Tucked in the scenic Golden Valley in Herefordshire and sitting on English/Welsh border, these lands have been in the Scudamore family for almost 1,000 years. We wander around the beautiful gardens and dive into the history with a guided tour.

The Peak District overnight break includes:

• Return travel with local pick up locations
• Visit to Hardwick Hall on Wednesday 17th June
• Dinner B&B at Kenwood Hall Hotel & Spa set within 12 acres of parkland
• Visit to Haddon Hall with a private tour led by an expert guide
• Free time in the lovely spa town of Buxton

A private visit has been arranged for The Arts Society Hereford. It is envisaged that members will make their own way to the Eastnor Castle. Further information will be available in the new year. 

Buscot House a late 18th century house set in enchanting landscape grounds near Lechlade, Oxfordshire. It is the home of the famous Faringdon Collection and a private viewing has been arranged for The Arts Society Hereford. Our guide will be Dr. Amy Lim, an authority on the Collection, is also one of our popular lecturers. 

There will be the opportunity to enjoy the gardens. We will then continue to Cirencester to enjoy lunch or leisure time. 

Pick up points from Leominister, Hereford and Ledbury are being arranged. Cost to National Trust members £58.00 non-members £65.00.

A Private Visit to Madresfield Court, a country house in Malvern Worcestershire. Members and friends will make their own way to Madresfield either by car or train.Parking is available at the house and the station of Great Malvern is apporoximately 3 miles away. Refreshments will be availalble. It is proposed that there will be two groups of 15, the first group going in at 1.30pm while the second group enjoy the gardens. They will then change over. 

Magdalen is generally regarded as one of the three grand colleges of Oxford, and was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. It has some of the most beautiful buildings in Oxford and is set in 120 acres of grounds which include the Deer Park and Addison’s riverside walk.

The Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest in the UK and with nearly 5,000 different types of plant, the Garden is a year-round oasis of biodiversity, right in the heart of the city.

Following morning pick ups, we start the day at Magdalen College in Oxford with a morning tea or coffee on arrival before our guided tour of the college. There will then be free time in Oxford for lunch before our afternoon visit (lunch not included in cost).

Following lunch we head to Oxford Botanic Garden. Upon entry, we have free time to explore the wonderful garden before heading home.

Timings:

Leave Leominster Fire Station Car Park 8:00am, Hereford Merton Meadow Car Park 8:30am and arrive Ledbury Market Hall for 9:00am.

Depart and arrive Ledbury 6:15pm, Hereford at 6:45pm and Leominster 7:15pm.

Cost: Including return travel and concierge costs, morning tea/coffee, Guided tour of Magdalen College, entry to Botanic Gardens £52 for TASH members and £58 for non TASH members

BOOKING: 01432 370514 www.rural-concierge.co.uk info@rural-concierge.co.uk

WE WERE GIVEN A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT AN ARTS AND CRAFTS GEM DESIGNED BY E. BARNSLEY FOR CLAUDE AND MARGARET BIDDULPH 

The programme for the day included -

A Guided tour of the Manor - A Garden Visit   -Coffee/tea and a Sandwich Lunch

WE WERE GUIDED THROUGH THE UNIQUE COLLECTION OF ARTS & CRAFTS FURNITURE and CERAMICS & TEXTILES OF THE PERIOD MADE FOR THE BIDDULPH FAMILY:  WORKS BY ERNEST, SYDNEY AND EDWARD BARNSLEY PLUS NORMAN JEWSON, AND MANY OTHERS

AFTER A GOOD LUNCH, WE SPENT TIME EXPLORING THE HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT GARDENS SET OUT AS A SERIES OF GARDEN ROOMS.

AN EXCELLENT DAY!

On Wednesday, 26th April  as a follow up to our February lecture, we visited Klemscott Manor, the home of Jane and William Morris for 25 years.

We stopped en route at Lechlade on Thames, and saw St Lawrence Church, one of the four great wool churches of the Cotswolds.

At Klemscott Manor, where our free flow visit  last edabout 2 hours.  Also included in the visit were the gardens, maintained much as in Morris’s day. 

+'A very Good Day and A Delightful Experience'

Our visit to the historic 'Black and White' village of Pembridge was much appreciated by our members and guests.

Our day began with a very welcome warm drink supplied by the proprietor of The King's House Resturant.  We then gathered in the medieval church, which is unusual for its detached bell tower, to hear Arts Society Lecturer and Author Gavin Plumley speak about, 'A Home For All Seasons', the story of his Elizabethan house situated close by. Later, Gavin very generously allowed us to visit the house to see some of its unique features.

The day was punctuated by a good buffet lunch at The King's House Resturant after which we met once more in the church to hear an introduction to its history given by the Churchwarden, who also showed us the 21st century tapestries stitched by parishioners depicting the thousand-year history of the village.

Two of our Society’s volunteers  then described how they created a Church Discovery Trail for local children, the seventh such trail of historic  Herefordshire churches they have completed.

Some comments on the day from our members:

'We enjoyed it very much. Gavin is a brilliant speaker and the refreshments and lunch were appreciated.'

'Thank you for an informative and interesting day; so well organised and a very good lunch.' 

On 23rd June 2022 we enjoyed a stimulating trip to the beautiful garden of the Old Rectory, Thruxton. The colourful deep borders, woodland area and wildlife pond have all been developed in the last fifteen years and gave us much pleasure and inspiration.

To begin our day at Winterbourne, a curator will lead a tour of the botanical gardens. Created over a century ago for the Nettlefold family and with collections from around the world, the grade II listed Arts & Crafts garden will be at its best in May.

There will be time for tea or coffee on arrival (included) before the tour begins at 11:00. The tour of the garden, which ends at approximately 12:15,  as well as access to the house,  is covered by the cost of the group tickets. We are then free to have lunch in the cafe & explore the house.

Members & Guests should make their way to Birmingham by train:

To Birmingham: Leave Hereford at 08:45, arriving at University station at 10:10. Day return with senior rail card or in groups of three or more, costs £11.19. Winterbourne is a twenty minute walk, passing The Barber Institute, which you may wish to visit later.

From Birmingham: Trains depart hourly at 55 minutes past the hour. Train fares rise after 4pm, so, to avoid extra charges, it is best to depart no later than 15:55 to arrive in Hereford by 17:19.

The cost per member is £15 or £17 for guests. The closing date is 15th May 2018. Please contact Kathy Johnson on 01981 259868

PRIVATE TOUR Winterbourne, University of Birmingham 23 MAY 2018

Name:

Address:

Telephone:                                    Mobile                    E-mail:

Please return this form with your cheque for £15 per member and £17 per guest (made payable to The Arts Society Hereford) to: Kathy Johnson, 8 Great Brampton Park, Madley, Herefordshire 

Chastleton House is Jacobean, built of Cotswold stone in 1603 by Walter Jones. Its great hall and long gallery retain the original plasterwork and is a fascinating time capsule. Chastleton has been occupied by the same family for 400 years and is filled with fine furniture acquire over the centuries. HDFAS is delighted to be given a private tour of the house from 10:00 until 12:00.

Croome Park was Capability Brown's first commission. He also participated in the design of Croome Court, seat of the Earls of Coventry. Robert Adam designed some of the room is the Palladian house, where his ceilings and other details survive. A fairly new National Trust acquisition, the house offers a rare chance to see a NT restoration in progress. HDFAS will be given a guided tour of the main reception rooms on the ground floor in which original features and later changes will be discussed.

Degas to Picasso. We have arranged a visit to the Ashmolean in Oxford for a guide tour of the " Degas to Picasso: Creating Modernism in France" exhibition. This major exhibition plots the course from such romantics as David & Delacroix to the experiments of Picasso and Duchamp, as well as illustrated works by Manet, Cezanne and many others. This is a rare opportunity to see how the style and concepts developed over the 19th & 20th centuries. One not to be missed! Full information on the HDFAS notice board,

National gallery of wales, Cardiff. By train for a private tour of the Davies Sisters Collection of French Impressionism & Post-Impressionism.

Gwendoline & Margaret Davies, pioneer collectors, were the greatest benefactors in the National Museum of Wales's first hundred years.Their interests grew out of the cultural aspirations of the liberal, non-conformist elite in earlt twentieth century Wales; the range and quality of their bequests transformed the Welsh National Collection.

Trains depart from Hereford hourly, the 9:33 will reach Cardiff at 10:40. On arrival at Cardiff, we meet for coffee at Barker & Barker Tea house in the High Street. There is then free time to explore and have lunch before before meeting at the National Gallery of Wales at 14:00 to begin the tour.

Further details will be available at the next lecture on Tuesday 11th October or phone 01981 259868

The full-day coach trip will depart at 08.30 hours from the Hereford car park on the former Rockfield DIY site, adjacent to the Hereford railway station, arriving at Powis Castle at 11.00 hours.  At the end of our tour the coach will leave Powis Castle at16.00 hours, reaching Hereford at approximately 18.00 hours.

This tour is open to HDFAS members and their guests.  Closing date is Friday 20th May 2016.  For queries and further information please contact our membership secretary 01981 259868.

Costs for each member is £43 and £45 for each guest.  Costs for those with a National Trust membership is £32.70 and £34.70 for guests with NT membership. Please remember to bring your NT cards.

There is a restaurant and garden coffee shop at the castle.

In 1932, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts was established, bequeathed to the University of Birmingham 'for the study and encouragement of art and music'.  This is one of the most outstanding collections of art assembled in Britain in the 20th century,

The collection is full of famous works by artists such as Vincent van Gogh,  Claude Monet, August Rodin, Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt.  The Renaissance is represented by masterpieces by Giovanni Bellini, Veronese and Simone Martini and the 17th century by Rubens, Van Dyke, Poussin  and Murillo.  Among the British artists represented are Aubrey Beardsley, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Rosetti and Turner.  There is also a fine collection of sculpture, including works by Rodin and Degas.  The collection also includes works by Gwen John,  Andre Derain, Fernand Leger, Rene Magritte and Egon Schiele.

We are delighted to announce a visit to the 13th century Stokesay Castle, followed by a visit to Stokesay Court, where Atonement was filmed and where, commemorating the beginning of WW1, a new exhibition recreates the hospital set up in the house during the Great War.

Stokesay Castle: Pevsner calls the castle "...one of the earliest fortified houses ....of England," and "one of the first which has architectural ambition." After English Heritage's four year restoration campaign, Stokesay Castle blends into the surrounding landscape much as it did when first built. A visitor to Stokesay in the early 1290s would have been struck by the wealth of Laurence of Ludlow, who conducted his wool trade from the grand hall, which remains particularly impressive. Audio Tours are available free of charge.

Those who wish are free to explore the grounds as well as St. John The Baptist Church, next to the castle, which was itself restored after the Civil War. Soup, sandwiches and light refreshments are served in the Stokesay Castle tearoom. We will leave Stokesay Castle at 1330hrs for the short drive to Stokesay Court.

Stokesay Court was the grandest Victorian mansion in Shropshire when first built in 1889-1895 for John Derby Allcroft, MP, whose descendants stil! live there today, The house served as a hospital during WW1, and we will visit a special exhibition marking this period. Our private tour will also cover the rest of the house including those rooms used in the filming of Atonement.

Following our tour we will be served tea and cakes. Members will then be free to explore the grounds until the coach departs for Hereford at 1530hrs.

The full-day coach trip will depart at 0900hrs from the new Hereford car park on the former Rockfield DtY site, adjacent to the raihay station, arriving at Stokesay Castle between 10-1030hrs.

At the end of our tour the coach will leave Stokesay Court at 1530hrs, reaching Hereford by approximately 1730hrs.

ln case of queries, please contact 01981 259 868. On the day, contact 07790 255 080.

This tour is open to HDFAS members and their guesB (for whom on extra fee of £2 will be payable).

Space is limited, but we will maintain a waiting list. Closing date is Thursday 7 May 2015.