Wednesday 9^th May 2018 – Oxford

To begin our day we will have private guides to take us on a walking tour of the city. Oxford is well known as ‘the city of the home of the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period since the late Saxon period.  It is also known as the “city of dreaming spires” a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold.’

Included in this tour is a visit to New College. Despite its name, New College is one of the oldest of the Oxford Colleges, founded in 1379 by William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester.  It is one of the main choral foundations and is one of the wealthiest and most visited colleges in Oxford University.

We will then go to the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology which is the world’s first University museum erected 1678-1683. Here we will have lunch in the lecture theatre followed by a private lecture, not available to the public, on the history of the museum and its collections. We finish the day with free time to explore the museum.

Ticket price £40

Tickets will be on sale one hour before both lectures on 7^th March 2018.

Photo by DAVID ILIFF. © Copyright. Used under Licence: Creative Commons by SA 3.0

Wednesday 15^th August 2018 – Woburn Abbey

We will start the day with coffee before private guides take us round the Abbey.

Woburn is a country house and the family seat of the Duke of Bedford and is still the family home to the current Duke. It has historic landscape gardens and a deer park. Woburn Abbey, comprising Woburn Park and its buildings, was set out and founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1145. Today the building is listed in the highest category of architecture at grade 1.

The art collection is amongst the finest in private hands and encompasses a wide range of western artwork. The holdings comprise some 250 paintings, including works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Canaletto and Velasquez. Moreover, the collection encompasses examples of the most impressive manufactures of furniture, French and English in many periods, and a diverse and amazing collection of porcelain and silverware.”

A two course lunch is then followed by time to view the gardens, exhibitions, pottery and gift shop.

This is an excellent opportunity to see Woburn before it is shrouded in scaffolding for some time to come.
Ticket price £55 for concessions over 60
Full price £56.50

Tickets will be on sale one hour before the lectures on 2^nd May 2018

Click here for more details of Woburn Abbey on their website