coach pickup:    9.00am     St George’s Hall, Blockley 

28 people maximum
Cost for tour and transport: Members £46.00, Members with Art Fund £39.00
Guests £49.00, guests with Art Fund £42.00
This includes coach transport, museum entrance and the guided tour.

BACS payments to The Arts Society Blockley, sort code 30-95-75, account number 00088105 Please include the word ‘Bath’ as reference when paying by BACS
If you are unable to pay by BACS please send a cheque made payable to 
The Arts Society Blockley by 13 May 2026 to Valerie Reckitt, 7 Lavender Drive, Chipping Campden GL55 6EX. 
Please send the completed booking form (on page 23) by 13 May 2026 to 
Jackie Stringer, Solentenya, Hoo Lane, Chipping Campden GL55 6AZ 
01386 841121, 07979 593800,  mfstringer@btinternet.com

Stained glass and a secret valley – visiting All Saints Church, Selsley and Owlpen Manor near Dursley

Following up on our lecture about Arts and Crafts stained glass in Cotswold churches by Kirsty Hartsiotis, we are visiting the church of All Saints in Selsley to view the windows. Then we will proceed to Nailsworth for a coffee/lunch stop.
After lunch our coach will take us to Owlpen Manor for a guided tour and cream tea in the Cyder Barn.
The Owlpen estate has a history of nearly a thousand years, fortunes waxing and waning, advantageous marriages, royal appointments and patronage. The building was remodelled and added to from the 16th to the 18th centuries by the Daunt family. The interiors contain a series of unique painted textiles and Mander family collections, as well as a representative collection of Cotswold Arts and Crafts furniture and fittings. 
The collapse of the woollen cloth trade meant wholesale unemployment and penury until rescue by Norman Jewson, the Arts and Crafts architect who did what sympathetic restoration he could but never lived there. Help arrived in 1974 when the Mander family took over and it is now once again a thriving and prospering community. 

30 people maximum
Coach pickup:    10.00am     St George’s Hall, Blockley 
    10.15am     Bus stop at Tesco car park, Stow
Cost for tour, tea and transport: Members £44.00, Guests £47.00

BACS payments to The Arts Society Blockley, sort code 30-95-75, account number 00088105 Please include the word ‘Owlpen’ as reference when paying by BACS
If you are unable to pay by BACS please send a cheque made payable to 
The Arts Society Blockley by 19 May 2026 to Valerie Reckitt, 7 Lavender Drive, Chipping Campden GL55 6EX. 
Please send the completed booking form (on page 25) by 19 May 2026 to 
Gill Graham, Ditchford Mill, Todenham, Moreton in Marsh GL56 9NU 
01608 650399, 07932692136, gilliang983@gmail.com