Across Bath and Bristol, National Trust places are alive with the promise of warm summer days, lazy weekend picnics and trips out with family and friends. There’s lots going on this season from archaeological digs to dressing like a Georgian, and garden games to guided walks and much more. What’s more, every time you experience a National Trust day out, you help care for these special places for future generations. Here is what’s happening near you this spring, please check property website for opening days and times:
Bath Assembly Rooms
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bath-assembly-rooms
Festival of Nature talks at Bath Assembly Rooms
Sat 8 Jun. 12 – 4pm
Alongside the Milsom Street takeover in Bath, Festival of Nature will be hosting a series of talks and shows in the historic Bath Assembly Rooms. Join Ali Vowles, a multi-skilled freelance journalist, presenter, panel facilitator and conference host as she presents an afternoon of different talks.Talks are suitable for those aged 5+ and include Cam from CBBC, science rapper Jon Chase, Turi King and Hugh Warwick.
Price: Free. Booking essential via the website.
A talk: Refashioning fancy dress with Dr Meg Kobza and Dr Serena Dyer
Fri 14 Jun. 6 – 7.30pm
Our experts will bring to life the research behind the Dressing Fancy programme. Sharing Dr Serena Dyer's knowledge and skills in interpreting fashion and costume and the process she takes to remake and refashion historical dress. As part of this talk visitors will have a little time to explore the pop-up exhibition on its opening day outside of usual hours. Concession tickets are designed to allow everyone access. If you cannot pay the standard ticket price at this time, this ticket type is for you. No need to explain or prove why, it’s there if you need it.
Price: Standard tickets £7 Concession tickets £5. Booking essential 0344 249 1895 or via the website.
Play like a Georgian
Sat 15 Jun. 1.30 – 4pm
Make it a day in Bath and get ready with some classes ahead of the Fancy Ball in the evening. Join specialist instructors Hillary Burlock and James Harriman-Smith for an exclusive dance lesson and Georgian card game session. With limited tickets available, you will learn some key dance steps to keep you on your toes during the ball, along with some of the Georgian’s favourite card games. There's no need to dress in costume for this session. Please dress in comfortable clothing and shoes that you can dance in.
This event is for those aged 18 and over. Your ticket includes admittance to the Play Like a Georgian afternoon event and the Fancy Ball in the evening.
Price: £55. Booking essential 0344 249 1895 or via the website.
The Fancy Ball
Sat 15 Jun. 6.30 – 11.30pm
Bring your friends and have a fun evening made of two halves. Start the night by having a go at dancing and playing cards like the Georgians. Embellish your outfit at the accessories wardrobe or try make-up styles from the time. You'll be able to take time out from the ball to explore the pop-up exhibition and grab refreshments from the bar. Later, hit the dance floor for a more modern form of assembly, sound tracked by a local DJ.
Whilst the Fancy Ball is inspired by Georgian fancy dress balls, there's no requirement for you to dress in Georgian costume – although welcomed. Rummage through your wardrobe and find your fanciest outfit to wear, if you wish you can embellish it with a themed twist. Perhaps you might like to turn that silver sequined dress into a moon and stars outfit with a homemade headdress, or jazz up those chinos with a stylish jacket and DIY decorated hat. Please take a look at the Dressing Fancy article in the about section for more inspiration on what to wear.
Tickets include entry and one complimentary drink from the bar. We've been able to keep all ticket prices low due to the generous funding from our supporters. Concession tickets are designed to allow everyone access. If you cannot pay the standard ticket price at this time, this ticket type is for you. No need to explain or prove why, it’s there if you need it.
Price: Standard adult tickets £15. Concession adult tickets £9. Booking essential 0344 249 1895 or via the website.
Dressing Fancy: Georgian Fancy Dress Then and Now
Daily 14 to 30 Jun. 11am – 4pm
Explore the histories of Georgian fancy dress and the legacies of it today in this free pop-up exhibition, which includes historic costume, recreated historical dress, and multi-sensory elements. Try dressing up yourself with our dress-up box, and share your opinions with us on what fancy dress means to you. This pop-up exhibition is created in collaboration with historical dress makers, experts and community partners, to explore how and why the Georgian’s dressed up.
The exhibition delves into questions such as what was it like to dress-up, what was the process of choosing, making and buying fancy dress? Where did the Georgians get inspiration from for fancy dress? Who attended the fancy balls and how did costume allow them to challenge or conform to societal norms? And where does fancy dress sit in conversations around appropriation and appreciation?
Price: Free. Booking not required.
Dyrham Park
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dyrham-park
Book cleaning in the house at Dyrham Park
18 Jun, 2, 16 & 30 Jul, 13 & 27 Aug. 11.30am-2.30pm
Staff and volunteers will be cleaning, checking and recording books from the collection normally housed in the Plod Chamber. This collection includes Shakespeare, Ovid, Byron plus an Anglo-Dutch dictionary from 1681. A special book cushion, a gentle vacuum cleaner, a pony hair brush and special lamps are used for the process.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Guided garden walks
Select weekdays. 11.30am-12.30pm and 2-3pm – please check the website
During the tours you can discover the best of the seasonal blooms, learn about the garden’s history and find out about upcoming projects. The garden is a 15-20 minute walk from the car park.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Guided parkland walks
Select weekdays. 10.30-11.30am and 1.30-2.30pm – please check the website
An expert volunteer guide will lead you around the 270 acres of parkland to learn more about the site's history, archaeology, management and significance.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Nature Tots at Old Lodge
Every Tue to 16 Jul. 10.45 – 11.45am
The popular session for pre-schoolers is back with nature activities each Tuesday morning in term time. Sessions will usually include a song, story, craft and a game.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Prior Park Landscape Garden
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/prior-park-landscape-garden
Festival of Archaeology in the Pasture at Prior Park
Daily 15 to 26 Jul. 10m-4pm
Our team of volunteer archaeologists will return to further the excavation on the Bason of Water.
In 2023 the team dug in the Pasture to discover the edges of the Bason of Water and what looked like the start of an ancient cascade. This year the team will continue with this dig, hoping to uncover more of the cascade and uncover the viewing platform of the Bason.
Visitors will be able to see the dig in progress and chat with the archaeologists as they work to hear more about what they've discovered and what it means for the garden.
There will also be a heritage explorer trail so younger visitors
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Hidden Prior – a guided walk around Prior Park
Tue 16 & Thu 18 Jul. 11am-12pm
As part of Prior's activity for the Festival of Archaeology we're offering visitors the opportunity to join a guided walk around the garden.
The walk will focus on the influence of water in the garden, much of it hidden from view. It will take in other features also not seen, but often in plain sight.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Tyntesfield
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield
Ancient Tree Photography Walk
Thu 6 Jun. 10am – 1pm
The walk will meander through the Tyntesfield’s glorious estate taking in the majesty of these woodlands. Led by an expert in Ancient Trees, the walk will visit some of the spectacular trees that have stood on the estate through the centuries.
During our walk, we will learn how to identify these living legends, and discuss how critical they are for supporting thriving ecosystems. We will also be accompanied by a professional photographer who will provide tips and tricks for capturing these trees on a variety of devices. We hope participants might be keen to submit their photographs to the Forest of Avon’s Ancient Trees Photography competition: a project funded by the Woodland Trust. A free light lunch will be provided.
Phone cameras are perfect for the photography aspect of this event. If you don’t have access to a phone camera, contact us as we may be able to provide a camera.
As part of our commitment to welcoming more children and young people to Tyntesfield, this walk is for under 30s. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult (who could be over 30).
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking essential 01275 461 900.
Dear Future: I Leave This Place For You – Tyntesfield
Tue 25 Jun. 1.30 – 5pm
Without gifts in wills, we simply wouldn’t be able to look after the extraordinary places in our care. This special event will take you behind the scenes to see first-hand how your support is helping us carry out crucial conservation work every day, and how a gift in your own will could help to safeguard the future of our special places.
Join members of our expert team as they take you on a short "after hours" tour of Tyntesfield including insight into future projects. Over light refreshments, you’ll have the opportunity to chat further to members of the team and a local solicitor, and learn more about why gifts in wills are so important to our work.
Price: Free. Booking essential 01793 817699 or via the website.
Sunshine on the Fallen Tree
Daily to 1 Jul. 10.30am – 3.30pm
Pif Paf’s Sunshine on the Fallen Tree is an immersive sound and light sculpture, made from Ash trees felled due to Ash Dieback, traditionally steam bent and set with re-usable innovative technology.
Walk through its branches and be seated in the canopy, bath in its flickering light as a sound composition takes you through movements of a requiem and sonic memories of the tree, inviting you to reflect on the decline of the Ash Tree and the energy and optimism we need to fill the spaces as we lose so many species to climate change.
The sound composition was created by Eleanor Hooper and Kate Griffin, and together makes a very moving 12-minute experience.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Let’s Play – Croquet
Daily from 22 Jul to 5 Aug. 10am – 4pm
Head out into Tyntesfield Estate to discover the many ways to play at Tyntesfield. Stop by the croquet lawn to join an iconic Victorian Game set against the backdrop of Tyntesfield House.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Echoes from the Aviary
Daily to 31 Jul. 10am – 5.30pm
Colour, collage and sound are filling the aviary this spring. A group of young people from Hartcliffe have been working with artists Oshii and Jono Gilmurray to create a sound and visual art installation for Tyntesfield’s aviary. The group explored the history of the building and the bird life that would have inhabited it. They also delved into the significance of birds to Tyntesfield’s wider history and how the mining of seabird droppings (guano) for fertilizer made William Gibbs his fortune. The final artwork not only explores these histories but encourages us to learn from them and think about how we can look after nature and our birdlife in future. Echoes from the Aviary is a collaboration between the National Trust and Heart of BS13 and is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Price: Free (normal admission applies). Booking not required.
Summer of Play with the National Trust
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/family-friendly
From 21 July
Discover a world of adventure and play this summer across many National Trust places in the South West. There'll be lots of fun for you and your family from lawn games, such as quoits and skittles, to den-building, arts and crafts to pop up sports days, costumes and role play to giant Jenga, there is something for everyone.
Price: Free, normal admission prices apply. Booking not required.
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