IMPORTANT: CHANGE OF DATE TO WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER

Booking opens at the September lecture. 

Contact Claudie either at the lecture or at tasmvisits@gmail.com to book or for more information.

Cost: £35 pp

For details of payment press here.

Morning

'Neasden Temple’ the popular name for the Mandir, which is a traditional place of Hindu worship designed and constructed entirely according to ancient Vedic architectural texts – using no structural steel whatsoever. It is a masterpiece of Indian design.

A guided tour of the temple is planned, where we'll see intricate marble and wooden carvings. We then experience a traditional Hindu prayer ceremony.

Lunch You can enjoy some lunch or light refreshments (at your own expense) in the Brew House Café at Kenwood House, before or after your visit of the house, or bring a packed lunch.

Afternoon

Kenwood House in Hampstead

We visit the house (free flow) with its wonderful art collection, many historical and old masters paintings, including Rembrandt, Vermeer and Gainsborough.

EXTENDED VISIT - WONDERFUL WILTSHIRE - a 5-day tour from 1 to 5 June, 2025.

This varied tour includes gardens, country houses, museums, pretty villages and even a canal trip on a horse-drawn narrow boat.

The group will spend four nights with dinner, bed and breakfast at the four-star Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Swindon.

Cost: from £895 per person.

For full details click here for the brochure.

For enquiries and to book a place, contact Claudie at tasmvisits@gmail.com

Booking opens at the February lecture. 

Contact Claudie either at the lecture or at tasmvisits@gmail.com to book or for more information.

Cost: £39 

For details of payment press here.

Morning

Fishbourne Roman Palace and Garden (not a guided tour to reduce costs).

The largest Roman home in Britain, with the largest collection of mosaics in situ in the UK. The gardens, which have been recreated, were the earliest gardens found anywhere in the country. 

On to Chichester - free time for lunch (at own expense).

Afternoon

Visit to the Novium Museum.

Built over the remains of a Roman bath house and with three floors of fantastic exhibitions, you can step back in time. The Novium Museum is Chichester District's award-winning museum located in the heart of the city centre, telling the fascinating story of its rich Roman heritage, with many archaeological remains, objects and artefacts on display.

Booking opens in August.

UNFORTUNATELY THIS VISIT HAS HAD TO BE CANCELLED owing to insufficient numbers.

Please contact Claudie at tasmvisits@gmail.com

Cost £30pp

Morning –  TUDOR HOUSE AND GARDEN– self-guided, with audio guides. Discover over 800 years of history, through the stories of the people who lived here.

Afternoon– THE CITY ART GALLERY – Self-guided visit of the wide-ranging exhibitions of paintings, sculpture, photography & film.

16-21 October 2024

This Extended Visit  will be a cruise on the River Loire on the MS Loire Princess and will include excursions to many places of interest as well as relaxation on board.

For full details, please see the brochure here

Contact Claudie at tasmvisits@gmail.com to book or for further information.

Bookings for twin/double cabins can still be taken, deposit to be paid by 9th June, and after that date it will be on request. However, for single cabins, this will be on a waiting list.

THIS VISIT IS CANCELLED

Morning - THE MUSEUM OF ENGLISH RURAL LIFE - Welcome talk with coffee and cake (included), then self-guided visit of the museum. There are 9 galleries, in which to explore the vast collection of carts, tools, machinery, with some interactive displays, photographs and objects used in the rural life of agriculture and much more, as well as the only permanent exhibition space of Ladybird books showcased in one of the galleries.

Free time for lunch (at own expense) and to explore the town independently, when you will have the opportunity to see a Banksy mural.

Afternoon - THE READING MUSEUM (based in the Town Hall) – View the Victorian full-size 70m long replica of the Bayeux Tapestry, displayed in the special gallery; explore the history of the town, as well as the gallery displaying the connection with the famous Huntley & Palmers biscuit manufacturer, and see a great collection of decorated tins. This visit is self -guided.

Booking opens at the March Lecture.

Please contact Claudie to secure your place:  tasmvisits@gmail.com

Online payment is preferable please or by cheque. Maximum places 30.

Cost: £20 including headsets.

Members are to make their own way by train to Waterloo Station, then walk to the meeting point (place and time will be given after booking).

Morning

We join Alexandra Epps, City of London Guide and The Arts Society Lecturer, for a fascinating stroll through the historic streets of the City to explore its wealth of remarkable, and often intriguing, modern and contemporary Public Art. Discovering creations ranging from the hand crafted to the high tech all waiting to be found on the unique corners of the square mile of the City of London.

The walk will last between 1.5 and 2 hours, depending on the pace, and end at One New Change shopping centre, with various food outlets. Lunch at own expense.

Afternoon

A visit to THE GUILDHALL ART GALLERY & ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE, which is a 5 minute walk away. This visit is not guided, so members can make their way there, in their own time. (A map will be provided).

Bookings and payment will open online in January. Deadline for booking 4 March.

Please contact Claudie - tasmvisits@gmail.com

Cost £55pp

Morning – THE WHITCHURCH SILK MILL – guided tour, and lunch (sandwiches, cake, tea/coffee). This is the oldest working silk mill in England, with a Georgian water wheel, using 19th century machinery to weave silk. There is a shop selling beautiful silk gifts.

Afternoon – THE BOMBAY SAPPHIRE GIN DISTILLERY – a 90-minute guided visit, where we learn about the many sustainably sourced botanicals used and we sample a G&T.

Meet - at the car park in Wishbone Way, Goldsworth Park, GU21 3RT at 9.30 for departure at 9.45.

THIS VISIT IS CANCELLED owing to insufficient bookings.

In the morning we will visit the Water and Steam Museum in Brentford, near Kew Bridge, for a guided tour.

The afternoon visit is to the nearby Musical Museum, where we will have a guided tour before a concert on the Wurlitzer organ.

The cost of this visit is £45, including both guided tours and refreshments in the interval of the concert. There will be time for lunch, at own cost, between the two visits.

The coach will leave the car park at Wishbone Way, Goldsworth Park, GU21 3RT, at 8.45am, returning about  18.00.

Contact tasmvisits@gmail.com and pay online to secure your place. The latest date for booking is December 1.

..

Bookings and payment will open online in August.

Please contact Claudie - tasmvisits@gmail.com

Cost £45pp  (For members of Historic Houses entry to the Castle is free; this reduces the cost of the day to £38. For members of the Art Fund the day will cost £39.10. In either case, please mention your membership at the time of booking and remember to bring your membership card with you on the day.)

Please pay by bank transfer (details from Claudie when you book) or cheque.

Departure will be at 08.30 from Wishbone Way Car Park, Woking, GU21 3RT and return at around 18.00.

HIGHCLIFFE CASTLE

This will be our stop in the morning. You’ll be free to explore at leisure, a self guided tour of this grade 1 listed building. It was once a lavish home that was destroyed by fires, left to ruin, then brought back to life.

The Castle was built between 1831 and 1836 and is the realisation of one man’s fantasy. That man was Lord Stuart de Rothesay. When he built it he was following in the footsteps of his grandfather the 3rd Earl of Bute who had built an earlier mansion on the site during the 1770s. He was also a keen botanist and created a scaled-down version of Kew. The Castle is perched on the edge of the cliff, on heathland with magnificent views out to sea. It stood for only 38 years before land springs and sea erosion destabilised it.

Free time for lunch at own expense in Bournemouth.

RUSSELL COTES ART GALLERY & MUSEUM

This is our afternoon visit.

This was an extravagant birthday present that Sir Merton Russell-Cotes gave his wife Annie in 1901. They lived in it for several years. They were art collectors and travel enthusiasts.

We will be visiting this flamboyant seaside Victorian villa, filled with wonderful paintings, sculptures, and beautiful artefacts from around the world. The walls are lined with British Art. There is The Mikado Room with Japanese objects.

We will be split into groups for the guided visit and, before or after your group tour, you can enjoy some refreshments and the cliff-top views from the Terrace Café.

2- 6 July 2023

This extended visit to Cardiff ends with a guided visit of Bath on the return journey.

What we will see

• American Museum at Claverton Manor
• Cardiff & Cardiff Bay
• Senedd, National Assembly Building
• National Museum & Art Gallery of Wales
• Tredegar House
• Castell Coch
• Cardiff Castle
• St Fagans National Museum of History
• Guided walking tour of Bath
• Assembly Rooms
• Royal Crescent
• Holburne Museum of Art

For full details click on Documents.

N.B. For enquiries or bookings, contact felicitygrubb@virginmedia.com.

Following our next lecture - Graveyards to die for, how 19C London buried its dead - , a visit to Brookwood Cemetery has been arranged on Monday 19th June, at 11.00 (more specific details given, when you book and pay).

Starting with coffee, then a historical chat and walking tour for up to 1.5 hr., visiting some of the prominent memorials of the South side of the cemetery. A donation cost of £6 p.p. includes coffee. Maximum 30 people. 

You will need to make your own way there, but try to car share with other members.

N.B. The walk is on uneven ground, so please wear comfortable footwear.

To book, please contact Felicity - felicitygrubb@virginmedia.com - and pay online or at the next lecture.

Places are available.

Please contact Claudie to book your place – tasmvisits@gmail.com

Cost is £28. Please pay by bank transfer (details from Claudie when you book) or cheque.

Departure will be at 08.30 from Wishbone Way Car Park, Woking, GU21 3RT and return at around 18.00.

We start with a 90 minute guided walk around the city, following in the footsteps of Charles Dickens, one of the greatest English writers. We will see the real locations that captured his imagination.

His long association with Rochester began in 1817, when his family moved to Chatham. As a child, he walked the streets, observing his surroundings and the buildings that inspired him to use in his works - The Castle, The Cathedral, The Guildhall Museum, The Old Corn Exchange, Eastgate House, where Dickens' personal writing chalet stands in the gardens, and Restoration House. This takes its name from the stay of Charles II, on the eve of the Restoration, on 28th May 1660, and is also the model for 'Satis House', the home of Miss Havisham, in ‘Great Expectations’.

After free time for lunch in one of the cosy pubs, restaurants, tea rooms, or a picnic in The Esplanade Gardens, on the banks of the River Medway, we have a self-guided visit of The Guildhall Museum. You may also want to enjoy some retail therapy, before our return journey.

Booking opened in January.

BOOKING NOW CLOSED.

Please contact Claudie – tasmvisits@gmail.com to book your place and please pay online by bank transfer or by cheque, at the next lecture. The cost for the visit is £33.00 p.p. and if you are a National Trust member, you will only be charged £15.00 for the coach ride (remember to bring your card on the day). When payment is received, you will be sent a confirmation sheet, with departure details.

We wll be visiting this National Trust property which was the home of Sir Winston Churchill for over 40 years. It is a grade I listed building, for its historical significance, rather than its architectural merit.

Our visit is self-guided – we can explore the house, which is full of treasures from every aspect of Churchill’s life. He was also an avid amateur artist, we’ll be able to visit his studio with his paintings, the largest single collection of his works.

We can also enjoy walks round the lakes and gardens, including the rose garden designed by Lady Clementine Churchill.

There is a café serving hot and cold drinks, as well as snacks and light meals. You can also bring a picnic to enjoy by the lake or on the lawns.

If you are a NT member, you will not be charged for your visit, only for the coach ride (please mention it when booking).​

Booking opens 8 September.

The Postal Museum Visit includes the Christmas Mail Rail Ride, a museum ticket and the exhibition - Sorting Britain, The Power of Postcodes!

Bookings for this visit will be taken in September and by email to Claudie at tasmvisits@gmail.com

Cost will be £13.50 p.p. for the ride and visits to the Museum and the exhibition. When you book, you will be sent (by email) a guide, with details on how to get there and important information regarding your visit. We make our own way to the PM, and meet at the Mail Rail Welcome Space at 11.45, as we are booked on the Mail Rail at 12.00. Depending on numbers, we will need to split the group to ride in 2 or 3 trains.

N.B. Due to the size of the tunnels, the train carriages are small, and may be uncomfortable or unsuitable for anyone who is claustrophobic. The Mail Rail ride contains features such as loud noises and flashing lights.

Cancelled due to insufficient numbers

Booking opens on 8 September.

The cost is £34 per member. Payment can be made at the September lecture. If you cannot attend the lecture that day, please contact Claudie – tasmvisits@gmail.com – for booking and payment details.

Arrangments

We will be leaving Goldsworth Park carpark at 09.00 and should be back around 18.00. Upon arrival, a member of staff will come on the coach to greet the group and hand out maps & tickets. Once you enter, you can obtain audio devices & headphones (no charge). You will then be free to explore the mansion and various huts & exhibitions in your own time.

Refreshments are available but you are welcome to bring your own to enjoy by the lake (there are many picnic tables & benches in the grounds).

For your information, tickets are valid for 1 year for multiple entries. So If you still have a valid one, please tell Claudie when booking for the trip. You will then only be charged for the coach ride and please remember to bring the ticket on the day, otherwise you’ll be charged full entry price. The same applies to Art Pass members, you will only be charged 50% of the entry fee, when booking.

Guide books purchased on the day are £7 but, if ordered when booking your place, they are £5.50.

 Bletchley Park is a place of exceptional historical importance

It remains highly relevant to our lives today and for the future. It is the home of British code-breaking and a birthplace of modern information technology. It played a major role in World War Two, producing secret intelligence which had a direct and profound influence on the outcome of the conflict.

Over the past twenty years Bletchley Park has become an internationally renowned heritage attraction, visited by people from around the world, which acknowledges the successes from the War and the people responsible for them. It celebrates their values: broad-minded patriotism; commitment; discipline; technological excellence. By presenting and explaining these achievements and these values, in the very place where they occurred, Bletchley Park brings together the dramatic history of the twentieth century with the challenges we face in the twenty first in our rapidly changing and technologically complex society.

Public interest in Bletchley Park has grown enormously over the past few years and the number of visitors to Bletchley Park in 2016 was over 250,000.

This will be a five night visit from September 19 - 24, 2022.

All those of you who have booked the tour will receive detailed information from Tailored Travel, about 10 to 14 days before we leave. It will list all aspects of the holiday - meeting time and coach departure from Goldsworth Park (it will be an early start), luggage allowance, check-in at Gatwick, arrival in Lisbon, full itinerary of the tour, name of our Guide, and other important information.

In September, we will be going on our extended visit to Lisbon, spending 5 nights at the 4* Felix Urban Hotel, on a bed & breakfast basis, including a welcome buffet dinner. Lisbon is a city steeped in history, with wonderful architecture, friendly people and great restaurants. Our 6 day tour will include palaces, monasteries, museums, as well as visits to Sintra, Sesimbra and Palmela, and on the last day, the Gulbenkian museum.

Re-scheduled - Tuesday 7 June - Sunday 12 June 2022

Organised by Tailored Travel

We leave by scheduled flight from London to Munich and stay at 4* Maritim Hotel in Munich for five nights. Dinner is included on the first night and at Oberammergau on the last night.  Three nights are on Bed and Breakfast basis.

Visits will include: Residenz Munich and Herrenscliemsee Castle, Linderhof and Neuschwandstein Castles, Glyptothek, Lenbachhaus and Brandhirst Museums, a performance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau with dinner during the interval and the Nymphenburg Palace before leaving on the last day before our flight home.

This visit has been booked for two years but as there has been a cancellation, it should be possible to add a couple of places.  Please contact Valia Hedley on 01483 762703.

Unfortunately this visit has had to be CANCELLED.

Our first visit in 2 years

This visit will have Barbara Askew as the guide. She is an Arts Society Lecturer and an acknowledged expert on Windsor Castle for which she has been the Blue Badge Guides' Site Liaison Representative since 1990.

09.00 – Departure from Goldsworth Park car park, Wishbone Way, Woking,  GU21 3RT.

Upon arrival, we meet our guide, Barbara Askew, and after a short coffee break and a walk through the town, we make our way to the castle grounds. Barbara will start with a guided visit of St. George’s Chapel, she will then lead us to the precinct and give us information of what to look out for in the state apartments (there are 23 rooms to visit). For your information, Guides are not allowed to guide inside the castle. (As Barbara is booked from 10.00 to 14.00, the order of the itinerary may change).

You will then be free to visit the apartments at your own pace and have refreshments in the Cafeteria or out in the town, until we meet at the coach park at 4.45pm.

The cost for the day trip is £36.50.

The entrance ticket to the Castle is valid for one year, so you may return to visit as many times as you wish.

To book your place, members please contact Claudie – tasmvisits@gmail.com  - you will then be sent payment details, and once received, you will have confirmation.

If the trip is fully booked, you will be put on a waiting list.

Booking opens 13 June.

Cost £38 if RHS full member* or £50 if not. Includes self-guided tour of Castle (guides in all rooms), access to gardens and 2 course lunch in Guthrie Pavilion Restaurant by the lake.  

Booking now closed 

*If you come on the visit and hold an RHS membership card, please remember to bring it with you to Hever.

The original medieval defensive castle dates from the 13th century and in Tudor times became the home of the ambitious courtier to Henry VIII, Sir Thomas Bullen. His daughter, Anne Boleyn, became the king’s ill-fated second wife.

The house passed through many hands and was a virtual ruin when the estate was acquired in the early 20th century by William Waldorf Astor, the American tycoon. He had it faithfully restored and, to provide enough accommodation for entertaining, he added a complete Tudor-style village joined on by a covered bridge. Modern central heating, water supplies and electrical fittings are all carefully concealed.

The restoration was carried out under the direction of the architect Frank Pearson and much of the carving is by W. S. Frith. Roads and streams were diverted, avenues built, woods planted and a large lake created.

The upstairs is more of a museum. There are Tudor portraits and Boleyn memorabilia, including her inscribed Book of Hours. Astor memorabilia are also displayed. The ceiling of the Long Gallery, on the second floor, has elaborate hand-moulded plasterwork, and from it hang solid silver chandeliers.

The superb grounds include the Italianate Garden, a maze, the ‘Pompeiian Wall’ and the lake.

Sunday 23 June - Friday 28 June

Booking opens on Thursday 11 October 2018.  Please collect a brochure at the lecture meeting on Thursday 13 September and bring the completed form to the October meeting.

Booking will be from 9.30am as per usual on the booking in day.  Conditions will apply to the booking procedure to ensure fairness.

We shall stay on a half board basis at the 4* Stoke by Nayland Hotel, enjoying an included welcome drink on the first evening.  All excursions and guided tours will be included as well as entrance fees to non NT properties.  A Blue Badge guide will accompany us on days 2 to 5 and we shall travel by executive coach throughout.

We shall visit Beth Chatto Gardens as we travel to Suffolk and the places to be visited over  the ensuing days will include: Ickworth House, Bury St Edmunds, Aldeburgh, The Red House, Sutton Hoo, Christchurch Mansion, Lavenham, Melford Hall and Gainsborough and Constable country.  On the way home we shall visit Audley End House.

It promises to be an interesting and varied visit. The holiday is arranged with Tailored Travel.

Booking opens 11 April.

Cost £46, includes entry, refreshments on arrival and guided tour of house, with group and senior citizen discount. (There is no additional discount for RHS or HHA membership.)

Wilton has been the home of the Earls of Pembroke since the 1540s. The House is set in extensive parkland and gardens, which are bordered by the rivers Wylye and Nadder.

The huge estate was granted to William Herbert by Henry VIII on Herbert’s marriage to Catherine Parr’s sister, and subsequently he acquired the Earldom. The family became powers in the land and patrons of the arts.

In 1647 John Webb implemented plans prepared by Inigo Jones to rebuild the earlier house. The exterior is restrained, and the entry by the Gothic north front belies the splendours of the Italianate interior, much of the character of which is due to James Wyatt.

The great state rooms include the magnificent Double Cube Room and the many artefacts displayed in the House include works by Breughel, Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Reynolds, Lely and van Dyck, as well as Chippendale furniture and much elaborate carving. Wilton carpets are still evident.

The House is set in a splendid Wiltshire landscape. Amongst the many features of the grounds are the Triumphal Arch with formal gardens, the Italian and Japanese Gardens, the Rose Garden, the Palladian Bridge, the Loggia, Whispering Seat, Grotto and Victorian boathouse.

Recent extensive refurbishment was possible with the proceeds from allowing the House to be used for making the TV series, ‘The Crown’.   

Depart Goldsworth Lodge at 08.30   

Refreshments on arrival

Guided tour of house

Free time to have lunch and enjoy the grounds.

Return by 18.00

Booking opens 14 March.

The visit includes:

Conducted tour of The Red House (NT)
2 course lunch at an Italian Restaurant
Horniman Museum - in 2018 enlarged and revamped with a special feature, the new World Gallery.

The Red House was designed by Philip Webb in 1859 for the young William Morris and his wife Jane. It was to be an enchanted medieval residence, ‘a poem of a house’ for a community of like-minded artists set in orchards well away from the city. Webb was obsessed by the ‘honest’ material, brick.

The house was decorated by Morris and his friends, Burne-Jones, Madox Brown, Rossetti and Webb. Morris’s romance with Jane faded after 6 years and he moved the family to London, never to return.

The house was acquired by the National Trust in 2003 and work is proceeding to expose the original wall and ceiling decorations covered over by later owners.

The Horniman Museum and Gardens were founded by Frederick Horniman, a successful tea merchant, Quaker and philanthropist who, during his commercial travels, amassed a vast collection of anthropological, natural history and cultural objects, with which he filled his house. Legend has it that his long-suffering wife issued an ultimatum: “Either the collection goes, or we do”. The family went!

The Museum has been greatly expanded and a new gallery, The World Gallery, which opened in 2018, is presented as a series of encounters with cultures from across the continents.  The gardens are both attractive and educational.      

Booking opens 14 June.

The visit will begin with a tour of Christ Church College, which was founded by Henry VIII in 1546. He also restored the priory as the College chapel, which became elevated to ‘Cathedral’ status - unique for a college chapel. The College is also unusual in having its own Picture Gallery.

The Hall is renowned for its Tudor hammer beam roof. Amongst many further additions to the College is Christopher Wren’s famous Gate Tower, which houses the ‘Great Tom’ bell, and which completed the Great Quadrangle.

Oxford offers many venues for lunch, including the afternoon visit venue - the University’s Ashmolean Museum. Founded in 1683 it had a complicated evolution before being established on the present site. It houses a wide range of art and archaeological artefacts ranging from Egyptian mummies and classical sculpture to the Pre-Raphaelites and Modern Art.

Following refurbishment in 2009 it was reorganised, interlinking the galleries by the theme of ‘Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time’.

Booking opens 10 May.

Parham is an Elizabethan house set within an ancient deer park. The gardens are stunning throughout the seasons.

Several rooms, including the Great Chamber, feature embroidery for which Parham is famous.

The Green Room is dedicated to the 18th century spirit of discovery and the career of Joseph Banks, an explorer and a President of the Royal Society.

On the second floor is the much acclaimed Long Gallery, offering superb views of the Downs.

Lunch will be in the Parham restaurant.

Booking opens 8 March.

Claydon House is a National Trust Property and home of the Verney family for 400 years. Claydon is a hidden gem, nestling within peaceful parkland and delightful gardens. The rather unassuming exterior belies the grandeur of the spacious interior with its elaborate carvings and ceiling plasterwork. Many fine portraits of the Verney family adorn the walls.

The ground floor is accessible but visitors with mobility problems are advised to watch a video presentation of the upper floor, rather than attempting the difficult staircase. Upstairs are an amazing Chinoiserie room and the haunting memorabilia in the rooms used by Florence Nightingale, Lady Verney’s sister.

The courtyard buildings house the work of various craftsmen and a shop.  We will have lunch in the recently renovated refreshment rooms.

Tuesday 17 April - Sunday 22 April 2018

Booking opens on Thursday 12th October 2017. Collect brochures at the lecture on Thursday 14th September and bring the completed form to the October lecture.  Booking will be from 9.30am as per usual on a booking in day.  Conditions will apply to the booking procedure to ensure fairness.

Following an inspirational Special Interest Day in February this year, we decided to book for a tour to the South of France.  The time has been extended to six days, five nights to enable us to do the area justice!

We shall stay at the 4* Nice Riviera Hotel with the first dinner included and breakfast on the following five days. There will be visits to nearly all the places mentioned by Mary Alexander in her three lectures which she delivered so brilliantly and some of the places are listed below.

The Musée des Beaux Arts, the former home of a Ukrainian princess and the Musée International de l'Art Naïf.

The Cimiez district and a Franciscan Monastery and gardens, followed by the Matisse and Marc Chagall museums.

The Mediaeval village of St Paul de Vençe and the Fondation Maeght with its large collection of paintings, sculpture and drawings.  The Chapelle du Rosaire will also be visited.

At Beaulieu sur Mer we shall visit the Villa Kerylos and in the afternoon the Villa and Gardens of Ephrussi de Rothschild. 

Before leaving Nice on last day we shall have some free time before  leaving for the airport.  We shall travel by EasyJet back to Gatwick, and then a coach home to our original pick up point.

Booking opens 14 September.

Coffee in the medieval Vicars’ Hall will be followed by conducted tours of the Cathedral. Dating from 1075 it was described by Pevsner as ‘this most typical of English medieval cathedrals’. The artefacts range from a Roman mosaic, rare medieval sculptures and the Arundel Screen to modern art works including the John Piper tapestries, the Chagall stained glass window and Sutherland’s ‘Noli me Tangere’ painting and the cast aluminium pulpit  by Geoffrey Clarke.

After lunch in the Vicars' Hall, the party will move to Pallant House for an introductory talk before visiting the Gallery. The permanent display comprises works by Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Picasso, Klee, Derain, etc., whilst a temporary exhibition will feature the art of David Bomberg (1890-1957), one of the 'Whitechapel Boys', with his early geometrical compositions progressing to portraits and landscapes in an expressionist style. 

There should  be an opportunity to ‘pop to the shops’,  spend more time in the Gallery or take a leisurely tea.

Booking opens 13 July.

A visit to Beaulieu is much more than a tour of the National Motor Museum, which in itself is magnificent!  The conserved ruins of the former Cistercian abbey are a tranquil place to stroll and absorb the life of the former monastery, destroyed in 1538. The palace house, home to the Montagu family since 1538, was once the gatehouse of the abbey and is now a fine example of a Victorian country house, having been extended in the 1800s. It has views over the Beaulieu river mill pond and there is an exhibition of its use as a training ground for the SOE during the war. The grounds are equally attractive and there is a veteran bus and a monorail which provide some alternative transport. Coffee and lunch will be at our own pace as there is a huge restaurant and of course there is the ubiquitous shop.  The whole is set in the idyllic New Forest and this will be a day to remember.

Booking opens 11 May.

Leeds Castle in Kent was once described as "the loveliest castle in the world". It is over 900 years old, has been the property of six medieval queens and was used by Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.  The last private owner of Leeds Castle was the Hon. Olive, Lady Baillie, a wealthy Anglo-American heiress who employed the fashionable French interior designer Boudin to work on her home in the 1930s. The glamorous and luxurious interiors he created can still be seen today. Lady Baillie died in 1974 and left the Castle to a specially created charity to ensure its preservation for the enjoyment of generations to come. There are also formal gardens and the beautiful park to explore.

Monday 19 June – Saturday 24 June, 2017 

Booking opens on Thursday 13th October 2016. Collect brochures at the lecture on 8th September and bring the completed form to the October lecture and booking will be from 9.30am as per usual on a booking in day. Conditions will apply to the booking procedure to ensure fairness.

It is some years since we visited Scotland and the recent lecture on Dumfries House (see image above) gave us the idea of going north again. We have extended the time to six days instead of the usual five and have arranged stops en route, at Tatton Park going north and at Little Moreton Hall coming home.

While we are there we shall visit Dumfries House for a guided tour, visit the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum and have tea at the famous Willow Tea Rooms. The following day we shall drive to Tarbet, a favourite village of Queen Victoria, cruise on Loch Lomond and then go to Hill House, one of C R Macintosh's finest creations.

There will be a day in Edinburgh to enjoy the National Gallery of Scotland and a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia in the afternoon.  On our last day we will visit Macintosh House, a reconstruction of the principal interiors of the architect's original home, followed by a free afternoon in Glasgow or a return to the hotel for a rest or a swim!

 We shall stay at a four star hotel in Cumbernauld where there are good facilities and we shall be on a half board basis, dinner, bed and breakfast.  All guided tours and excursions are included and we shall have the services of a blue badge guide on days two to five.  We shall travel by executive coach with comfort stops as necessary.

The holiday is arranged with Tailored Travel.

Booking opens 9 March, 2017.

Snowshill Manor is a house like no other.  It is a Cotswold Manor House packed with extraordinary treasures collected over a lifetime by Charles Wade. It is neither a museum nor a home and is probably one of the most unique places you will ever visit.  It was bought in 1919 by Charles Wade, who restored and renovated it for just one purpose, to house his wonderful and wondrous collection which was his lifelong passion and joy.

We shall visit a picturesque Cotswold village before leaving for home. 

Booking opens 14 July, 2016.

The main focus of this visit will be a guided tour of Arundells, the home of the politician, musician and yachtsman, Edward Heath. It is a not a large property and the group will be divided into quite small groups for the visit. It is situated in the Cathedral Close at Salisbury, and there are ample other attractions to visit during the day. There is, of course, the great cathedral, Mompesson House (NT), and the Military Museum. Arundells House itself contains a superb collection of paintings, Singer Sargent, Piper and Gwen John to name a few, some interesting modern furniture and a wonderful collection of cartoons and model yachts. It is also possible to walk in the exquisite garden which backs on to the river. This will be a truly memorable day.

Booking opens 9 June, 2016.

This will be a combined visit with a ten-minute walk between the two properties situated in Kensington.

Leighton House is the former home and studio of Frederick, Lord Leighton, the Victorian artist.  It contains a collection of his paintings and sculpture and those of his contemporaries, and the house itself is very interesting, in particular the Arab Hall with its golden dome. We shall move to the second venue after lunch.

18 Stafford Terrace, formerly known as the Linley Sambourne House, is ten minutes’ walk away and is equally interesting.  Edward Linley Sambourne, the Punch cartoonist, and his wife Marion, their children and their servants lived here from 1875 and the house gives us an insight into the personal lives of the family and also provides an example of what was known as an "aesthetic interior" style. After the deaths of Linley and Marion Sambourne the house was preserved by the family and opened to the public from 1980 by the Victorian Society.

Images courtesy of the William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest.

Booking opens 12 May, 2016.

The William Morris Gallery is the only gallery devoted to the life and legacy of William Morris, designer, craftsman and socialist. It is situated in Lloyd Park in north-east London in a Georgian house built in the 1740s, and provides a fascinating insight into the life and works of this remarkable man.

Booking opens 8 October, 2015.

Monday 23 May – Friday 27 May, 2016.

Many of us have already visited Amsterdam, but the recent renovations of the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis in The Hague give these major galleries a fresh attraction. We shall travel by coach and P&O ferry (Club Class) with a stop in Ghent, giving a chance to see the Van Eyck Altarpiece.

Our hotel for four nights is the 4* Park Hotel in The Hague. Planned visits include a guided tour of the Panorama Mesdag, a cylindrical painting 120 metres round, the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem containing some of his finest portraits, and the quaint centre of Delft. Free time will offer opportunities to visit, for example, the Vermeer centre and the Van Gogh Museum, and there is an optional short canal cruise.

En route home we shall have a guided tour of the Rubens House in Antwerp, the artist’s home for over twenty years and partly designed by him.

The holiday is arranged with Tailored Travel.

Date now confirmed as Tuesday 12 April, 2016.

Booking opens 11 February, 2016.

Stratfield Saye House is a large stately home in north-east Hampshire. It has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since 1818, following the battle of Waterloo. The house and gardens offer an intriguing insight into the life of the first great Duke of Wellington. There is a collection of paintings and furniture and the exhibition features his magnificent funeral carriage and charts his military and political life. 

The visit will hopefully be confirmed in October, as the family will then issue dates available for visits.

Blenheim Palace is the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. It is situated in the village of Woodstock, in Oxfordshire and is the residence of the Dukes of Marlborough. It was originally a gift to John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation after the Battle of Blenheim. It was designed in the English Baroque style and is surrounded by magnificent gardens. It is also famous for being the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

Great Dixter was the family home of gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd. Most of the garden was laid out by Lutyens who also designed the house which consists of two medieval buildings plus additional accommodation and was completed in 1912. The garden is in the Arts and Crafts style and includes topiary, a long border, a sunk garden and an exotic garden. The house and gardens are currently run as a charitable trust in order to ensure the property is preserved.

Kingston Lacy is a National Trust property near Wimborne Minster in Dorset and was the seat of the Bankes family for over 300 years. The house contains an outstanding collection of pictures including works by Velasquez, Tintoretto, Rubens, Titian and the astounding Guido Reni fresco, returned to the library ceiling for the first time in a quarter of a century. Over the years successive members of the family enlarged and improved their home, leading to the creation of a flamboyant Italianate palazzo. Much of the Bankes’ family wealth was spent reshaping the land around the house and today you can see the formal avenue and tree nursery planted in the 17th century, Egyptian artefacts collected in the 19th century, the vast Kitchen Garden laid out in the Victorian era as a state of the art market garden, a seven acre Japanese Garden plus a 2.5 mile Woodland Walk.

Although we shall not be there for the Festival, we shall explore the triangle formed by the three cathedral cities. Our base is the Pear Tree Country Hotel, Worcester. Over the five days, we experience the three great cathedrals and also Great Malvern Priory and Tewkesbury Abbey, each containing outstanding medieval stained glass. On a domestic note, we visit Madresfield Court, home to the Lygon family since 1260, and the Georgian Eastnor castle, containing fine paintings and furniture. We visit Croome Park (NT) to see the major restoration work going on there. Worcester Porcelain Museum, the Elgar Birthplace Museum and the Wilson, Cheltenham’s newly extended museum with its renowned Arts and Crafts section, complete the planned itinerary. The tour is arranged through Art and Heritage Holidays.

Penshurst Place is near Tonbridge, Kent and is the ancestral home of the Sidney family. It is the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney. The original medieval house is one of the most complete examples of 14th century domestic architecture in England surviving in its original location. The surrounding gardens are an integral and beautiful part of the visit.

The visit starts at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, designed by Sir John Soane in 1811 as England’s first public art gallery, housing one of the world’s most important collections of European Old Master paintings of the 1600s and 1700s bequeathed by Sir Francis Bourgeois, RA “for the inspection of the public”. We will then make our way to the Horniman Museum and Gardens founded in 1901 by Frederick Horniman who had inherited his father’s tea business. The building is designed in the Arts and Crafts style and specialises in anthropology, natural history and musical instruments. The Museum Cafe, where we will have lunch, includes seating in the Victorian conservatory overlooking 16 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens.

Broughton Castle (near Banbury N Oxfordshire) is a medieval moated manor house built by Sir John de Broughton in about 1300. In the late 16th century the house was enlarged into an impressive Tudor home, embellished with magnificent plaster ceilings, splendid panelling and fine fireplaces. The garden area consists of mixed herbaceous borders and shrub borders containing many old roses. The house passed by inheritance to the Fiennes family in 1550 and is still the home of the 21st Baron Saye and Sele.

Stonor Park (4 miles N of Henley-on Thames) is a historic country house and private deer park. It nestles in a fold of the beautiful wooded Chiltern Hills with breathtaking views over the surrounding parkland. The home of Lord and Lady Camoys, Stonor has remained in the same family for 850 years. It has a unique variety of beautiful rooms containing many family portraits, Old Master Drawings and paintings and Renaissance bronzes and tapestries. In addition there is a fine display of modern ceramics. This is a private group visit to Stonor and a light lunch will be included.

Staying in the heart of the old city, we shall visit the reconstructed Frauenkirche, the Old Masters' Picture Gallery at the Zwinger Palace and the Green Vault Collections of treasures. A day visit to Meissen includes a tour of the porcelain factory and Albrechtsburg Castle and a return by boat on the Elbe. Just outside Dresden is Pillnitz Palace surrounded by gardens alongside the river.

Waddesdon Manor (near Aylesbury) was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the Neo-Renaissance style of a French Chateau between 1874 and 1879. The forty-five rooms on view combine the highest quality French furniture and decorative arts from the 18th century with magnificent portraits by Gainsborough and Reynolds, works by Dutch and Flemish Masters, Savonnerie carpets and Sèvres porcelain. The Victorian Gardens are considered some of the finest in Britain with colourful parterre, seasonal displays, fountains and statuary.

Apsley House was the home of the Duke of Wellington after his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The interior, which has changed little since the days of the Iron Duke, boasts one of the finest art collections in London with paintings by Velazquez and Rubens as well as a wonderful array of silver and porcelain. In addition we will visit Wellington Arch which stands opposite Apsley House on Hyde Park Corner. Here we will be able to enjoy the glorious panoramas over the Royal Parks and the Houses of Parliament, from the balconies below the spectacular bronze sculpture surmounting the arch. Lunch will be taken at the Wallace Restaurant in the Wallace Museum, Manchester Square. Afterwards we will be able to wander through the 25 galleries of unsurpassed displays of paintings, furniture and porcelain of the Wallace Collection.

Goodwood House is nestled in spectacular Sussex countryside, surrounded by mature parkland. It has been the home of the Dukes of Richmond for centuries and combines the glamour of a great English country house with the warmth of a family home. The outstanding art collection, formed by successive generations of family, includes paintings by van Dyck, Canaletto, Stubbs and Reynolds, Sèvres porcelain, Gobelins tapestries and 18th century French and English furniture. Lunch will be arranged in the Chichester area.

Arundel Castle, seat of the Dukes of Norfolk, is one of the greatest treasure houses of England and home of priceless works of art. Our guided tour focuses on paintings, furniture, tapestries and stained glass in stunning room settings. Members will be free to wander through the magnificent gardens after the house tour. Bignor Roman Villa, is a very fine Roman home and farm in a spectacular Downland setting. We will be able to appreciate the craftsmanship that created the exquisite mosaic floors and see the details of luxury living in the 3rd century. Coffee and lunch will be taken at Arundel Castle.

The tour includes visits to Harewood House (see image above), Hepworth Wakefield, Salt's Mill at Saltaire, Fountains Abbey and Newby Hall. En route to Harrogate we will visit Newstead Abbey and on the return journey visit Walsall Art Gallery.

Hughenden Manor near High Wycombe, the country home of Victorian statesman Benjamin Disraeli, offers a vivid insight into the charismatic personality and colourful private life of this most unlikely Prime Minister, who lived here from 1848 until 1881. Visitors can browse the interesting collection of personal memorabilia and also see the Second World War room in the cellars, revealing Hughenden's secret wartime past. We shall have an introductory talk prior to coffee followed by our visit to the house and garden. After lunch, we move on to Greys Court near Henley, an intimate family home and estate set in the Chilterns. The picturesque 16th century mansion and gardens were home until recently to the Brunner family. There is a welcoming atmosphere in the house and living rooms, and the series of walled gardens amid medieval ruins is also interesting. We will have tea here before leaving for home.

The visit to the Foundling Hospital Museum focuses on the visionary 18th century initiative established in 1739 by Thomas Coram, a retired shipwright, who brought philanthropy, art and music together to care for abandoned children on the streets of London. Alongside its superb collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative art, there are poignant objects evoking the lives of the foundlings. The museum is a permanent record to a remarkable enterprise. The Tate Britain exhibition 'Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde' brings together 150 works in different media. The Pre-Raphaelites constituted Britain's first modern art movement. They combined rebellion and revivalism, scientific precision and imaginative power.

The Abbey is an amazing building to explore with a mixture of architectural styles. Eight hundred years in the making and located in the heart of Laycock village famous for its picturesque streets and historic buildings. In the 19th century it was the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, the celebrated pioneer of photography. Get to know the man behind the camera, stroll in the abbey grounds and wander through the historic village. A full and interesting day.

For our 5 day visit we stay at a 3* Hotel located in the city centre and only a few minutes' walk from the old town. The holiday will include a guided tour of the city, Niepolomice Castle, the magnificent Wieliczka Salt Mines (established in 1978 as a World Cultural and Heritage Site), the 630-year-old Jagielo University buildings (its alumni include Copernicus and Pope John Paul ll) and the Jewish Quarter. You may choose to join an optional excursion to Auschwitz, the most notorious of German concentration camps in World War ll.

Hatfield House is a Tudor gem, which has long been the home of the Cecil family, Lords Burghley and Salisbury. It is also famous as the childhood home of Elizabeth I. There will be a tour of the house and points of interest outside include the extensive gardens, the real tennis court, St Ethelfreda’s 12th century church and the stable yard shopping area. The second focus of the trip is the city of St Albans with its magnificent cathedral of Norman origins. We will also visit the Verulamium Museum with its fascinating depictions of life in Roman times.

Winchester College was founded in1382 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, and is believed to be the oldest continuously running school in the country. Our tour focuses on the medieval buildings, including College Hall, the original scholars' dining room, and the 14th century Gothic chapel with its early example of a vaulted roof. We shall also see the 17th century red-brick schoolroom. The Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty is Britain's oldest charitable institution, founded in the 1130s to provide a home for thirteen poor men. It is still a living community, and the Brothers will give us a tour of the fine Norman church, the Brethren's Hall, the Georgian kitchen, Tudor ambulatory and gardens. Coffee and lunch will be taken at Winchester Cathedral Visitors' Centre and tea at St Cross.

We will visit two of the Senior Livery Companies in the City of London, learn of their medieval origins and their role in our modern society, both of which administer charities that contribute to trusts relating to education, almshouses and people in need. The Skinners’ Company which has a history going back some 700 years developed from the trade of the furriers. The first medieval hall was burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666 but Skinners’ Hall is still essentially the second hall built in the 1680s. Drapers’ Company’s first royal charter, involving the woollen cloth trade, was granted in 1364 and its Liverymen still carry out important functions in the elections of the government of the City of London.

Frampton Court is a Grade1 listed 18th Century House in the Vale of Berkeley on the edge of the Cotswolds, which has been lived in by the Clifford family since it was built in 1710. The house, built of Bath stone, displays a magnificent mixture of Baroque and Palladian architectural styles, The splendour of Frampton Court is complemented by an outstanding collection of contemporary 18th Century furniture and furnishings. However we will begin out tour with a visit to the timber-framed Manor which is the Clifford’s family home. Next we will enjoy a light lunch in the impressive Wool Barn which dates from about 1550. A 300 yard walk across the green takes us to Frampton Court where we will tour the house and garden. The stunning parkland has fine views over the lake which is fringed with handsome trees. Finally we will have afternoon tea and home made cake in the Wool Barn before returning home.

Eltham Palace is one of the few surviving medieval royal palaces. Initially a moated manor house, it was acquired by the future King Edward II in 1305. The Great Hall built in the 1470s is still visible. In the 1930s an important private house, boasting ultra modern design and technology, was built adjoining the Great Hall. The moving forces behind the development were Stephen and Virginia Courtauld. Leading designers and craftsmen created a range of lavish interiors and superb gardens. We will have a guided tour of the stunning Art Deco interiors, the medieval remains and the gardens, with an account of the development and context of this extraordinary site.

We shall be staying for 4 nights on a half board basis at the Crown Plaza Liverpool Airport. This listed Art Deco building was formerly the airport building for Speke (now John Lennon) Airport. The buildings have been magnificently restored and the hotel is ideally situated for visits to both our destinations. We intend to spend a full day in Liverpool visiting both cathedrals, the Walker Art Gallery and hopefully the Town Hall with a Blue Badge guide. We will also visit Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Art Gallery which is probably the best surviving collection of late Victorian and Edwardian taste housed in the gallery built by its founder to accommodate it. The day in Manchester, again with a Blue Badge guide will include the City Art Gallery with its outstanding collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, the Lowry at Salford Quays and the new Imperial War Museum North. We will be accompanied by a tour manager and travel between Woking and Liverpool will feature an en route stop at Shugborough Hall on the outward journey and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts on our return, both have lunch facilities

Romsey Abbey is one of the finest churches in Europe, originally built over 900 years ago. There will also be a chance to visit King John’s House in Romsey Market. Afterwards we drive through the New Forest to Breamore House which is set in parkland near Fordingbridge. This is a magnificent Elizabethan manor house which has been in the same family for 250 years and still remains a family home. It is noted for its collection of fine paintings and furniture. There is also a fascinating Countryside Museum which is particularly well-stocked and of great interest.

The visit focuses on the crucial codebreaking activities at Bletchley Park but also puts them in a wider historical context – technical, military and domestic. The tour takes in the famous wooden huts and B Block Museum, which tells the complete Bletchley Park story. The museum houses Enigma and other machines for encryption and deciphering and explains how they led to vital intelligence in WWII. Displays such as the Post Office, Toys and Home Front (including ‘Wash Day’ in a 1930s kitchen) recreate the era. Other exhibitions are devoted to the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry action on D-Day, the German Signals Group and early computers. The roles of Turing and Churchill are celebrated in statues by Stephen Kettle. We shall also have a short talk by an evacuee sharing her experiences as a child in WWII.

The exclusive VIP Winter Tour starts at the front door of Longleat House and includes rooms not normally open to the public, including some of Lord Bath’s famous and fabulous murals which are in the newly refurbished private apartments of the family. Longleat House is home to Titian’s ‘Rest on the Flight into Egypt’, Tintoretto’s ‘Ascelaphus and Proserpina’, collections of Meissen and Sevres, Flemish tapestries, an incredible series of Wootton paintings and the Cobham family portrait. We will see splendid examples of hand-painted Chinese wallpaper, a magnificent 17th century North German armoire and a collection of 17th & 18th century furniture, not normally on view to the public.

The visit starts at one of the prettiest West Sussex villages, Bramber near Steyning. It continues to genteel Goring, where in the Catholic church a local artist has created a unique reproduction of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Then there will be a chance to enjoy the delightful seaside at Worthing over lunchtime. In the afternoon a visit will be made to the national architectural masterpiece of the soaring and many-buttressed Gothic chapel at Lancing College. The tour ends at Britain’s oldest licensed airport at Shoreham, where its Art Deco buildings retain the ambience of a more leisurely era of air travel than we experience today.

‘Art in Action’ is an art and craft festival bringing together hundreds of artists in a vast array of artistic disciplines. Artists set up their studios and work, offering visitors a rare opportunity to observe the creative process and to speak with the artists. They demonstrate and exhibit in marquees in the grounds of Waterperry House. Artistic skills include painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, calligraphy, illustration, glass, metalwork & jewellery, textiles and woodwork. NADFAS supports ‘Art in Action’ in the form of two lectures given each day of the festival by NADFAS lecturers (free to ticket holders). Music, dance and drama are performed in the amphitheatre, there are frescoes in Waterperry House to view and tours of Waterperry Gardens. Practical classes are also available. An art materials/ publications/market marquee offers materials and advice for beginners and experts and over a hundred designer/makers display and sell their work. Note: This is a full ‘wander at will’ day.

In May 2010 Mayford DFAS will be flying to the lovely city of Vienna. We will be staying at the 4* Lindner am Belvedere Hotel which has its own website. The visits include guided tours of the Schonbrunn Palace, the residence of the Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresia; the Liechtenstein Museum, housed in the Baroque Palais Liechtenstein, with several Rubens and van Dyck paintings; the beautiful Kunsthistorisches Museum, the art and treasure chamber of Archduke Ferdinand and the Emperor Rudolph II; and the Albertina Museum, a grand Viennese palace with a permanent exhibition of Impressionist art. We will also have a day in the scenic Danube Valley, visiting Melk Abbey, then ending with a cruise on the River Danube to the historic town of Krems

After travelling by Thames River boat from Westminster to Greenwich Pier, we shall rejoin the coach to go to The Royal Observatory for a visit organised by Greenwich Tour Guides. In the afternoon we shall visit Ranger’s House and the Wernher Collection. Ranger’s House is an attractive red-brick villa built c1700, on the edge of Greenwich Park. It houses the Wernher Collection, the life-time collection of self-made millionaire, Julius Wernher. The collection includes superb displays of fine and decorative arts with objects dating from 3BC to the 19th century, including a stunning display of Renaissance jewellery as well as paintings, sculptures, furniture, tapestries, enamels and ivories.

The Merchant’s House, in Marlborough’s attractive High Street, was the home of Thomas Bayley, a prosperous silk mercer. The house gives a rare glimpse of middle-class life in the 17th century. Rooms are furnished to reflect the taste and status of a merchant’s family of the period. Set amidst parkland and formal gardens, Lydiard Park, the Palladian home of the Viscounts Bolingbroke, contains original furnishings, ornate plasterwork, family portraits and work by the 18th century society artist Lady Diana Spencer. Next door, Lydiard Tregoze church is packed with monuments to the St John family. Simon Jenkins recently wrote, ‘Were the South Chapel to be removed lock, stock and barrel to the V & A, it would cause a sensation.’