Church Gardens is the remains of the formal walled gardens of Harefield Place which was the principal manor among several in the parish of Harefield from the 11th Century to the early 20th Century and it is incredible that its history can be traced back for more than a thousand years. 

We will be visiting the garden in the afternoon and aim to start our visit at 2pm with a short introductory Welcome Talk with Kay followed by an hour's tour of the garden with the head gardener, Kay. We will finish our afternoon visit with afternoon tea comprising a slice of homemade cake and tea/coffee in their Arcadia Cafe.

Cost: £21 to include entrance fee, welcome talk, guided tour of the garden and refreshments. This will be a 'make your own way' visit. There is parking available for quite a number of cars. We can also arrange car sharing for those who need it.

If you would like more details, please email artssocietyharrow@gmail.com

We will be visiting Hughenden Manor, home of Benjamin Disraeli, in the morning and then on to Cookham to visit the Stanley Spencer Gallery in the afternoon.

If you would like more details, please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

A magnificent 17th century house nestled in a 700-acre deer park. They have, amongst other things, carvings by Grinling Gibbons. There are also many fine drawings and paintings by Turner, Van Dyke, Reynolds and Gainsborough. There is an 18th century Pleasure Garden designed by Capability Brown. 

You will be able to explore more about life below stairs, in the historic kitchens of the servants quarters. A 'must see' is the Carved Room with its intricate wood carvings by Grinling Gibbons that now frame its pictures, including a famous portrait of Henry VIII from Holbein's studio. 

Cost: £30 to include coach. Non-members of the National Trust will have to pay an extra £19.50 entrance fee to the property. 

If you would like to join us then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability.

As a follow on from our lecture on the 8th May, 2025  'Donatello: Renaissance Genius', our Lecturer, Paula Nuttall, will give us a second private Guided Tour of the Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. The cost is £15.

This will be a make-your-own-way to the Gallery visit. We will be meeting our guide at 10.45am ready for the start of the tour at 11.00am. Duration of tour will be approximately 60-90 minutes. 

This outing is now full, but if you would like to be on the waiting list in case of cancellations, please contact Karen Mead at karenemead@btinternet.com 

Our tour will bring us to a very lively area of Venice, the square of Campo Santa Margherita and to one of those hidden treasures of Venice, rich in social history and art, the Scuola Grande dei Carmini. Its interior is beautifully covered in paintings by Giovanni and Nicolo Bambini, in an elegant silver and grey scale. The staircase leaves us breathless for its white stuccoes and gold leaf. Upstairs the rooms are decorated with extraordinary paintings by Giambattista Tiepolo, Piazzetta and more artists of the 17th and 18th Century.

Cost: £10, which includes the entrance fee to the Scuola Grande dei Carmini.

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

As a follow on from our lecture on the 8th May, 2025  'Donatello: Renaissance Genius', our Lecturer, Paula Nuttall, will give us a private Guided Tour of the Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. The cost is £15.

This will be a make-your-own-way to the Gallery visit. We will be meeting our guide at 10.45am ready for the start of the tour at 11.00am. Duration of tour will be approximately 60-90 minutes. Places are limited so book early.
 
If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to check availability. 

A cathedral dedicated to St. Paul has stood at the top of Ludgate Hill in the centre of London since 604AD and throughout its long history it has attracted many millions of visitors who come to reflect and to find peace. The Great Fire of London destroyed the previous medieval cathedral in 1666 and the current Cathedral is now the fourth building, a unique English Baroque design by Sir Christopher Wren which was completed in 1710.

The Cathedral is where events of significant national importance are celebrated; from the state funerals of British heroes such as Admiral Lord Nelson and Sir Winston Churchill to the Royal Wedding of HRH the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, as well as the services of thanksgiving to celebrate the Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee's of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Three Domes, five floors, 528 steps, 1400 years of history and the greatest crypt in Europe.
 
We will be having a guided tour led by our member, Diana O'Reardon.

Cost:  £21 which is the entry cost to the Cathedral.

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

Deene Park is largely a sixteenth century house incorporating a medieval manor. It is built around a courtyard and has important rooms added during the reign of George III. The house has belonged to the Brudenell family since 1514 and was the seat of the Earls of Cardigan, most notably the 7 th Earl who led the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854. The house today is the home of Robert and Charlotte Brudenell and their son William.

We will be having a private guided tour of over fifteen rooms often used by family and friends. There is a large collection of art, furniture and porcelain, together with a display of uniforms and memorabilia of the Crimean War. The gardens are mainly to the south and west of the house and feature fine herbaceous borders and a grand parterre by David Hicks and seats from which to admire the view of the surrounding countryside and resident wildlife.

We will be stopping on the way up at the ancient market town of Oundle for the lunch break before going on to Deene Park in the afternoon.

Cost: £59 to include Coach with WC, Private Guided Tour of Deene Park and a Cream Tea.

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

Our day starts with a visit to Guildford located in Surrey. We will have the opportunity to see the High Street with its granite setts, the now ruined Castle with its tower from where a good view of the town is to be had, the Cathedral on a commanding hilltop position surrounded by 20 acres of parkland, or Guildford House Gallery with artworks including John Russell, Guildford Museum containing a collection of around 75,000 items including archaeological finds, textiles and clothing etc.  Also located in the high street is the Guildhall with its magnificent ornate clock. We reboard our coach for the short drive to nearby Loseley Park leaving Guildford at 1.30pm.

Loseley is a beautiful Elizabethan mansion in a glorious parkland setting. The house features many fine works of art, including panelling from Henry VIII's Nonsuch Palace, tapestries, furniture and paintings. We will be having a guided tour of the house which lasts for about 45 minutes after which you will be able to wander at leisure in the 3 acre Walled Gardens before having a Cream Tea in the White Flower Garden before departure for home.
Cost:  £54 to include Coach with WC, Entry and Guided Tour of Loseley Park and a Cream Tea.

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

Canterbury has much more to offer including the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, housed in a magnificent Victorian building with art collections from Van Dyke to the present day and wonderful ceramics. Free admission. The local tourist office is located here. Also worth a visit is the Roman Museum giving insight into life in Roman Britain. It houses one of the UK's only remaining in situ Roman pavement mosaics. You could also visit the Westgate Towers Museum, housed in one of England's finest medieval fortified gatehouses and Greyfriars chapel, the oldest Franciscan building in Britain.

In the afternoon we have arranged a Guided Tour of the Cathedral.

Cost: £49 which includes coach with WC, entrance fee and Guided Tour of Canterbury Cathedral.

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

After our November lecture on 'The World's Greatest Paintings: 200 years of the National Gallery', our Lecturer, Simon Whitehouse agreed to give us a private Guided Tour of the Gallery, including some of the paintings that were discussed in the lecture.

This will be a "make your own way to the Gallery" outing. Nearest tube is Charing Cross. 
We will be meeting our guide inside the Gallery, in the foyer at 11am. 

THIS TOUR IS NOW FULL BUT THERE IS A WAITING LIST

Please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

We are very pleased that our Blue Badge Guide, Sophie Campbell, who has given us many fascinating virtual walks around London, will be taking us on another outing. Whilst we sit in the warm comfort of home, Sophie will be live with her camera describing the history and places of interest in Fleet Street.

The cost is £6 per person

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

After our November lecture on 'The World's Greatest Paintings: 200 years of the National Gallery', our Lecturer, Simon Whitehouse agreed to give us a private Guided Tour of the Gallery, including some of the paintings that were discussed in the lecture.

This will be a "make your own way to the Gallery" outing. Nearest tube is Charing Cross. 
We will be meeting our guide inside the Gallery, in the foyer at 11am. 

THIS TOUR IS NOW FULL BUT WE ARE HOPING TO ARRANGE ANOTHER VISIT

Please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

Stuart Harvey is taking us again on a Virtual Trip in Rome this time around the ruins of the Roman Forum.  Overlooked by the Palantine and Capitoline Hills, the Roman Forum was the social, political, commercial, religious and legal heart of the city of Rome, and by default the entire Roman Empire.  Stuart will lead us on a voyage of discovery through the ruins of the Forum to discover the fascinating stories behind the triumphal arches, temples, basilicas and other surviving structures, explaining how and why certain parts survived and others did not.

He will introduce us to gods, goddesses and demi-gods of the Roman religion; the legal and commercial procedures of the ancient city, and of course the governmental structure as we visit the Curia, or Senate House.  We will also see the place of the cremation of Julius Caesar and discover how his death ultimately brought about the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of Empire.

Stuart Harvey is a “History and Art Communicator” of 30 years experience. He is a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide (qualified in 1998 - awarded “New Guide of the Year”) and also a Guida Turistica Abilitata della Provincia di Roma (qualified in 2010). He has worked in educational tourism since 1992, leading study tours all over Europe.

Living in Rome since 2003, Stuart has developed a great love for the Eternal City and its many treasures. In addition to his primary career as full-time Rome tourist guide, Stuart’s entertaining and lively lectures and virtual tours bring the rich artistic and historical wealth of Rome’s 28 centuries to life for people all over the world.

The cost is £6. Please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. 

We will be having a private guided tour of the Painted Hall in the morning. Visitors never forget their first awe-inspiring vision of the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College. Known as the UK’s own Sistine Chapel, it was painted by Sir James Thornhill who started his masterpiece in 1707 and completed it 19 years later. It depicts the Protestant Succession of English Monarchs from William & Mary to George I.

In the afternoon we will be having a guided tour of Queens House, an architectural masterpiece designed by Inigo Jones in the 17th Century and home to an internationally renowned art collection. It was commissioned by Anne of Denmark in 1616 who was a renowned patron of the arts. Then, under the wife of Charles I, the building was transformed into a House of Delights, complete with a painted ceiling by Italian artist Orazio Gentileschi and his daughter Artemisia. During King Charles II reign, it became a working artists' studio. Today it is an acclaimed art gallery containing over 450 artworks.

This will be a 'make your own way to London' outing and we will be meeting at the Greenwich Visitor Centre.

Cost: £34 to include entrance and guided tour of the Painted Hall, and entrance and guided tour of Queens House.

If you would like to join us then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com.

Painshill is a masterpiece of garden design. Created in the 18th century by Charles Hamilton, it invites you to walk around a work of art and discover dramatic follies, calming waters and stunning views. Born in Dublin in 1704, Hamilton. the son of the sixth Earl of Abercorn, embarked on two Grand Tours across Europe. Inspired by landscape art, his vision was to create 'living paintings' in a new style of garden.

The English Landscape movement went on to influence garden design across Europe. After World War II Painshill was divided and sold off in lots. It fell into ruin and was lost. In 1981 the Painshill Park Trust was formed which is dedicated to restoring the garden to its former magnificence and preserving it for future generations to come.

We will be having an introductory talk whilst having our morning coffee after which we can explore the Park at our own leisure. Lunch will also be available to purchase in Mr Hamilton's Tea Room. 

After lunch we will travel on to West Horsley Place for the remainder of the day and have a guided tour of this historic house. For the first time in 600 years this house is no longer in private hands and has opened its doors for groups to enjoy. This hidden gem has over 1000 years of amazing history. 

Cost: £52 to include the coach, entry, introductory talk and morning coffee at Painshill and guided tour of West Horsley Place. 

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

We will be visiting Lyveden Manor in the morning where we will be having a history talk. Coffee and lunch will be available to purchase. Lyveden is now owned by the National Trust and is an intriguing Elizabethan lodge and moated Garden. 

After lunch we will go on to Boughton House. It is the Northamptonshire home of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury and has a superb collection of paintings, furniture, tapestries, needlework, carpets, porcelain, arms and silver. It draws its inspiration from the Palace of Versailles.
We will be having a guided tour of the ground floor including the Great Hall and the High Pavilion and State Apartments including the grand entrance staircase. There will be time to also visit the formal gardens surrounding the house. We will be having tea and biscuits before departure.

Cost: £46 to include coach with WC, history tour at Lyveden, guided tour and entry to Boughton and afternoon tea and biscuits. 

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Coventry has a great deal to offer, all within a short walk of the Cathedral. In the morning you are free to explore. Why not visit the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum across the square. There is a café where lunch can be purchased. You could also visit St Mary's Guildhall with its renowned Coventry tapestry. They also have a café in the Undercroft for lunch. In the afternoon we will be having a guided tour of Coventry Cathedral.

Cost: £36 to include coach with toilet facilities, entrance fee and guided tour of Coventry Cathedral.

If you would like to join us, then please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Built by the ancestors of George Washington and saved from ruin by donors from both the UK and USA, Sulgrave Manor is the original home of the Special Relationship.

Discover the origins of the Washington family wealth, how they crossed the Atlantic when their fortunes faded and find out about George Washington, the man behind the myth.

The cost is £46 per person  

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Save the date for our next Virtual Outing in Venice.

We are having a tour with our old friend Luisella of the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari Church located in the heart of the San Polo district of Venice. It is where Monteverdi was buried, where the triptych by Bellini shows beautiful instruments, and where the choir in inlaid wood is indeed quite spectacular, not to mention Titian's Assumption and Canova's cenotaph.

Cost will be £8 per person

An unforgettable journey to explore the highlights of the vast Vatican Museums collection, with a deep focus on the spectacular frescoes of Michelangelo Buonarroti and others in the Sistine Chapel.

The cost is £6 per person  

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

For most Londoners, Holborn is a busy working thoroughfare connecting the Cities of London and Westminster. On this walk, however, we shall discover its connections with the law, with Charles Dickens, with the diamond and jewellery trade (including the site of one of the biggest heists in British history) and with the fiercely independent food market at Leather Lane. There will be churches and pubs, plaques and artworks, criminals and philanthropists.  
 
The cost is £6 per person  

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Come and visit the university city of Cambridge where we will be having an hour's guided tour of Kings College Chapel in the morning. The remainder of the day is free to have some lunch, explore Cambridge including the Fitzwilliam Museum with its renowned art collection including works by Titian, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Hogarth and Turner, as well as paintings by the Pre-Raphaelites and French Impressionists. The museum also has a collection of ceramics, textiles, silver and glass.

Maybe you would like to do a bit of retail therapy in either the shops or the bustling open-air market or have a walk around the old centre taking in many of the older and most picturesque colleges and the river.  

The cost is £38. For more information, or if you would like to join us, please e-mail Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com. 

We will be visiting Dorney Court near Windsor in the morning for a private guided tour. Dorney Court is one of the finest Tudor Manor Houses in England which has been owned by the Palmer family for over 500 years and still lived in by descendants of that family. The house boasts a magnificent Great Hall, family portraits, oak and lacquer furniture, needlework and panelled rooms. On arrival there will be the opportunity to purchase morning coffee and lunch in the garden cafe, where tables have been reserved,  before departure to Greys Court near Henley in the afternoon.  

Grays Court is set in the Chilterns. It is a picturesque Tudor Manor House surrounded by layers of history, intimate walled gardens and wooded parkland owned by the National Trust since 1969. There is a tea room with the opportunity to purchase refreshments before departure.

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com.

We are planning a lovely outing by coach! First we will visit Peterborough including the Cathedral. Then we will go on to Elton Hall where lunch will be available at the Mulberry Cafe. We will have a guided tour of the house and plenty of time to enjoy the gardens.

Elton Hall is a baronial hall in Elton, Cambridgeshire. It has been the ancestral home of the Proby family since 1660. The hall lies in an 3,800-acre estate through which the River Nene runs. The building incorporates 15th, 17th, 18th and 19th century parts and is a Grade I listed building.

Cost and further details to follow. If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

We have arranged another walk with our Blue Badge Guide, Sophie Campbell, this time around Twickenham. We will be covering a very pretty stretch of the River Thames and include Eel Pie Island and the rather fabulous Grade II listed York House currently used as The Town Hall of Richmond plus other 18th Century Grand Houses in South West London  

We are very pleased that Sophie Campbell, who gave us such fascinating walks around Chelsea, Clerkenwell, Wapping and the City of London, will now be showing us the sights of Twickenham.
 
The cost is £6 per person 

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

We are very pleased that Luisella has agreed to take us on another live outing in Venice. We are heading back to St Mark’s Square and this time she will be taking us inside the Doge's Palace. This was once the political and judicial centre of the Venetian State and was restructured at the end of the 1500s. You will climb the Golden Staircase and then admire the great art masterpieces by Titian, Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto. You will tour the rooms where the political propaganda and myth of Serenissima conveniently intertwined, such as the Major Council Hall, as well as the room of court of the Council of Ten. As we exit the palace, we will see the famous lagoon and walk to St Mark's Square.

The cost is £8 per person 

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com to confirm availability. This is important, as places are limited this time.

This is an introduction to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: the collection, the building, its history and the recent 10-year renovation that brought back the splendour of architect Pierre Cuypers' original neo-gothic decorations. The collection of the Rijksmuseum includes works by Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh as well as a wonderful diversity from jewellery, armour, ship models, porcelain and musical instruments to medieval and Asian art and even an FK 23 Bantam plane from 1918. It also houses Rembrandt's famous 'Night Watch' - yet it does not own it!  All will be explained.

Dr Sophie Oosterwijk was born in Gouda (Netherlands). She has an MA and PhD in English Literature (Leiden), an MA in Medieval Studies (York) and a PhD in Art History (Leicester). She has taught at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester and Manchester, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, National Trust, V&A, U3A, WEA and other organisations, and organised many study days, tours and visits. 

The cost for members and guests is £5 per person.

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com 

A wander around a medieval town between the mountains and the sea

'I am Amanda Whitehead and, though Scottish born and English raised, have lived in North Wales for 40 years and have been a Blue Badge Tourist Guide for half of that time. I look forward through photos and film to take you around the streets and walls of this World Heritage town. We’ll explore the buildings from the World Heritage Castle to the Smallest House in Great Britain as I tell tales of inhabitants past and how the town’s citizens make their living today putting everything in a Welsh Context.

I look forward to meeting you all (virtually) - Amanda'

The cost for members and guests is £5 per person.

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Another real live Outing!

For our first outing of the new season we are spending the morning in Oxford where you can have a coffee, a leisurely lunch, have a wander around some of the famous colleges such as Christchurch, Hertford, Trinity or Brasenose, visit the Ashmolean Museum or the Bodleian Library. There will be a free-to-view exhibition in the Bodleian Library on the discovery and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb through the eyes of the archaeologists on the ground.

In the afternoon we will be visiting Broughton Castle near Banbury, for six centuries the home of the Fiennes family and still lived in by their descendants, the 21st Lord and Lady Saye and Sele. A medieval manor house later transformed into a Tudor mansion, surrounded by a wide moat and parkland. The highly regarded one acre garden includes a walled formal garden and herbaceous borders containing old rose varieties and shrubs.

We will be having a guided tour followed by afternoon tea with homemade cake.
Coach will depart Lowlands Road, Harrow at 8.45am and Paines Lane Pinner at 9.00am and return to Harrow at approximately 6.45pm.

Cost: £37 to include Coach, Gratuities, Entrance and Guided Tour of Broughton Castle plus Afternoon Tea and Cake.

If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Another real live Outing!

Our day starts with a visit to Belmont House where we will be having morning coffee before a guided tour of the house. General George Harris bought the house in 1801 with the prize money from his successful military career in India. Successive Lords Harris played a prominent role in British expansion overseas throughout the 19th Century. Today the house and its surrounding estate are part of the Harris Belmont Charity a private trust created by the 5th Lord Harris with the aim of preserving the Estate, the House and its contents for future generations to learn about the family's part in 200 years of British Colonial History.
  
The house contains fabulous mementos of the family's history and travels, fine paintings including a unique collection of watercolour paintings of the West Indies by Trinidadian artist Michel Jean Cazabon, furniture, Indian Silverware and the finest and most extensive range of clocks in private hands in the country – a collection assembled by the 5th Lord. The Gardens surrounding the house are a charming mix of formal and informal planting, herbaceous, woodland, fruit & vegetable that have evolved over the years since the gardens were first laid out in the late 18th Century.

We will then depart late morning for the short drive to Faversham where there will be free time to have lunch before a guided walk of the town. Faversham is home to nearly 500 listed buildings, many with very interesting stories. It is also the oldest market town in Kent and recorded in the Domesday Book, packed with history and located on a winding creek, and home to Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewer.

Cost: £45. If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com  

At last, a real live Outing!

Our day starts with a visit to Layer Marney Tower, Britain's tallest Tudor gatehouse, built in the reign of Henry VIII.  We will be having a private guided tour, including areas of the house that are not open to the public, as well the option to climb the tower (a gentle 99-step climb with plenty of stopping off points on the way), see the church, Long Gallery and Medieval Barn and also time to visit the gardens. Our morning finishes with a ploughman's lunch before departing for our second destination, The Gardens of Easton Lodge near Great Dunmow, Essex. These comprise formal gardens and a tree glade designed by Harold Peto, the Edwardian garden designer for the Countess of Warwick, a walled kitchen garden dating back to the 18th Century and areas where flowers grow wild. These gardens are the only example in East Anglia of Peto. He originally trained as an architect and brought to Easton Lodge his passion for Italianate, French and Japanese designs. The gardens are slowly being restored to their former glory. We will be having a guided tour and afternoon tea and cake.
 
The cost is £55 per person, including coach with toilet facilities, gratuities, entrance and private guided tour of Layer Marney Tower, a ploughman's lunch, entrance and guided tour of Easton Lodge Gardens plus afternoon tea/cake. Pick up Pinner and Harrow from 8.30am. Return 7pm approx.
 
If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com with 'Layer Marney' in the subject line

Fithly Lucre: 1000 Years of the City of London

We are very pleased that Sophie Campbell, who gave us such fascinating walks around Chelsea, Clerkenwell, and Wapping,  will now be taking us around the City of London.
 
The cost is £5 per person 
If you would like to join us, then please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com with 'City of London' in the subject line

28 centuries of history told through the bridges and riverside monuments of Rome

We will join professional Rome Tourist Guide Stuart Harvey via Zoom for a journey upstream along the River Tiber as it winds through Rome from the Tiber Island to Ponte Milvio. Starting with the legend of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome, and leading us through to the Unification of Italy and Rome’s new role as a modern capital city, the Tiber will lead us through 28 centuries of Roman history told by the historic bridges and riverside monuments. This tour will be 90 minutes in length as there’s such a lot to see!

The cost is £5 per person
If you would like to join us, please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Stuart Harvey has worked in educational tourism for almost 30 years and has lived in Rome since 2001. He is a London Blue Badge Guide and has recently become an accredited Arts Society lecturer. He uses video and photos to showcase Rome and shares local traditions and anecdotes as well as the history, art and architecture of the city.

We are very pleased that Sophie Campbell, who gave us two such fascinating walks around Chelsea and Clerkenwell, will now be taking us around 'Sailortown Wapping'

This is a rollicking sailor’s stagger from the area north of the Tower of London, home to Samuel Pepys and the Navy Office, around one of London’s more ignored quarters, Trinity Square, which is full of nautical connections. We then go east along the River Thames, exploring the area once off limits to everyone except dockers, and circle back to end with a fabulous view of Tower Bridge. Ahoy!

The cost is £5 per person. 

If you would like to come, please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Monumental Squares and Fountains 

We will join professional Rome Tourist Guide Stuart Harvey via Zoom at 10.30am UK time for a virtual stroll through Rome to discover some of the most iconic monuments of the Eternal City - the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and much more along the way. This tour will be 90 minutes in length as there’s such a lot to see!

The cost is £5 per person
If you would like to join us, please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

Stuart Harvey has worked in educational tourism for almost 30 years and has lived in Rome since 2001. He is also a London Blue Badge Guide and has recently become an accredited Arts Society lecturer. He uses video and photos to showcase Rome and shares local traditions and anecdotes as well as the history, art and architecture of the city and its monuments.

Hope, Salvation and the Preservation of Knowledge
Guided by Lucia Montuschi
 

Our trip will start at 10.30am UK time in the monumental complex of the Duomo Square that comprises the Cathedral, its Bell Tower and Baptistery. We will discuss the history and development of the area including Brunelleschi’s construction of the famous dome. The northern door of the Baptistery is a landmark in Renaissance art history. Perhaps less well known features are the column commemorating a miracle and ‘The Misericordia’, a 13th century health assistance charity still working today. The tour will move to the square and church of San Lorenzo, dating back to Roman times and restored by the Medici family. Here we will talk about Michelangelo and his work at the Medici Chapels.

The cost is £5 per person  
If you would like to join us, please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com 
 

Lucia Montuschi is a graduate of the University of Florence with a Ph.D in Art History. She is a long time teacher, researcher and lecturer who has also worked for many Florentine state museums with a particular focus on art therapy. She has also worked for the Fashion Institute of Technology in Florence where she was a docent teaching Venetian Art.

Outing to Harefield’s ‘Secret Garden’
Thursday 12th August 2021 at 2pm

A Guided tour of the gardens followed by tea & cake

Harefield’s ‘secret garden’. 17th century Renaissance walled gardens on the outskirts of Harefield Village, next to the beautiful medieval church of St Mary’s and Anzac war cemetery. The gardens are the only remaining part of the Harefield Place Estate and include a traditional kitchen garden and orchard. The gardens are presently undergoing extensive restoration, having fallen into neglect and disrepair since the demolition of the original Manor House in 1813. The kitchen garden has been run as an organic vegetable garden for 15 years with 56 raised beds in a beautiful geometric pattern.

Since 2015 two 60m herbaceous borders and one double 20m herbaceous border have been created. Most recently an alpine bed, herb garden, fruit cage and auricula theatre have been added. The orchard is an incredibly rare Renaissance ‘pleasure’ garden, with the remains of a terrace and unique arcaded wall, which was replanted as a cobnut nuttery over 100 years ago.

At 10.30am with Blue Badge Guide Sue Duckworth

Clerkenwell: Village of Saints & Sinners
Blue Badge Guide:   Sophie Campbell

10.30am on Thursday 20 May 2021

We are very pleased that Sophie Campbell, who gave us such a fascinating walk around Chelsea, has offered to take us around Clerkenwell, the Village of Saints and Sinners.
 

Clerkenwell is just outside the City borders and therefore always home to people who didn’t fit in, from enemies of the state to foreign revolutionaries. We’ll start at Smithfield, London’s only remaining working food market, still supplying meat after hundreds of years, then pass one of the city’s oldest churches (perhaps familiar from Four Weddings and A Funeral) and wind our way north via two great religious institutions and ending at a village green.

The cost is £5 per person  

If you would like to come, please email Karen Mead on karenemead@btinternet.com

'A Stroll Through Artists' Chelsea' 
 

Sophie is a travel journalist by trade. She has written a column on heritage for Telegraph Travel for many years and still writes for them now, as well as publications from the Guardian to Conde Nast Traveller. She trained as a Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London in 2011 and now combines the two.

Purchasing Tickets 
The cost is just £5 per person and we will send the link on Monday 25th January.

If you would like to join us, please email us at harrow@theartssociety.org, and put 'Chelsea' in the subject heading. 

Virtual Outing to Venice

26th November  2020
11:00 am UK time

Our Guide, Luisella Romeo, will meet us all on Zoom and take us on a walking tour of  Venice.  The cost is just £5 each.

If you would like to join us, please email us at harrow@theartssociety.org, and put 'Venice' in the subject heading.  

Virtual Outing to Venice

26th November  2020
11:00 am UK time

Our Guide, Luisella Romeo, will meet us all on Zoom and take us on a walking tour of  Venice.  The cost is just £5 each.

If you would like to join us, please email us at harrow@theartssociety.org, and put 'Venice' in the subject heading.  

 

Dulwich Picture Gallery - Rembrandt Exhibition

Experience a cinematic retelling of the Dutch Master's pivotal years.

An enduring storyteller; a master of light – Rembrandt is one of the greatest painters who ever lived. This landmark exhibition celebrates 350 years since his death with 35 of his iconic paintings, etchings and drawings, including major international loans from The Louvre and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.

Arranged thematically, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey from high drama and theatricality to the contemplative and spiritual, showcasing his use of light. It focuses on the period between 1639 and 1658, when Rembrandt lived in his ideal house in the heart of Amsterdam where he created his most exceptional work, including The Denial of St Peter (1660) and The Artist’s Studio (1658).

Echoing Rembrandt’s power for storytelling, the exhibition’s atmospheric lighting and design has been carefully curated to immerse audiences in his world. The gallery collaborated with the award-winning cinematographer, Peter Suschitzky, known for his work on films such as Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Mars Attacks! to create this unique experience.

Highlights include the captivating Philemon and Baucis (1658), shown in the UK for the first time, the contemplative Christ and St Mary Magdalen at the Tomb and three of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings of women: A Woman Bathing in a Stream (1654), A Woman in Bed (1647) and the gallery’s Girl at a Window (1645) all hanging together.

Waddesdon Manor    1874–1898
In 1874, Baron Ferdinand bought a farming estate from the Duke of Marlborough with money inherited from his father Anselm. He was familiar with the estate as he had seen it while hunting in the area. There was no existing house, park or garden, only a bare hill that had been stripped of its timber.[3] The foundation stone was laid on 18 August 1877, and the site was quickly transformed.

The first house party was held in May 1880 with seven of Ferdinand's close male friends enjoying a grand fireworks display. When the main house was ready in 1883, Ferdinand invited 20 guests to stay. Before his premature death in 1898, on weekends between May and September Baron Ferdinand played host to many important guests including the future king Edward VII, politicians and members of The Souls group. House parties usually involved 14 to 20 people coming to stay.[4]

Guests commented on the level of luxury service provided by the 24 house staff.[5] In 1890, Queen Victoria unusually requested to pay a visit. She was impressed with the beauty of the house and grounds as well as Ferdinand's ability to quietly manage the day's events. She was struck by the newly installed electric lights, especially designed to look like candles in the chandeliers, and it is reported that she asked for the room to be darkened to fully witness the effect

ABOUT HEVER CASTLE
Dating back to the 13th century, Hever Castle was once the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and Mother of Elizabeth I. It formed the unlikely backdrop to a sequence of tumultuous events that changed the course of Britain’s history, monarchy and religion.

Its panelled rooms house fine furniture, tapestries, antiques and what is regarded as ‘one of the best collections of Tudor portraits after the National Portrait Gallery’ by David Starkey. The Book of Hours Room beautifully illuminates two prayer books which belonged to Anne Boleyn and bear her inscriptions and signature. 

Today, much of what you see is the result of the remarkable efforts of William Waldorf Astor, who used his fortune to restore and extend the Castle in the early 20th century. The Astor Suite is dedicated to its more recent history, showcasing pictures and memorabilia relating to the Astor family and the Edwardian period.

Hever Castle is what every child wants a castle to be: crenellated, moated and haunted. The new permanent exhibition in the Long Gallery depicts the saga from the Wars of the Roses to the Reformation through its art collection.

Kelmscott Manor, Lechlade, Gloucestershire

Kelmscott Manor was the inspirational Cotswold retreat of William Morris, his family, friends and colleagues.
When Morris first saw the Manor in 1871, he was delighted by this 'loveliest haunt of ancient peace'; he signed a joint lease for the property with his friend and colleague Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite artist.

The fascinating and important collections at Kelmscott Manor span more than 300 years and reflect the history, ideas and creative legacy of those who lived and worked here. Originally home to successful yeoman farmers, in 1871 it became a place of relaxation and inspiration for Father of the Arts & Crafts movement William Morris (1834-1896), his family and his friends.

The earliest ‘layer’ of the collections is represented by the solid oak furniture and seventeenth-century tapestries owned by the Turner family, the original occupants of the Manor.

Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was joint-tenant with Morris between 1871 and 1874 and used the Manor for much of that time, added his own furniture to the interiors. This forms an extremely rare group of furnishings associated with the artist. Reflecting Rossetti’s rather sophisticated taste, it includes a number of black-and-gold pieces as well as fashionable early nineteenth-century furniture.

The Morris family was associated with the manor for 67 years. As well as furnishings designed specifically for the Manor by Morris’s friend and associate Philip Webb (Arts & Crafts architect and designer), the collections also contain items from each of Morris’s London homes, including several designed for the iconic Red House at Bexleyheath.

Morris’s wife, Jane, and younger daughter, May, are also vivid presences here, and many examples of their beautiful and accomplished needlework are on display.

Backstage Tour of Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Visit the Backstage and Front of House areas of one of the world's leading theatres as it prepares to open its doors for the evening performance.

The Backstage Tours include an introduction to the colourful history of the theatre, an insight into the redevelopment of the Royal Opera House and a look at aspects of current productions. As the Royal Opera House is a fully working theatre, each tour is a unique experience, and may include opportunities to see The Royal Ballet in class, or the magnificent backstage technology in operation.

Date for this will be 28 March 2019

The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter

is built around a perfectly preserved jewellery workshop offering a unique glimpse of working life in Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter.

When the proprietors of the Smith & Pepper jewellery manufacturing firm retired in 1981 they simply ceased trading and locked the door, unaware they would be leaving a time capsule for future generations.

Today the factory is a remarkable museum, which tells the story of the Jewellery Quarter and Birmingham’s renowned jewellery and metalworking heritage.

Explore this extraordinary time capsule on a lively guided tour. Watch live demonstrations at the jewellers’ bench of the traditional skills of this fine trade,  and discover what it was like to work here.

The museum also contains two self-led galleries – 'Story of the Jewellery Quarter' which explores the history and development of the Jewellery Quarter and 'Earth’s Riches' which displays jewellery made from natural materials from across the world.

Osterley House

This impressive neo-classical mansion was originally a Tudor house built in the 1570s by Sir Thomas Gresham. It was acquired by wealthy banker Sir Francis Child in 1713 - the perfect symbol of his status and prosperity. His grandson, also called Francis, engaged Robert Adam from 1761 to remodel and transform Osterley into the ‘palace of palaces’ that you see today.

Osterley's interior is one of the finest and most complete by Robert Adam still in existence, full of delicate decorations, friezes and furniture designed by Adam specifically for each setting.

ROYAL ALBERT HALL GRAND TOUR

LUNCH & CLASSICAL MUSIC TOUR

Opened in 1871 by Queen Victoria in memory of Prince Albert, the Royal Albert Hall is one of London’s most iconic music venues and tourist attractions. Treat your group to a captivating, guided tour of the Royal Albert Hall to experience a piece of history like no other. You’ll hear stories of legend, love and controversy and witness views you’ll never forget.

Grand Tour

The Grand Tour is perfect for first-time tour visitors and offers a fascinating journey into the Hall's rich history, astonishing architecture and legendary performances. Highlights include the Queen's Box, the Royal Retiring Room, the main auditorium and the Gallery.

We are also having a Special Interest Tour - Classical Music Tour

2 Course Lunch at Verdi's Restaurant

Tickets will be on sale at September and October Lectures.  See Karen Mead.