Outings, Visits, Study Days and Holidays
We run occasional special events, and trips to places of particular art interest - of all sorts! Sometimes just a day visit, sometimes over several days including hotel accommodation and visits to a number of locations in the area. Study Days may involve a look in depth at a topic or even a practical workshop.
The Harris, Preston
To follow up from our lecture in April by Scott Schiavone, Decorative Arts Curator, we are organising a visit to The Harris Museum in Preston. This will include a guided tour, in two parts - firstly the updated permanent collection within the refurbished Grade I Listed Building and secondly the “Horrockses Fashion Exhibition”, showcasing the UK’s largest collection of Horrockses cotton dresses of the 1950s. For more information about the exhibition and the Museum click here; for our Arts Society Cumbria Trip to the Harris Information Sheet click here.
Coffee and tea on arrival at 11.00am is arranged, and a sandwich buffet lunch between the two tours.
A group will be travelling by train to Preston from Penrith North Lakes station - see the Booking Form for more information. Or you may prefer to drive yourself or travel by bus, and meet in the Museum foyer in time for coffee! Whichever way you decide to travel, please fill in and return our Booking Form here.
Thursday 10 November 2026
11.00am - ?4.00pm? - optional return time!
Printmaking Workshop
Beginners Linocut
One-Day workshop
Saturday 10th October 2026
10.00am-4.30pm
‘Purple Globe Artichoke’, ©Croft Designs 2025
Have you a hidden creative streak? Come and find out in this introductory workshop to the versatile medium of linocutting. In a friendly and informal setting in Portinscale Village Hall, you can have a ‘hands on’ go at making your own unique piece of art.
All materials will be provided; also teas, coffees, a home-made soup and bread lunch, and afternoon cake!
The course will be run by our Programme Secretary Bernadette Ashby, who also creates her own work as Croft Designs, assisted by Linda Ivison our Chair.
More details including Booking Form can be downloaded here
Previous Outings and Holiday Trips
A summer afternoon outing in early July 2026 was much enjoyed by 20 members, visiting two beautiful examples of ‘Arts and Crafts Architecture’ in the southern Lake District near Windermere, excellently guided by volunteer guide Gail from Lakeland Arts. Broad Leys, now owned by the Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club, was designed by C F A Voysey and is one of very few of his designed houses in the UK to be open to the public, and only by prior arrangement; Blackwell, owned by Lakeland Arts, is regularly open throughout the year, and guided tours can be arranged in advance.
To find out where else we’ve been in the past, you can read these reports here:
Northumberland Arts Society Cumbria Trip October 2025.pdf
Other Holiday trips have included short breaks in York, Liverpool, and East Anglia.
Above: Broad Leys Exterior
Below: Blackwell Interior
