Click HERE to Book

Step into four centuries of family history at Elton Hall, an extraordinary and romantic historic house near Peterborough, set in unspoilt landscaped parkland.

Our visit includes a private guided tour of the house, revealing an enchanting building of striking contrasts: a Gothic south front set at right angles to a classical, French-inspired entrance wing—an architectural conversation shaped by successive generations.

Inside, Elton Hall offers a rich view of British taste and collecting, including Old Masters and works by Reynolds and Gainsborough.

After the tour, explore the award-winning restored gardens, a beautiful setting for the house and a treat for plant lovers, with a wide variety of unusual shrubs and plantings.

TRAVEL:  The coach will depart from Trumpington Park and Ride at 10.15; the journey time is just over 1 hour.

COST: The cost of the visit is £48.50 per person (including a non-refundable booking fee). 

FOOD and DRINK:  The price includes tea/coffee and homemade biscuits on arrival.  There are no picnic facilities, but lunch can be purchased from the Mulberry Café and will be available to order when we arrive.

The group size is limited to 32 places on a first come first served basis. 

Click here for more information and to book:

https://buytickets.at/theartssocietycambridge/2074081/share/d844500fd32cec4a56408d653878a7bd

Click HERE to Book

Join us for a private guided visit to one of Cambridge’s most breathtaking interiors: the Wren Library at Trinity College. Set above the River Cam in Sir Christopher Wren’s elegant classical building, the library is celebrated not only for its architecture, but also for the extraordinary treasures it safeguards.

The visit will explore books as works of art, thinking about how book design and illustration have evolved across the centuries from manuscripts, early printed books through to modernist works.

This is a rare opportunity to see and discuss examples of different books under the guidance of the Sub-Librarian of the Wren library.

We will meet you outside the Porter's Lodge, Trinity College, Trinity Street, at 9.50am ready to start the tour at 10am.

COST: The cost of the visit is £12.50  per person (including a non-refundable booking fee)

The group size is limited to 18 places on a first come first served basis.

REFUNDS, less the booking fee, will only be offered if your place can be taken by someone on the waiting list.

In the event of insufficient ticket sales, the event will be cancelled and money refunded.

ACCESSIBILITY: the library is on the first floor up a flight of stairs with a handrail.  There is no lift available.

For any queries or cancellations, please email visitscjb@gmail.com 
 

Please note that all activities are undertaken at your own risk. The Arts Society Cambridge cannot be held responsible for any personal accident, loss damage or theft of members' personal property.

Click HERE to Book

Join us for a private guided tour of the Old Library at St John’s College, a superb 17th-century library overlooking the River Cam and a fine example of Jacobean architecture.  The library houses important collections of medieval and post-medieval manuscripts, rare and early printed books, personal papers, photographs and artefacts.

Led by the Sub-Librarian, we will explore the history of the library and its internationally renowned collections, with the chance to view selected highlights and ask questions.

A rare opportunity to see exceptional material up close, in an outstanding historic setting.

We will meet you outside the Porter's Lodge, Trinity College, Trinity Street, at 10.20am, ready to start the tour at 10.30am.

COST: The cost of the visit is £5.50 per person (including a non-refundable booking fee)

The group size is limited to 18 places on a first come first served basis.

REFUNDS, less the booking fee, will only be offered if your place can be taken by someone on the waiting list.

In the event of insufficient ticket sales, the event will be cancelled and money refunded.

ACCESSIBILITY: the library is on the first floor up a flight of stone stairs.  There is no lift available.

For any queries or cancellations, please email visitscjb@gmail.com

Please note that all activities are undertaken at your own risk. The Arts Society Cambridge cannot be held responsible for any personal accident, loss damage or theft of members' personal property.

CANCELLED

Enjoy a one hour guided tour of this eighteenth-century, Grade I listed Georgian townhouse and its renowned collection of masterpieces by Thomas Gainsborough(1727–88). The visit also includes delightful examples from the personal collections of Suffolk artists John Constable and Cedric Morris, offering a broader context for regional artistic practice.

After the tour, your ticket allows you to see two other exhibitions at leisure: Love & Landscape: Stanley Spencer in Suffolk and the small contemporary art exhibition of Humphrey Ocean: Home. These are in the  dramatic new extension, as is  the historic landscape studio, offer panoramic views across Sudbury, reinforcing the site’s strong relationship between art and place. Gainsborough’s House is open daily from 10.00 am to 4.30 pm.

Further information on the collection is available via the museum website https://gainsborough.org/collection/

Following the tour there is a café on site, set within the house’s walled garden, or you could dine at The Secret Garden restaurant in the town https://www.tsguk.net.

TRAVEL:  Check the website for details of car parking or going by train: https://gainsborough.org/your-visit/getting-here/

TIMING: we will meet you at the entrance desk at 11.15am, ready to start the tour at 11.30am .

COST:    £22.75 or a reduced rate of £13.65 for Art Fund Members.

For those with Art Fund cards, please make sure they are in date before you book;  you will need to show them at reception. 

ACCESSIBILITY: the building is wheelchair accessible. You may borrow a manual wheelchair while visiting which is located at the reception desk. If you would like access to this during your visit, please call the House in advance. There is hand-rail access on all stair routes as well as hand-rails leading out into the garden and main House. Occasional seating is provided in the new galleries. The tour is not particularly onerous, but please wear comfortable footwear.

REFUNDS:  These will only be available if we are able to sell your ticket to someone on the waiting list.

Please note that all activities are undertaken at your own risk. The Arts Society Cambridge cannot be held responsible for any personal accident, loss damage or theft of members' personal property.

Gainsborough’s House is situated in the centre of Sudbury, Suffolk on Gainsborough Street, at the bottom of Market Hill. The entrance can be found in the new gallery space on Weavers Lane just past the Print Workshop.

Gainsborough’s House, 46 Gainsborough Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2EU

Main entrance on Weavers Lane, what3words: ///sheepish.logo.spotty

Photo Credit: 

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), Circa 1747

Wooded Landscape with a Peasant Resting

Gainsborough’s House

The Sleepers Exhibition Fully Booked
Murray Edwards College

22 January 2026
The exhibition includes the quilt supported by TASC.   
Click HERE to join waiting list

The Parker Library is one of the nation’s greatest cultural treasures. Internationally renowned, it houses an outstanding collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts alongside rare early printed books, making it one of the most important surviving Renaissance libraries in Europe.

Our guided tour will uncover the fascinating history of the library and its remarkable holdings, as well as the story of how this world-famous collection ended up under the care of Corpus Christi College. The visit also viewing of the current special exhibition. Please note: the library is reached via 25 uneven steps.

Places on the guided tour are limited to 18 members and the cost will be £14.50 per person.

See your October newsletter for booking information.

Image: The Parker Library, courtesy of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi, Cambridge.

Join us on a guided tour of Ely Cathedral to discover its rich history, heritage and the people and events which have helped shape it over the centuries. The ground floor tour lasts for one hour.

The other part of our visit will be a tour of the Stained Glass Museum, which displays over 125 stained glass panels from the thirteenth century to the present day. The museum is accessed via a spiral stone staircase of 46 steps from the ground floor of the Cathedral. The stairs are fitted with a handrail.

Places for the day are limited to 28 members, who will be split into two smaller groups to complete both tours. The cost of this event is £ 21.65. Art Fund Members can benefit from a reduced price of  £15.65. 

See your Octiober newsletter for booking details.

Images: Ely Cathedral, courtesy of Wikimedia..

Fully Booked

Step into the world of fine art conservation at the Hamilton Kerr Institute—one of the foremost centres for teaching and research in preserving easel paintings. Now in its new location near Cambridge Station, this renowned institute is offering us a rare guided tour of its studio, where you'll meet conservators and students working on restoration projects.

Date: 1st July, 2025   Time: 10:30 - 12:30   Cost:  FREE

This is a limited-capacity event, and demand is expected to be high—so book early to secure your place. Kindly ensure you are able to attend before booking, as places are strictly limited.

Getting There:

The Institute is located on the Cambridge University Press site in Shaftesbury Road.  More detailed directions will be given nearer the time.

·       A 20-minute walk from Cambridge Station via Brooklands Avenue

·       U2 bus from Cambridge Station and walk down Shaftesbury Road

 Please note:  The venue is fully wheelchair accessible, but there is no parking available on site.

Booking opens Monday 5th May, 2025.

Click HERE for more information and to book from Monday 5th May, 2025

 https://buytickets.at/theartssocietycambridge/1687920

We are off to spectacular Dresden 19 - 23 May 2025

For Brochure click HERE

Join an expert guide for a tour of the Museum of Classical Archaeology and a chance to see a collection of sculpture casts which span the length and breadth of the Graeco-Roman world, covering a time period reaching from 1700 BCE to 400 CE.

You will see some of the most recognisable pieces of ancient Greek and Roman statues and will consider the changing portrayal of the human body through sculpture, viewing copies of works which when rediscovered, influenced the Renaissance world. The copies stand side by side, even though the original works are today scattered in the museums across the world.

TIMING: We will meet you at 10.50 am outside the museum, ready to start the tour at 11.00am.

COST: The cost of the tour  will be £5 per person. This includes a non-refundable booking fee.

Click HERE to Book Ticket(s)

REFUNDS: Refunds, less the booking fee, will only be offered if your place can be taken by someone on the waiting list. If you need to cancel, please contact us at least 24hrs before the event, as there is a much greater likelihood of us enabling someone from the waiting list to take your place. In the event of insufficient ticket sales, the event will be cancelled and money refunded.

ACCESSIBILITY: the museum is wheelchair accessible.   It is on the first floor of the building, but a lift is available on request.  The tour is not particularly onerous, but please wear comfortable footwear.  

DIRECTIONS:  The entrance is not on the road; it is in the Sidgwick Site, just off Sidgwick Avenue.  If in doubt, look for the cast in the entrance to the building.

https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/museum/visit-us/getting-here

Please note that all activities are undertaken at your own risk. The Arts Society Cambridge cannot be held responsible for any personal accident, loss damage or theft of members' personal property.

Image: Classical Archaeology Museum, Cambridge

Fully Booked - Click HERE to join the waiting List

Join us at 11:oo AM at the Porters' Lodge at Murry Edwards College forfor a guided tour of the exhibition ‘Conversation Not Spectacle’. This exhibition explores the history and development of The Women’s Art Collection at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.

We will see a variety of works that women artists chose to donate to the Collection. Many reflect on contemporary social issues, challenge views and expectations and explore ideas around cultural identity: inspiring thought and discussion. Featured artists include: Elizabeth Blackadder; Eileen Cooper; Elisabeth Frink; Maggi Hambling and Paula Rego.

The college is wheelchair accessible and refreshments can be purchased in the college café.

Booking available from January 1st 2025.

Fully Booked

Discover the British Library’s history, collection and architecture and what it takes to store, access and deliver the 13 million books in their collection to readers. Our private tour with one of the Library’s expert guides will explore the public areas of the Library and visit the Library’s viewing gallery, book handling room, reading rooms and more. See and learn about some of the 200 most iconic treasures within the Library’s collections including the second largest atlas in the world, the historic library of King George III and Wilfred Owen’s manuscripts. The tour will take 90 minutes, following which there are a number of coffee shops in the Library, for refreshments.

In the afternoon, you may wish to take advantage of one of the two exhibitions which are current being held in the Library, after which you make your own way back to Cambridge.

If you do wish to visit one of the exhibitions,  please book and pay directly with the Library. We would suggest that you book for any time after 2pm using the link after each summary below.

A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang

The oasis of Dunhuang, at the edge of the Gobi Desert, was once a bustling town on the famous Silk Road connecting China and the Mediterranean.  Discover the personal stories of those who lived, travelled through, worked, and worshipped here more than 1,000 years ago.
BOOKING LINK: https://silkroad.seetickets.com/timeslots/filter/a-silk-road-oasis-life-in-ancient-dunhuang

Medieval Women: In their Own Words

A self-guided tour of over 140 extraordinary items and manuscripts, where you can discover the rich and complex lives of women in medieval Europe. BOOKING LINK: https://medievalwomen.seetickets.com/timeslots/filter/medieval-women-in-their-own-words

TRAVEL:  Please note, you will be responsible for travelling to and from London. The British Library is only a short 5 minute walk from St Pancras Station and we will meet you at 11.15 am inside the main entrance of the Library ready to start the tour at 11.30am.

COST:  The cost of the Treasures tour will be £16 per person.  This includes a non-refundable booking fee.
Refunds, less the booking fee, will only be offered if your place can be taken by someone on the waiting list.

Click HERE to book your place for the Treasures Tour

In the event of insufficient ticket sales, the event will be cancelled and money refunded.

ACCESSIBILITY: The British Library is wheelchair accessible.  The tour is not particularly onerous, but please wear comfortable footwear.  Lightweight folding stools are available if needed.

Please note that all activities are undertaken at your own risk.  The Arts Society Cambridge cannot be held responsible for any personal accident, loss damage or theft of members' personal property.

To complement the December Cambridge Art Society Lecture, we would like to invite you to join us and our expert guide for a half day tour of the spectacular Arts and Crafts stained glass windows at the Church of Great St. Mary’s, the Painted Church of All Saints' and the Jesus College Chapel.

Cost: £14.00

We will trace the story of nineteenth century stained glass including works by William Morris, the Pre Raphaelites and Philip Webb, sometimes called the Father of Arts and Crafts Architecture.

Our tour will start at Great St Mary's, moving on to the Painted Church.  We will then visit Jesus College Chapel to view the 1846-1849 reconstruction of sixteenth century glass, by Anthony Salvin and AWN Pugin; some of this is in the spectacular style of Chartres and Canterbury. The chapel also has one of the finest collections of Burne-Jones’ windows in the country and William Morris’ final stained glass for a medieval church.

 We will meet you at the entrance of Great St. Mary’s at 9.50 AM, ready for a 10.00 AM start.

The tour will last approximately 2 hours and will finish at Jesus College. After the visit, you are welcome to visit the College’s Roost Café, where lunch/ refreshments can be purchased and where you can enjoy the peaceful surroundings of the College’s gardens.

Places on the tour are limited to 18 people and need to be booked via Ticket Tailor at a cost of £14 (this includes a non refundable booking fee). The final date for booking is Monday 25th November, 2024. In the event of insufficient bookings, the tour will be cancelled and monies refunded.

Accessibility: The tour will involve walking on narrow and uneven pavements in the busy streets of Cambridge, so care will need to be taken. The walk from the north end of King's Parade to the Painted Church in Jesus Lane will take around 15 minutes. Jesus College is an additional 5 mins away. Seating is available in both churches and there are also a number of steps within the churches.  There will be an opportunity for a comfort break at Jesus College.

Please dress for the weather and wear appropriate footwear as the tour will go ahead, even if it is raining. Remember to bring binoculars and a torch (or use your phone torch) in order to optimise your enjoyment of the church/chapel details.

Directions: Great St. Mary’s can be found at north end of King's Parade, Senate House Hill, Cambridge CB2 3PQ, All Saints' Church is in Jesus Lane, Cambridge CB5 8BP and Jesus College is in Jesus Lane, CB5 8BW.

Refunds, less the booking fee, will only be offered if your place can be taken by someone on the waiting list.

A Holiday in Provence, France

We are again working with Heritage Travel for our annual holiday away. The trip's itinerary provides a wonderful look at many highlights of this picturesque region.

Dates: 17-22 October 2024

Clicj HERE for trip brochure

Click HERE for Online booking form

Click HERE for booking conditions

Paper copies of the forementioned forms will be available for collection at our next lecture on 18 April.

Please note that we have a very short period of time to book for this trip. The deadline to be in touch wuith Heritage Travel is 26 April 2024

If you have any questions, please be in touch with:

Chloe Cockram

Product Manager

Tel: +44 (0) 1225 466620

Email: chloe@grouptravel.co.uk

www.grouptravel.co.uk 

HERITAGE GROUP TRAVEL

Charlotte House

12 Charlotte Street

Bath    BA1 2NE

HERITAGE GROUP TRAVEL

Charlotte House

12 Charlotte Street

Bath    BA1 2NE

Anglesey Abbey is home to a nationally and internationally important collection of statues curated by the first Lord Fairhaven to enhance the beauty of the surrounding gardens. Join us for an Autumn tour of some of these magnificent works before they are covered over for the winter.

You will need to make your own way to Anglesey Abbey (plenty of car parking available). There is also the option of taking the 11 Cambridge Stagecoach Bus from the Drummer St bus station or along the bus route. Ask the driver for the "Lode Swafham Rd" bus stop. Timetable:  11 - Cambridge - Burwell - Newmarket – Stephensons of Essex – Bus Times 

We will meet you outside the Visitor Centre at 10.45am, ready for an 11am start.

The tour will last about 1 hour 15 minutes, and you are then free to explore the house and gardens before making your own way home. Refreshments are available in the Redwoods Restaurant and the new Garden Office café.

Places on the tour are limited to 20 people. 

The tour is free to National Trust members or members of the RHS (please bring your admission card with you). Non-members will need to pay a discounted rate of £16.15 on the door at Angelsey Abbey. This cost will allow access to the house and grounds following the tour. 

Accessibility: The tour will take place outside in the grounds and will involve walking mostly on hard standing path and some grassed areas. It is approximately a 10 minute walk from the Visitor Centre to the house; the statues we shall be looking at are mostly within the immediate vicinity of the house.  Please note that there is no seating near the statues.  Please dress for the weather and wear appropriate footwear as the tour will go ahead, even if it is raining.

Please book your places HERE so that we can be aware of numbers and have your contact details in case the is a change of plans.

In order to wet our appetite for our upcoming season's Art Deco lecture we are taking a coach trip to London. 

This visit is oopen to members, friends and family.

Cost:

English Heritage members: £44.00 (includes non refundable booking fee)

Non members, English Heritage: £60.00 (includes non refundable booking fee)

Itinerary: 

We will start our day at Eltham palace; Once a prized medieval palace, and then a Tudor royal residence, in the 1930s Eltham Palace was transformed into a striking art deco mansion with 19 acres of award-winning gardens. From Eltham we will drive back into London to be shown some of London’s best art deco creations by our favourite guide, Andrew Davies.

9:00 AM Dept Madingley P&R

10:30-11:00 AM Arrive Eltham Palace

11:00-1:00 PM House and garden tour: independent with use of multimedia guide. You are welcome to take lunch at the palace’s Orchid Café or eat a packed lunch on the coach on our drive into London.

Depart Eltham 1:00 PM

Arrive in proximity to the National Portrait Gallery, London approximately 2:00PM

Walking tour, with Andrew Davies, around the Leicester Square area focusing on its marvelous art deco architecture and sculpture

approx. 90 Minutes

Depart London 4:00 PM

Arrive Madindley Park and Ride 5:30 PM ish.

As this is an outside walking tour, please dress for the weather, wear comfortable shoes, and avoid carrying heavy bags.  Please note: Refunds, less the booking fee, can only be made if a replacement attendee can be found from the waiting list.

Click HERE to book

Our visit will begin at 2:15 PM. Please meet in front of the Porter's Lodge by 2:10 PM (College entrance accessed from Bridge St). Once we are assembled, we will take the lovely walk through the college to the New Library and exhibition space. You will be welcome enjoy the exhibition at your leisure and there will be an assistant curator available to take questions.

About this fascinating member of Magdalene College

George Mallory was a world-famous mountaineer who was involved in three Everest expeditions. He was last seen there alive in June 1924, but it is uncertain whether this was before or after he and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine had reached the summit. His body was found in 1999 about 2000ft below the summit. Mallory studied at Magdalene and the exhibition in the Cripps Gallery contains material from the college archive which reflects on his life and career.

Please click HERE for more information about the exhibition.

This visit is free of charge. Please book a place HERE so that I have  a list of attendees and can apprise you of any changes to the plan.

Please book your place(s) so that I have your details. This will allow me to send you further information and be able to send you any updates in case plans change. You will not be charged.

Click HERE to Book:

https://buytickets.at/theartssocietycambridge/1275530

We will be taking the train from Cambridge to King’s Lynn to enjoy the King’s Lynn Festival 2024. The train journey will be self funded.

We will depart Cambridge main station at 10:03 AM arriving in King’s Lynn at 10:53. You are welcome to join this train at Cambridge North etc.

Once in King’s Lynn, I will walk those interested to The Fermoy Gallery to see the festival’s signature exhibition:

Peace to Pop: British Art 1945 – 1980

Click HERE for more information

From there you are free to explore the town on your own, enjoy lunch and take in any of the other festival offerings that interest you. You may return to Cambridge at your leisure.

Film

The Boy and The Heron

An academy award winning animated film created by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6587046/

Shown at Alive Cinema at 1:30 PM

For additional information about this venue, click HERE

To purchase tickets Click HERE

Music

Elmore Quartet

2:00 PM at the Westacre Theatre

For more information about the programme and to book,

Click HERE

For more information about the venue click HERE

Song:

Kings Lynn Festival Chorus

Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle

4:00 at St Nicholas' Chapel

For more information about the programme and to book,

Click HERE

For more information about the venue click HERE

Dance:

Roshni with Sonia

Sabri Company

7.00pm at St. George's Guildhall

For more information about the programme and to book,

Click HERE

For more information about the venue click HERE

Other King’s Lynn attractions:

The Custom House at Purfleet.

The focal point of historic King’s Lynn is The Custom House which has a display on the town’s links with the Hanseatic League. Look out for the statue of explorer George Vancouver.

The Holy Trinity Guildhall

The Georgian Hanse House is one of the country’s most significant historic buildings, True’s Yard Museum is dedicated to the town’s fishing heritage and don’t miss the Holy Trinity Guildhall, the largest and best-preserved medieval guildhall in England, or King’s Lynn Minster. And if you want a step into prehistory, discover the story of Seahenge at Lynn Museum

Return trains to Cambridge are at:

15:25. 16:25. 17:25, 17:54, 18:25

Restaurant ideas:

British

https://www.therathskeller.co.uk/

https://tipsyteapot.co.uk/

https://marriottswarehouse.co.uk/

Sunday Lunch:

https://www.thecrownandmitre.co.uk/

Mediterranean

https://memskitchen.co.uk/

Turkish

https://peragrill.co.uk/

LOCATION

King’s Lynn Festival 2024, PE30 1ET

The South Cambridge Arts Society has invited us to join them on the coach trip to Lullingstone Castle & World Garden on Wednesday 22 May 2024. 

Click here for the visit details and to obtain the booking form (print at home)

Following our fascinating lecture on Grinling Gibbons, we arranged a visit to the Wren Library in Cambridge. This library has some impressive examples of his carving mastery. We will also be treated to an exhibition to celebrate the 200th anniversary of poet, Lord Byron’s death. The talk and tour will be given by Nicolas Bell, chief librarian.

Date: Tuesday 23 April
Time: 2:00-3:00 PM
Place: Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge
Cost: £12 donation per person
Access: The library is reached by a 2 storey staircase. There is limited seating in the library.

Click HERE to book

This visit is now fully booked.

Click HERE to be directed to joiin the waiting list

We will once again be in the hands of exceptional guide Andrew Davies as we enjoy a special day out in London.

Our coach will depart the Madingley Park and Ride at 8:30 AM (see map below). Please consider leaving time for a comfort stop before boarding the coach.

Andrew Davis will meet us at Leighton House, London at approximately 10:30 AM, depending on traffic. 

We will then enjoy Andrew's tour of leading Victorian artist Lord Fredrick Leighton's former home. The house showcases an exceptional collection of Victorian art throughout a unique suite of interiors, including the magnificent Arab Hall. Click HERE for more information.

At approximately 12:00 Noon, we will break for lunch. The De Morgan Café is available on the premises or you may choose to find a restaurant close by (a list will be provided). You may also like to take a packed lunch and enjoy it in Holland Park.

During the break, you will also have an opportunity to wander through the Design Museum. Its permanent collection (free of charge)  looks at the development of modern design through three interconnected rooms. Also on offer is the exhibition Enzo Mari which will celebrate the life and work of one of the greatest Italian designers of the 20th century. Enzo Mari designs have inspired generations of creatives around the world. Click HERE for more information.

At Approximately 2:15 PM we will reconvene at a location chosen by Andrew. He will then take us on a walking tour around the neighbourhood that once was home to The Holland Park Circle. This was an informal group of 19th-century artists including: George Frederic Watts, Frederic Leighton, Valentine Prinsep, Luke Fildes, Hamo Thornycroft and William Burges. Click HERE for some highlights. As this is an outside walking tour, please dress for the weather and avoid carrying heavy bags. 

We will be picked up by our coach at approximately 4:00 PM and hope to return to the Madingley Park and Ride by 6:00 PM

This visit is limited to 30. Friends and Family are welcome.

We regret that refunds (less booking fee) can only be made if your place can be filled from the waiting list.

CANCELLED due to insufficient bookings.

The satirical television show Spitting Image first aired in 1984 and went on to become a cultural phenomenon. In this exhibition, we explore how the show was made and how it shaped society’s view of royalty, politicians and celebrity.

Through the collections of the University Library and other institutions the exhibition will explore the show's development and impact. Visitors will see how Peter Fluck and Roger Law’s ‘cartoonist eye’ used puppets to satirise life in the UK and how few in British public life were left unscathed. Get up close and personal to some of the show’s iconic puppets.

The exhibition explores the ongoing relevance of satire, the use of art to speak truth to power, and questions if mocking those who seek to rule really does make a difference.

Curated by Dr Christopher Burgess.

Please be advised that this exhibition includes latex on open display, that may not be suitable for those with latex allergies.

Click:  Savage, Grotesque, Hilarious - Spitting Image at the UL (cam.ac.uk)   for more information about the exhibition.

Two Dates on Offer

Thursday 14 December 2-3 PM  -  Click HERE to book

Monday 18 December 2-3 PM  -  Click HERE to Book

Please note that this ticket is non refundable unless your place may be filed from someone on the waiting list. This visit is open to TAS Cambridge members only.

LOCATION

Cambridge University Library, CB3 9AL

Booking is now OPEN

Click HERE to book

A talk and tour by Artist Tess Recordon at Clare Hall, Cambridge.

7 November 2023

10:300 AM to 12:00 noon

Accessibility details: full step-free access, accessible toilet, lift. For accessibility queries, please send email by clicking Porters.

This visit is open to our members only. Refunds, less a booking fee, can only be made if you cancel 48 hours prior to the event.

Visit Agenda:

Please meet inside the college front entrance by the Porter's Lodge at 10:30 AM. You may then collect a morning beverage and biscuit to enjoy while you take an initial peak at the exhibition. At 11:00, Tess will give us a talk about her work and then tour us through the exhibition. We should be through by noon.

About the artist: Tess Recordon is a painter who studied Fine Art at the Byam Shaw School of Art (now part of the University of the Arts London) and has been working as a painter since graduating in 1991. She is represented by galleries and agents in Cambridge, London, and Cornwall. Her work often features contemporary landscape oil paintings that are inspired by the unexpected drama and beauty of places she has visited. She has worked on a large scale for many of her paintings. Tess has travelled around the world absorbing impressions of the land and art work she admires. Back home she allows the pouring of paint to operate as an encounter with those influences in memory. As the image emerges it echoes the landscape back to her until she is satisfied that it has fully spoken.

This open approach to the creative process is a marker of her work. The paintings are an allusion to the experience of these landscapes accessed through memory. Tess works intuitively using a pouring technique that is inherently open and fluid. She stops when she recognises that the work is complete and achieves the impression she remembers. She is not consciously influenced by any specific artist or movement but feels that she is responding to many cultural influences around her in arriving at her works especially recent visits to New York, Norway and France. Each work embodies the essence of the place that inspired it which is noted in the titles. She invites the viewer to embark on a journey into landscape, bringing their own memories evoked by the works. Layers of colour cross and vibrate, leading the eye into the painting and another world, calling to the viewer to dream and reminisce.

The work is for sale.

Our visit away this year will be to Madrid and surrounds. An exciting itinerary has been created to help us enjoy this sunny art filled region. We hope you can join us 30 October - 03 November 2023.

Click HERE for trip brochure.

Click HERE for Booking form (Please note that this is an electronic form that you can fill out from your computer. Please follow the directions on the form to email it to Heritage Travel. Paper copies of this form. to post to Heritage) will be available to collect at our 13 April lecture.)

Click HERE for trip booking conditions.

To kick off our the new TAS Cambridge season, and to add to the excitement of our first lecture, please consider joining us for a small group walking tour on 29 September. We have arranged for Cambridge blue badge guides to show us two of Sir Christopher Wren’s great contributions to Cambridge, Pembroke and Emmanuel Colleges’ chapels. Architecture, art and history will be on full display in these notable gems. Our guides are sure to illuminate and inspire. Please note that this group will visit Pembroke and then finish at Emmanuel College . Please assemble at Pembroke's Porter's Lodge.

This is is a walking tour where you will need to feel confident walking the distance between the colleges along Downing Street's wobbly pavements, and in all weather.

As numbers of participants will be limited, bookings will be limited to TAS Cambridge members only. Refunds, less the booking fee can only be made if your place can be taken by a member on the waiting list.

Please note: refunds (less booking fee) can only be offered if your place can be taken from someone on the waiting list.

LOCATION

Pembroke College, CB2 1RF

For this visit, we will be making our way to London by train (self funded.) We will be taking the 10:14 AM express from Cambridge main railway station. If you have another station that is more convenient to you, please make your way to the Kings Cross Railway station arriving no later than 11:10AM

Andrew Davis will meet us  outside ticket office at Kings Cross station (by statue of Sir Nigel Gresley).

Itinerary 

10:14 Depart by train from Cambridge Main station

11.15-ish to 1:00PM   Our morning tour will  include a detailed examination of Kings Cross and St Pancras stations - one classical, one Gothic - plus old goods yard (now British Library!) Total walking distance: 500M

1:00-2:15 PM We will then take a break for lunch at a restaurant of your choice (I will provide a list of suggestions), or bring a packed lunch. If you chose a quick lunch option, there will be time to self tour the Treasures of the British Library (free of charge.) 

Treasures of the British Library Exhibition - The British Library (bl.uk)

2:15- 3:30ish Our afternoon tour will include New Worlds from Old - Victorian sheds and coal drops now university and shopping quarter; inside the gasholder today a garden; a walk along the canal; the Victorian German Gym.  Total Walking distance: 1500M

You can return to Cambridge on any train you like. 

Express train times:

15:42,  16:12, 16:39,  17:09,  17:39 etc.

Your ticket cost  includes  maps and handouts from Andrew.

This visit is open to TAS Cambridge members and their friends and families. You may book up to 4 places per booking.

LOCATION

Kings Cross Railway Station, N1C 4TB

On Sale Now

Click HERE for booking information

Following our delightful Lecture "Shoes in Art", by Mary Alexander,  we are off to visit Northampton and surrounds!

Please meet our Coach, at the Cambridge, Madingley Park and Ride, no Later 8:30 AM.

After a pleasant coach ride north, we will arrive at the Northampton Museum and Gallery at approximately 10:00AM. Shoe Curator, Rebecca Shawcross will treat us to a lecture: "Overview of the shoe collection illustrated with examples". There will then be free time to independently explore the shoe collection or other collections in the museum and/or take morning refreshments at the museum café (self funded).

Click HERE for more information about the Shoe Collection

If shoes are not your thing, you are welcome to skip the lecture and enjoy the museum's unique collections independently.

We will depart the museum at 11:45 AM for the charming Althorp Coaching Inn, Great Brington. Lunch will be self funded. Attendees will be sent a menu and order form closer to the date.

1:45 PM short drive to Althorp Estate, ancestral home of the Spencer's.

Collect audio guide and self tour the house and gardens (Including the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial) at your leisure

For more information about Althorp , click HERE

4:00 PM Depart for Cambridge

Arrival time at Madingley Park and Ride, Cambridge:  approximately 6:00 PM  

This event is open to our members, and their friends and families. Refunds can only be made (less booking fee) if your place can be taken from someone on the waiting list.

LOCATION

Madingley Park and Ride, CB3 0AA

This visit is now fulkly booked but see: Click HERE to book places – A guided walking tour of historical Duxford village, 2 church visits, and an optional lunch at the delicious Cafe 19 – St John's Church Duxford, Mon 24 Apr 2023 10:45 AM - 1:30 PM (tickettailor.com)  to join the waiting list

Monday 24 April 2023

Who knew there were so many interesting things to learn in Duxford village? Adrian Powter, who has regaled us with the history and charms of All Saints' Church in Cambridge, will lead us on an insightful walking tour of this pleasant village visiting St John's Church, St Peter's Church, and other sights in the village.

St John's Duxford is a diamond and one of the most notable churches in the county. St Peter's is the same age as St John's but was restored in the Victorian era so feels much younger. It also has stained glass where St John's has none, but is perfectly charming.  We will see some of the historic buildings of the village, many of which were ale houses. We will learn the difference between those, a pub and an inn and wander through some of the patchwork of lanes that criss-cross the village ending up at the Community Centre for an optional lunch courtesy of Cafe 19 and Chef Paul. You will undoubtedly see and hear planes which take off regularly from the Imperial War Museum, so there will be something for everyone!

The entire walk is approximately 1.25 miles with 3 lengthy sit down stops. We will be walking on mostly flat ground, but sensible walking shoes are recommended as we may stray onto the grass at the churchyards.

Approximate Itinerary:

10:45 AM  Meet at St John’s Duxford

11:15  AM  Walk to St Peter’s Duxford

11:45 AM  Tour St. Peter’s including tea, coffee and biscuits.

12:15 PM  Village walk ending at Duxford Community Centre

12:45 PM  Lunch at Café 19

Transportation options:

Bus

Stagecoach Citi 7 bus drops close to St. John’s Church (St John’s St stop)

There is a bus that leaves Cambridge rail station at 9:56 AM and arrives at 10:35 AM

The bus returns to Cambridge at 13:35 and 14:35 PM

Rail

Greater Anglia train leaves Main Cambridge railway station at 10:03 AM

Arriving at Whittlesford Parkway at 10:14 AM. There is an 18 rather "hair raising" minute walk from the train station to St. John’s. If you choose to take a taxi rather than walking, please pre book: Courteous Travel - Executive Taxi & Private Hire Airport Transfer Service in Cambridgeshire

Self Driving:

Nearby parking on St John's Street, alongside the church on Green Street or on The Green.

Use this postcode CB22 4RG for your google maps or Sat Nav.

A ride share arrangement can be organized if there is interest.

LOCATION

St John's Church Duxford, CB22 4RG

Our visit away this year will be to Madrid and surrounds. An exciting itinerary has been created to help us enjoy this sunny art filled region. We hope you can join us 30 October - 03 November 2023.

Click HERE for trip brochure.

Click HERE for Booking form (Please note that this is an electronic form that you can fill out from your computer. Please follow the directions on the form to email it to Heritage Travel. Paper copies of this form. to post to Heritage) will be available to collect at our 13 April lecture.)

Click HERE for trip booking conditions.

10:30-Noon

Clare College, Cambridge

On Sale 1 February:

Click HERE for details and booking

We have been invited to view Robin Stemp's new exhibition of still life photographs at Clare Hall. Robin will tour us through her recent work and then there will be time for morning refreshments, questions and conversation.

Robin is a Cambridge-based photographer who captures enigmatic still lifes and unpopulated interiors, as well as unusual aspects of the built environment seen on her travels. Her work is calm and restrained, suggesting narratives which are open and inconclusive. The scenes seem to draw the viewer in, imaginatively, and invite interpretations from the individual’s personal experience.

The artist writes: ‘Originally a painter, I was seduced into photography in the early 2000s and I love the camera and working with a computer. However, I still think as a painter and so my images are quite painterly, and any influences are not from photographers but from painters such as Vilhelm Hammershoi with his interiors, in their spare simplicity, and Georgio Morandi with his resonant still lifes.

Because I want large, almost empty rooms to photograph and we 

live in a small house, I create my own, and these have to be in miniature. I aim to evoke an atmosphere – sometimes one of silence, peace, or something about to happen. Usually, these interiors are in my studio, but they can be moved and taken to the coast or the country. I have returned to painting by making backgrounds – usually the sea – and the painted scene and the miniature interior, or actual still life objects are juxtaposed in the same frame, with the view often seen through an open window.

If I have to sum up the one essential point of my work, I would say it is the light and the timing of that light. Light and time and the idea of something happening. Not last week, not tomorrow, but now, today, this minute. At other times, maybe, the mood is one of expectancy – is someone about to come into the room and sit on the single chair – or have they just left? This applies even to a painted background – something entirely artificial – the light is still a creator of mood and atmosphere.‘

For any queries about parking or access, please call 01223 332360

Refunds less a booking fee, can only be made if your place can be filled from the waiting list. Thank you for your understanding.

We have organized a coach to take our members, their friends and family to see the brand new holiday light display at the Wimpole Estate.

When: Friday 16 December 5:00-7:15PM

Click HERE for more information and to book. ON Sale NOW

Dr Francis Neary, co-curator of the exhibition, will give us a guided tour of:

Darwin in Conversation- The endlessly curious life and letters of Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin’s name is so famous, still so constantly invoked in debates on evolution, society, and religion, that the man himself is easily overlooked.

Please click HERE for more details about the exhibition:

We will also have an opportunity to view the complimentary Darwin exhibition 

"Off the Page" in the library’s main corridor. Click HERE for more information

** Please consider bringing a magnifying glass to better appreciate the letters.

Access into the Exhibition Centre is via the front steps and through the Entrance Hall to the right. If you require step-free access, do let us know and we will make the arrangements for you. Our The guide will meet our group in the library foyer a few minutes before 11:00 AM

Click HERE to book

We will be paying a return visit to Magdelene College to take a tour through their NEW Library and to view: From Southwold to Alice Springs: Selected Works from the Collection of Robert Cripps.

When: Friday 30 September 2022

Click HERE for more information and to book. On Sale NOW

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO OFFER A GUIDED TOUR OF THIS UNIQUE EXHIBITION AT CLARE HALL. OUR NEW VICE CHAIR, FIONA BLAKE, HAS ARRANGED FOR ONE OF THE EXHIBITIONS CURATORS, MR. FRANCES WELLS, TO GIVE US A GUIDED TOUR OF THE EXHIBITION. PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE EXHIBITION PARTICULARS. YOUR TICKET INCLUDES THE BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITION CATALOGUE.

Tue 17 May 2022 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM at Clare Hall College, Cambridge

Booking is open now. Click HERE for link to book.

Our eagerly awaited visit to the Netherlands and Floriade 2022 is fully booked.

Fragile Planet - Watercolour Journeys into Wild Places

by Tony Foster

Fragile Planet is a major exhibition of watercolours by Cornwall’s world-renowned wilderness artist, Tony Foster.

A stark picture of the environmental risks now being faced around the world, Fragile Planet - Watercolour Journeys into Wild Places, highlights the precariousness of the world’s wildernesses and endangered environments, many of which Tony has visited and painted over the past 30 years. Sadly, some no longer exist, while others have been dramatically altered by the twin perils of climate change and human intervention.

Fragile Planet focused on five landscape areas - Rainforests, Water, Arctic, Deserts, and Cornwall - with accompanying key information about their plight for each set of breath-taking watercolours.

 This visit is Free of charge.  Click HERE to Book

About our Visit:

We will begin our guided tour of the exhibition at 10:30 AM. This will be approximately 30 minutes in length. We will then divide into two groups. One will go off at 11:00 AM for a guided tour the house (40–45 minute tour). The second group will have additional time in the exhibition. This group will be let into the house at 11:20 AM. Everyone is invited to return to the exhibition after their house tours. The cafe will be open after our visit.

Price: £21.00 per person. This event is open to members, their friends, and families.

Once we have finished our tour of the house and exhibition, at approximately 12:30pm we will be taking a short walk to The Punter. You are welcome to join us for a self-funded lunch. There is no need to book this portion of the visit. You can decide to go on the day.

About the Exhibition:

TAS Cambridge is pleased to be able to take you a new solo exhibition by internationally renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (b. 1957, Beijing) in which new and existing work will be shown alongside historic Chinese objects. The exhibition will explore notions of truth, authenticity and value, as well as globalisation, the coronavirus pandemic and the current geopolitical crisis. Ai Weiwei will reflect upon the liberty in the West, in contrast to China and other authoritarian regimes, to question truth and authority, express doubt and seek transparency in political matters. However, in relation to art appreciation, the Chinese have a long tradition of a more fluid and less fixed view in relation to authenticity than is the case in the West, often valuing the act of copying. The exhibition in the galleries is a single installation with 13 artworks by Ai Weiwei exhibited alongside 14 antiquities which the artist bought at an auction in Cambridge in 2020. This will be the first time the artist has juxtaposed historic Chinese objects with his own works. Some of the auction pieces acquired by the artist are thought to date from the Northern Wei (386 – 534 CE) and Tang (618 – 907 CE) dynasties, while others have been identified as counterfeits, later copies of original works. A number of recent films made by the artist will also be screened on each day of the exhibition’s run – Coronation (2020), Cockroach (2020) and Human Flow (2017) – while two Fairy tale Chairs (2007) will be placed in the Kettle’s Yard House for visitors to use.

Samuai - History and Legend an Exhibition at The University Library

25th March 2022

Booking opens on 3 March at 10:00 AM for the complimentary visit to the University Library's Samurai Exhibition.

Click Here to book

Samurai are a well-known image of Japan, but they are as much legend as history. Our Samurai: History and Legend exhibition explores the literary concept of the samurai and the changing nature of Japanese warrior culture from the 12th to the 19th centuries.

The great warriors of Japan’s medieval period (roughly the 13th to 16th centuries) gradually gave way to a more well-defined and self-conscious warrior class that ruled over a long period of relative peace, from the 17th to the mid-19th century.

Today’s familiar images of the samurai began to take shape in the histories and vibrant popular culture of that peaceful time. During this period, records and reinterpretations of an older Japanese warrior culture helped construct the histories and myths of the samurai that today hold sway in Japan and beyond.

This exhibition is curated by Dr Kristin Williams.

Robert Lloyd Parry performs the stories of MR James. The atmospheric interior of The Painted Church will be the perfect setting for this performance of:

Canon Alberic's Scrap-book, and The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.

Tickets, will include an interval drink and meeting Robert Lloyd Parry after the performance.

This is an exclusive event for TAS Cambridge members, and their friends and families.

Please note: we will be limiting audience numbers to enable social distancing, and encouraging mask wearing while at the venue. While there are no toilet facilities at this venue, The Cambridge Brew House on King Street has agreed to allow us use their toilet facilities.

Visit to take place 13 January at 11:00 AM

"Ghost Words: Reading the Past"

We are celebrating the start of our 2021-2022 season with a Visit to All Saints' Church in Jesus Lane Cambridge. 

Booking is now Closed

Click HERE to be directed to our online booking page

When : Sunday 31 October 2021 at 1:15 pm

Programme:

1:15 pm A Concert by The Galliard Trio
Andrew Morris on flute & piccolo
Martin White on oboe and cor anglais
Alec Forshaw on piano & bassoon 

The programme includes pieces by Handel, Shostakovich and Ravel, concluding with the eternal favourite “The Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns.

2:00 pm or as soon as the general public has left, we have arranged a post-concert event exclusively for TAS Cambridge members. We will enjoy celebratory drinks with The Galliard Trio. We will then be given a guided tour of this very special church by Adrian Powter, TAS Cambridge member and Church Conservation Trust volunteer guide. He will discuss how George Bodley designed this Victorian Masterpiece and how it was gloriously decorated by such luminaries as Charles Eamer Kempe, Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and Ford Maddox Brown. Those members who enjoyed our virtual tours of The David Parr house will be delighted to see the ornamentation on the walls which was executed by decorative artists employed by Frederick Leach, including a young David Parr.

A Walking tour through King's College gardens

Tuesday 22 June 2021

10:00 AM -12:00 Noon

In celebration of the easing of Covid restrictions, we hope you will join us to to see the glorious gardens at King’s College Cambridge. Head gardener, Steven Coghill will take us on a curated walk through whichever aspects of the extensive gardens are looking their best. Please note that this is a walking tour, lasting approximately one hour, with minimal opportunities to sit. Steven may also take us across Queen’s Road to the Fellows' garden, so please make sure you feel fit enough to manage the distance.

Following seeing the gardens, there will be an optional walk to Cambridge’s delightful Fitzbillies Cafe on Trumpington Street for Elevenses. Won’t it be wonderful to socialise in person again?

This visit will be limited to 18 persons. Members only, please. 

Bookings open 21 May 2021 at 10:00.
Please click the button below after that time to to move to our booking page.
Please note:
You will  need the following password to open the booking page: KingsGarden, and a credit card to make payment. You may book up to 2 Tickets on the same form.

Virtual Visit to Cambridge's David Parr House - Booking Open 8 February

On the heels of Max Field's enjoyable virtual tour of Cambridge's Danish Quarter, we would like to offer our Members the opportunity to virtually tour The David Parr House. With luck our tours will be led by TAS Cambridge member guides. We have booked 4 sessions to "tour" the house. Participation is limited to 8 participants per session. Why not think about "going" on the visit with a member friend so you can experience this quirky house together?
Click HERE for more information about the Virtual Tour.

Dates and times for our tours:
Wednesday 3rd March - 4pm (8 spaces)
Wednesday 3rd March - 7pm (8 spaces)
Saturday 6th March - 10am (8 spaces)
Sunday 7th March - 4pm (8 spaces)

Cost: 𝓛 13.50

To reserve your place, please click:
visits.TASCambridge@gmail.com
to send an email to Andrea.
Please let me know your first and second choices for ate and time.

Your place will be held for 72 hours from the time your email is received. During this time please make your payment of £ 13.50 per person.
Please write a cheque for £13.50 made out to:
“The Arts Society Cambridge”
Send it to:
P R Stopford, 61 Wimpole Road, Barton, Cambridge
CB23 7AB

We would like to celebrate by offering you
A VIRTUAL VISIT
Date to be decided late February 2021
 
As TAS Cambridge have not been able to organise visits during 2020, Max Field, TAS Cambridge Co Programme Secretary and Cambridge Blue Badge guide has set up a virtual visit to Cambridge’s Danish Quarter which you are welcome to join from home.  This short virtual tour (about one hour) will be held by Zoom, and numbers will be limited to 15 participants/ households to encourage questions from the on-line audience.
 
You will join the visit at the bottom of Castle Hill and finish at St John’s College and will hear how raiders and traders have influenced the way we see Cambridge City today.

Time: 9:45 -11:00 AM plus question time
Cost: £10.00 per person or couple from the same household
Booking in now open 

To reserve your place, please click:
visits.TASCambridge@gmail.com
to send an email to Andrea.

Your place will be held for 48 hours from the time your email is received. During this time please make your payment of £10 per per person or couple from the same household. 

The preferred payment method is by Bank Transfer to:
The Arts Society Cambridge
Sort Code 23-05-80
Account No. 26350549
Please reference your payment "V+Surname"

If this is not possible, please write a cheque for £10 made out to:
“The Arts Society Cambridge”
Send it to:
P R Stopford, 61 Wimpole Road, Barton, Cambridge CB23 7AB

This visit has been cancelled because of Covid-19

A Day Out in Newmarket

23 April 2020

National Stud, National Horse Racing Museum, Palace House,

Lunch.

(Booking from 20 February)

The University of Cambridge Library Tour

March 17 2020

visit is fully booked

A Talk and tour of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s major exhibition: “Feast and Fast; The art of food in Europe 1500-1800"

27 November 2019 (Wednesday)

The talk and tour will be given by curator Dr. Vicky Avery

Lunch.

Food defines us as individuals, communities, and nations: we are what we eat and, equally, what we don’t eat. When, where, why, how and with whom we eat are crucial to our identity. Feast & Fast presents novel approaches to understanding the history and culture of food and eating.

This research‐led multi-sensory exhibition will showcase hidden and newly‐conserved treasures from the Fitzwilliam and other collections, and features four spectacular historical reconstructions with food at their centre, including a Jacobean sugar banquet, a European feasting table and a Georgian confectioner’s workshop. It will tease out many contemporary and controversial issues – such as the origins of food and food security, over consumption in times of austerity, and our relationship with animals and nature – thereby linking the past with our present, and encouraging visitors to question and rethink our relationship with food.

(Booking from 10 October)

A Visit to the Hamilton Kerr Institute

4 November (Monday)

The Hamilton Kerr Institute is a department of the Fitzwilliam Museum. The Institute undertakes the conservation of easel paintings for public and publicly shown collections as well as the Museum. In this environment the Institute aims to educate painting conservators to the highest standard and to contribute to scientific, technical and art historical research

We will enjoy a guided tour through the institute and a chance to meet our bursary holders.

Lunch at the Tickell Arms gastro pub.

(Booking from 10 October)

Details of the Annual Area visit to Eastbourne and Glyndbourne in October are now on the East Anglia Area website.  http://theartssocietyeastanglia.org.uk/AreaEvents/FutureEvents.aspx

Do have a look.  Booking is for a maximum of 42 people and places are allocated strictly on receipt of the deposit.

A visit to a gem in Northamptonshire.  A visit to the house with a guided walking tour and lunch in Thornby.  Booking will open on 18 April.

The Inner workings of Cheffins Auction House.  A talk, tour through the Fine Arts Sale offerings and sandwich lunch.

Booking from 24 January.

The Arts Society Cambridge presents a gripping retelling of two of the eeriest and most entertaining tales from the master of the English ghost story.

12 December, 2018 in the Provost's Lodge at Kings College, Cambridge

‘… he has never been quite certain what words he said, but he knows that he spoke, that he grasped wildly at the silver crucifix, that he was conscious of a movement towards him on the part of the demon, and that he screamed with the voice of an animal in hideous pain…’

In Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book, a young Cambridge antiquary discovers the dark side of manuscript illumination, in a medieval cathedral in the French Pyrenees. In The Mezzotint, a ghoulish revenge is enacted within a work of art, before the helpless eyes of a museum curator…

On our Actor, Robert Lloyd Perry...

‘Robert Lloyd Parry restores the charm and pleasure of the original tales with his excellent and convincing storytelling…’
- Cambridge Evening News
Performance lasts approx 100 minutes including interval.
WARNING: CONTAINS MOMENTS OF PLEASING TERROR

Read an article by Robert Lloyd Parry about the inspiration behind James’s Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook here.

Also, read a BBC feature on Robert Lloyd Parry's revival of James's stories here.

On our author, M R James

Born in 1862, Montague Rhodes James developed a reading habit at an early age, preferring to stay in the library than with friends. He took this with him when he went to study at Eton and then at the King's College, Cambridge, where he became assistant in classical archaeology at the Fitzwilliam museum. After writing a dissertation: "The Apocalypse of St. Peter", he became a Fellow of King's, and then Dean. Although he was renowned in some circles for his biographies, studies into antiques, reviews and palaeography, it was his ghost stories that he would be remembered for. He was keenly engaged in examining the supernatural, and his stories were always written in a way so the reader uses their imagination. The real horror is often kept to the reader's mind. Celebrated cult horror novelist and story writer H.P. Lovecraft was a fan, and wrote a review on his work: "...gifted with an almost diabolic power of calling horror by gentle steps from the midst of prosaic daily life." he says, also adding: "Dr. James has, it is clear, an intelligent and scientific knowledge of human nerves and feelings; and knows just how to apportion statement, imagery, and subtle suggestions in order to secure the best results with his readers." Although largely ignored by filmmakers - Curse of the Demon (1957) - is one exception), his work has a dedicated fan base, and the BBC filmed several of his stories in the 1970s, wisely titling them under the series "A Ghost Story for Christmas". In 2000, horror legend Christopher Lee jumped at the chance to read four of James' stories in another Christmas special screened on BBC2. James' most famous works include "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary", "The Five Jars", "A Warning to the Curious and other Ghost Stories" and "The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James". He was Provost of King's College from 1905-18.

This visit will take us to Henry Moore’s former home, studios and expansive gardens in the glorious surroundings of Hertfordshire.  We will have a tour of Henry Moore’s house ‘Hoglands’ in Perry Green where he lived with his family for over forty years.  We will also have a tour of his workshops and over 20 of his iconic massive bronze sculptures in the garden settings created by his wife.  Our guided tour will also include Aisled Barn where the artist’s unique tapestries are displayed as well as a special 2018 exhibition “Out of the Block-Henry Moore’s Carvings” looking at Moore’s carving techniques in wood and stone.  We will have lunch at the Visitor Centre and after the tour, a chance to browse the bookstore or relax and enjoy the surroundings before our return to Cambridge.

The Pre-Raphelite Riches of All Saints Church and Jesus College, Cambridge.

Our visit will include the early paintings, at All Saints in Jesus Lane, and the late paintings at Jesus College Chapel of our Pre-Raphaelite heroes, Maddox Brown, Burne-Jones, and Wm Morris in particular  - with other artists like Pugin and Bodley playing a key part in both places We will start the tour inside Westcott House, one of the university’s seminaries set up in the 1870s when the exclusion from Cambridge of non-Church of England scholars was finally lifted

Both church and chapel embrace High Victorian Culture through their reflection of Tractarian beliefs, the Arts & Crafts Movement and the triumph of our English style of architecture over that of the Neo-Gothic style, exemplified in the decade before All Saints was built by Giles Gilbert Scot’s chapel at St John’s College.

A visit to the college old library or a sculpture tour and lunch will also be enjoyed

This visit provides an opportunity to see two Cambridge College gardens as introduced by their head gardeners.  Whether you are a keen gardener or whether you enjoy beautiful aspects in nature, this day has something for everyone.  We begin the day at Wolfson College, one of Cambridge’s youngest Colleges, catering mainly for graduate and foreign students.  Head Gardener Mr Phil Stigwood has created gardens that are a source of pride with speciality areas including Winter gardens, Antarctic garden, ‘bark berries and foliage garden’ as well clematis and rose gardens.  The College is regularly asked to provide tours and participates in the NGS Open Gardens network.  After a champagne and sandwich lunch, we will then walk the short distance to Selwyn College on Grange Road. The College was founded in 1880 in the Tudor Gothic style. Close to the Sidgwick site – home to many of the main lecture halls of the university, it is ideally placed. Alumni of the College include actor Hugh Laurie and author Robert Harris. The College has lovely grounds and beautiful herbaceous borders.  The day will finish mid-afternoon.

Cost: for the day is £28

Bookings are taken from 9:30 am 19 April with postal booking from 20 April.

Booking Form

Performed in the dining room of the master's lodge at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...

A lively and varied recital, with engaging drawing-room intimacy, celebrating the life, mind and writings of one of our greatest novelists.

A play devised and directed by Stephen Siddall

Staring Hannah Lee or Emerald O’Hanrahan

Produced by Jeremy Musson

Wednesday, 25th April 2018

7.30pm for drinks, 8.00pm start. Run time approximately one hour

Tickets: £17 including nibbles and a glass of wine

All our tickets have been booked now but people always drop out at the last minute. Please consider joinming our waiting list. Names will gladly be taken at our 19 April meeting.

Booking for this trip is now open.

The Booking form for this trip has been posted: select “Our Society” on this page,  then click “Documents” and finally click on the booking form and print. Please note, this trip is open to non-members.

We will be "Putting on the Ritz" tonight at Britain's smallest and most intimate opera house. After a coach ride through the glorious Suffolk countryside we will be treated to Prosecco, nibbles and good conversation when we arrive. Then a delightful buffet dinner with wine will then be ours to enjoy, all accompanied by serenades of our favourite arias and popular songs.

Those appearing will be:

Haegee Lee (soprano), Monika-Evelin Liiv (mezzo), 

Samuel Sakker (tenor), Joseph Padfield (baritone) and Peter Bailey (accompanist).

So dust off your dinner suits and join us to celebrate the season in style. There will be a price reduction for those who wish to drive to Needham Market on their own. This event is open to non-member partners.

CANCELLED.

The Booking form for this trip has been posted: select “Our Society” on this page,  then click “Documents” and finally click on the booking form and print. Please note, this trip is open to non-members.

Thursday 23rd November 2017

On this trip, we will spend a day in London doing just what tickles your fancy. Our Coach will drop us off close by the Victoria and Albert and Natural History Museums in South Kensington. You will then be free to enjoy the many enticements the surrounding museums have on offer:

Exhibitions at V&A

• Lustrous Surfaces: Lacquer in Asia and Beyond - Free

• Woman's Hour Craft Prize - Free

• Designing the V&A - Free

Discover the fascinating history of the V&A's buildings, from the 1850s until the present day.

• Opera: Passion, Power and Politics - from £19

Together the V&A and the Royal Opera House present a landmark exhibition exploring a vivid story of opera from its origins in late-Renaissance Italy to the present day.

• Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion - from £12

  Discover how Cristóbal Balenciaga's exquisite craftsmanship and innovative designs shaped modern fashion.

Natural History Museum

• Wildlife photographer of the Year - Concessions £8

  Explore the world's best nature photography, highlighting the incredible range of life on Earth.

• Whales Beneath the Surface - Concessions £8.50

  Go beneath the waves to explore the extraordinary lives of whales.

The Science Museum

• Illuminating India

  A season of exhibitions and events that celebrates India’s contribution to science, technology and mathematics.

   South Kensington also sports numerous lovely cafes and restaurants to sample and then of course you have Harrods 6 minutes away! Once spent, culturally and otherwise we will re-join the coach for a drive across Oxford St. and down Regent street to take in the wonderful Christmas lights and shop displays.

This visit is a treat for Dickens and Victorian enthusiasts who want these worlds brought to life!

Dr Tony Williams, president of The Dickens Fellowship, Associate Editor of ‘The Dickensian’ and Senior Honorary Fellow in Humanities at Buckingham University, will be giving us an introductory lecture and taking us on a walking tour.  We will explore the area of London where Dickens lived 1837-9 and which influenced his writing in a number of ways.  We will be looking at the places he worked, walked past every day, attended and observed.  After lunch at authentic Italian restaurant ‘Ciao Bella!’, we will be visiting the Dickens and Foundling Museums.

Booking opens in person at the lecture on June 15 from 9.30 am.  Postal bookings will be processed from June 16 in receipt order. You can download the booking form by clicking on ‘Our Society’ tab on our website, scrolling down to ‘documents’ and clicking on ‘documents’.This visit will be limited to 23 participants.  Please note the walking tour will outside and we will be on our feet for an hour.  Please wear suitable footwear.

The Bloomsbury Group, Cambridge College Years, a Walking Tour in Cambridge.

Friday 29 September 2017

Liz Hodder, Cambridge Blue Badge Guide and longstanding CADFAS member, will be taking us on a fascinating walking tour exploring the Bloomsbury set while they were in Cambridge. Liz will explore the lives of key members such as Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster and John Maynard Keynes and you will see where they lived, studied and performed. We will also be treated to morning coffee in the Provost’s Lodge at Kings, a presentation of the exclusive Bloomsbury Archives in Kings Archive Centre and finally lunch and a tour of St. Catharine’s College.

Please join us to get our 2017 season off to a flying start. Download the booking form by clicking on the “Our Society” tab on our website, scrolling down to “documents”, and clicking on “documents”.

Booking opens in person at the lecture on 18 May from 9.30 am. Postal bookings will be processed from 19 May in receipt order.

This visit will be limited to 23 so that we can ensure we can all see and hear. Please note: this walking tour will have us outside and on our feet for at least an hour in the morning with little chance to sit. You must be prepared for Cambridge’s wobbly pavements and the elements.

After refreshments on arrival at Gainsborough's House and a short introductory talk, there will be a guided tour of the highlights (2 groups).  After a light lunch at the House, we move on to the Warner Textile Archive at Braintree where the theme for our visit will be 'Warner through the Ages'.  Given that Gainsborough's father was a silk weaver this makes a pleasing complementary visit. Refreshments will be served  before our departure.

Booking opens in person at the lecture on 13 April from 9.30 am. Postal bookings will be processed from 14 April in receipt order. To download the booking form (available from 11 April) go to About Us and then Documents.

A brief report on the CDFAS visit to Liverpool in April 2017

The Liverpool visit is over after more than a year in planning and I am delighted to report it was a huge success.

All the elements needed worked – we had a very good itinerary, fabulous administrative preparation from Heritage Group Travel, very good weather, a comfortable hotel, the best guide I could imagine, a terrific driver from Richmonds and a group of twenty-four members who were happy, enthusiastic and eager to enjoy all that Liverpool had an offer.

By the time we set off on Sunday, 23 April our numbers had dipped to just twenty-four which meant abundant space in the coach for everyone.  Some members knew one another, others were newcomers but very soon we were all chatting and mixing happily.  The first stop at Shugborough was earlier than expected, there being no traffic or delays but a quick call to Shugborough meant that we were still met on arrival by two National Trust people who gave us a warm and efficient welcome.  We had plenty of time there to eat, walk in the grounds and see round the house which after just a few months of NT ownership is starting to come out of local authority management and into NT care.

So to the Marriott City Centre hotel in Liverpool.  The coach could park every night right outside the front door saving so much fuss.  Our room keys were ready in envelopes for us on arrival so there was no delay at all in getting everyone into their rooms and able to unpack and unwind before drinks in the bar and then dinner at the hotel.

Monday was packed - the glorious Unitarian Church, the Palm House, The Philharmonic Pub, both Cathedrals, St George’s Hall, the central library and the Walker Art Gallery.  Our guide Marie was hugely informative, very funny, helpful to our super driver navigating us through Liverpool’s highways, and very good at knowing when to move on or stay a while longer.

On Tuesday we were fascinated by Antony Gormley’s Another Place stretching along the sands and into the sea at Great Crosby.  The wind was brisk but the sky was blue and spirits were high.  Then we went on to Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Gallery.  Fascinating and intriguing – it’s amazing what money and brains and an unstoppable sense of purpose can achieve.  The collections of paintings, Chinese ware and Wedgwood were particularly impressive.  We were back at the hotel by 3.00 and many members set off again on foot to return to the Walker gallery or wander round other parts of the city they wanted to see again.

On Wednesday Marie took us on a guided bus tour and then to Albert Dock and The Tate.  After that, more of the architecture and history of the Liverpool water front and then a river cruise where we saw the city from a different perspective but having heard so much from Marie we were able to put it all into historical and geographical context.  In the afternoon there was the complete contrast of Speke Hall, a Tudor/Victorian NT treasure which, in glorious sunshine (while Cambridge had hail storms) gave us scope for walks in bluebell woods and a chance to learn about Tudor spy-holes and Victorian obsessions. 

Wednesday ended with a superb dinner in Panoramic 34, the 34th floor luxury restaurant with views across the city and river.  It was a happy ending to the Liverpool part of the visit.

By Thursday we were all rather tired and there was silence on the coach for the first time since Sunday.  But we woke up after a couple of hours to see round the museum and factory of Royal Crown Derby and there was an opportunity for some shopping too.  We ended the holiday with a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas.  It is a glorious and positive place, exquisitely landscaped and enriched with a wide variety of memorials, some simple granite blocks, some monumental and some intimate.  Our guides were compassionate and wonderfully informed and for many of us the visit was the most memorable and certainly most moving part of the whole tour.

Five very full days of looking, learning, listening and laughing, savouring scouse and Wet Nelly, enjoying making new friends and sharing experiences with old ones,  made the April 2017 CDFAS visit to Liverpool very special and I hope everyone shared my enjoyment of it.

SG

28.4.17.

John Vigar, NADFAS Lecturer and member of the Advisory Council of the Norfolk Churches Trust , will act as our guide visiting three churches in the Broads: St Michael's at Barton Turf, All Saints at Catfield and St Catherine's at Ludham.  See http://norfolkchurches.co.uk/

Refreshments on arrival and lunch will be taken at the Wayford Bridge Inn, Stalham, a riverside hotel.

Important note:  The Committee advise that this is a walking tour with many ascents/descents from the coach and walking to the sites on a tight schedule.  Good mobility is essential.

Booking opens in person at the lecture on 23 February from 9.30 am.  Postal bookings will be processed from 24 February in receipt order.  To download the booking and menu choice forms (available from 21 February), go to About Us and then Documents. 

If you haven’t visited Greenwich lately you are in for a treat. We will take tea/Coffee and pastries when we arrive at The National Maritime Museum. The curator of the “Emma Hamilton: Seduction and Celebrity” will talk us through Lady Hamilton’s rags to riches and back again story and will be on hand to answer questions as we tour the exhibition… 200 objects including: great paintings by George Romney, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence, and heartfelt letters between Emma and her lovers.
After lunch we will be taken on a guided tour (2 groups) of Inigo Jones’s architectural masterpiece, the Queen’s House. The palace has reopened after major restoration on its 400th anniversary. We will tour it’s 22 spectacular rooms filled with great art including an ambitious new work in gold leaf by Turner Prize-winner Richard Wright revealed on the Great Hall ceiling, and the iconic Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I on permanent display for the first time.
Following our tour we will have free time to further explore the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom. The Museum has the most important holdings in the world on the history of Britain at sea comprising more than two million items, including maritime art (both British and 17th-century Dutch), cartography, manuscripts including official public records, ship models and plans, scientific and navigational instruments. Its British portraits collection is exceeded in size only by that of the National Portrait Gallery and its holdings relating to Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson and Captain James Cook, among many other individuals, are unrivaled.

Booking opens in person on 1 December at 9.30 a.m. To download a booking form (available 30 November) go to Cambridgedfas.org.UK , click "About Us" and select Documents. Postal applications will be processed from 2 December.

A Walking Tour of Corpus Christi and Gonville and Caius Colleges, Cambridge

Join us for a walking tour of two traditional Cambridge colleges dressed for the festive season. We will be treated the insights of Lady Fersht, the wife of the Master of Caius and Mrs. Laing, the wife of the Master of Corpus as they guide us through the architectural and historical wonders of their colleges. Highlights will include the Parker Library, college chapels and Lodges.

Refreshments will be served in the morning at the Master’s Lodge, Gonville and Caius College, Lunch taken (pay as you go) in the magnificent Corpus dining room and tea served in The Master’s Lodge at Corpus before departure.

Important note:  The Committee advise that this is a walking tour. Attendees must be comfortable walking from Gonville and Caius College to Corpus Christi College fairly briskly. Good mobility is essential.

Booking opens in person on 10 November at 9.30 a.m.  Postal applications will be processed from 11 November.

To download a booking form (available 9 November) go to About Us and select Documents.

Tuesday, 18 October

A Day with Andrew Davies Visiting Kenwood House and Walking in Hampstead.

Kenwood House: After a major refurbishment project which began in 2012, the sumptuous rooms, including Adam's masterpiece, the Great Library, are revealed for the first time in over two centuries as they originally appeared.  Robert Adam remodelled and extended an existing house to create a villa in the neoclassical style, for the Lord Chief Justice, the first Earl of Mansfield.  The Earl's nephew and heir employed Humphry Repton to transform  the landscape into a setting worthy of the house.  Kenwood is home to the Iveagh Bequest, an internationally acclaimed collection of old masters and British paintings which includes works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner, Reynolds and Gainsborough.

Hampstead Village  After a short guided coach tour we shall alight at Whestone Pond for a one hour walking tour. We shall visit the parish church and its leafy graveyard where Constable and John Harrison of Longitude are buried.  Our walk ends in Hampstead High Street where there will be time for tea before boarding the coach to return to Cambridge.

Booking opens in person on 16 June at 9.30 a.m.  Postal applications will be processed from 17 June.

To download a booking form go to About Us and select Documents.

This visit will now concentrate on Compton Verney  only. It is an award‐winning art gallery housed in a Grade 1 listed mansion set in ‘Capability’ Brown parkland. Our visit will include a one hour guided tour of the spring exhibition ‐ Shakespeare in Art – followed by time to explore the permanent Collections before lunch in the Adam Room.   The remaining time will allow exploration of the grounds and more time in the Collections. Booking has opened and there are stil places available.

To see more look at: http://www.comptonverney.org.uk       

It is a remarkable house in wonderful grounds.  

The booking form and lunch form can be found by going to About Us (on the Home page) and then Documents.

The current Hall, which opened in 1835, is the third on this site, the Goldsmiths’ Company being located there since 1339. We will have a PDF presentation of the history and work of the Worshipful Company and we will tour the Assay Office to see the hallmarking processes. After lunch we will have a guided tour of the William Morris Gallery illustrating the life and work of Morris and his artistic circle. Morris lived in the house at Lloyd Park from 1848 to 1856. The Gallery was nominated Art Fund Museum of the Year, 2013. 

Booking from 25 February 2016.

Royal Albert Hall was built to fulfil the vision of Prince Albert as a ‘Central Hall’ that could be used to promote understanding and appreciation of the arts and sciences and would stand at the heart of the South Kensington estate surrounded by museums and places of learning. The tour will cover its fascinating history to the present day . After an Italian lunch in the Hall’s Verdi Restaurant we shall enjoy a tour of the Highlights of the Wallace Collection, Hertford House – one of the finest collections of fine and decorative arts ever assembled by one family in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Collection was bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace in 1897. 

Booking from 15 October 2015

Boughton has been the Northamptonshire home of the Montagus and their descendants since 1528. Starting life as a simple Tudor manor with a Great Hall, it was transformed over the centuries into a treasure filled palace that earned it the title of ‘The English Versailles.’ We will tour the House in the morning, and after lunch we will have a guided coach tour of the Estate taking in the villages of Weekley and Warkton and their churches where most of the family’s tombs and monuments can be found. At Warkton there are two recently restored marble monuments by L F Roubiliac who produced many memorials in Westminster Abbey. 

Booking opened on 18 June.  You can book during the summer holidays and before the next lecture meeting on 15 October, by downloading the Booking Form (go to "About Us" and then "Documents").  Complete the bottom part of the form and send it to Yvonne Lukey-Smith with your cheque.

Between 15th - 20th May 2015 we shall journey further afield to the City of The Hearts Desire: Istanbul with Jane Angelini from St James’s Art Tours. Flying from Stansted we shall be based in the centrally situated 4 star Armada hotel. The itinerary includes nearly all the major attractions of the city, to name but some of them: The Topaki Palace, the Blue Mosque, the Suleymaniye Mosque, the Grand and Spice Bazaars, the Hippodrome and the Yerebatan Saray, and a private boat cruise on the Bosphorus.

Bon Voyage to all our members going to Istanbul.

Booking opens on 5th February 2015.

As of 23 October, one space only!

Waiting List only

Booking commences 11th October

There are still some places available on this visit and on this occasion we are able to include friends and relations of those already booked. Please contact the Visits Secretaries for information.

Booking from 17th May 2012.

Booking from 1st March 2012

Booking from 2nd February 2012

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