Introducing our Summer Vineyard guided tour with lunch and pig racing

Venue: Bluestone Vineyards in Cholderton

Time: 11am to 3pm

This is probably one of Wiltshire's best kept secrets and is an entertaining visit.

Choice of two tours including lunch and wine tastings.  Non alcoholic drinks can be offered as an alternative. 

Ticket Prices:

Members £35 for a Sip and Stroll tour.  1 hour stroll and lunch (non-members £37)

Members £43 for a Signature tour and tasting. 2 hour tour and guided wine tasting and lunch (non-members £45).

A cheese and charcuterie sharing lunch platter, filled with a delicious selection of locally sourced produce is included. If you would like a vegetarian or vegan platter, or have any dietary requirements, you can select this at the Ticket Tailor checkout or speak to Jill or Sheila at a lecture day.

Free entry to the Rare Breeds Farm next door is included. 

Sip and Stroll.

The experience begins at the Tasting Room, where our knowledgeable host will pour each guest a taste of Premier Cuvée to be enjoyed as you set off on a guided stroll through Three Acre Vineyard. Gain insights into Bluestone, the wines, and the essential activities of the current growing season. Midway through, we will try the Premier Rosé to enjoy whilst continuing your tour. Followed by lunch.

Signature Tour and Tasting.

Your experience begins with a tour of the vineyards. A leisurely stroll around the vineyards where you will learn about the highlights of the growing season and how, in our challenging climate, the vineyard produces premium grapes for sparkling wines that compete on the world stage.

Walk through individual parcels of the vineyard where our guide will explain the importance of their nuances, why each parcel behaves differently to one another and how they are managed accordingly.

Your experience finishes with a tasting in the vineyard barn.  As we conclude our tour we move onto a fabulous tutored tasting of the Sparking Classic Cuvee and Sparkling Cuvee Rose

Lunch Options

Both options include a cheese and charcuterie sharing lunch platter, filled with a delicious selection of locally sourced produce.  If you would like a vegetarian or vegan platter, or have any other dietary requirements you can select this at the Ticket Tailor checkout or speak to Jill or Sheila at a lecture day.

For more information please email salisbury@theartssociety.org 

or email Jill at eamesuk@gmail.com

For more information on the Vineyard please visit https://bluestonevineyards.co.uk/

How to book

Visit out ticket Tailor box office at the link below to book tickets for both members and non-members of The Arts Society Salisbury.

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theartssocietysalisbury

This new experience allows visitors to explore the rich history of textiles within the Cathedral. The tour includes altar frontals, wall hangings, and kneelers, giving attendees the chance to appreciate the detailed work up close. Some pieces date back to the 17th and 18th centuries and the tour will provide insights into their creation and historical significance.

Following the society's donation to the Burne Jones stained-glass window appeal, we have been offered discounted tickets for 2 guided textile trasures' tours - exclusively for our Arts Society members.

We're proposing two groups of 8 on Mondays in March:

2nd March at 2pm for 8 people

9th March at 2pm for 8 people

The tour lasts an hour and costs £8 per person (usually £16)

Please contact Jill on eamesuk@gmail.com  to book a ticket, stating which date you'd prefer. 

This new experience allows visitors to explore the rich history of textiles within the Cathedral. The tour includes altar frontals, wall hangings, and kneelers, giving attendees the chance to appreciate the detailed work up close. Some pieces date back to the 17th and 18th centuries and the tour will provide insights into their creation and historical significance.

Following the society's donation to the Burne Jones stained-glass window appeal, we have been offered discounted tickets for 2 guided textile trasures' tours - exclusively for our Arts Society members.

We're proposing two groups of 8 on Mondays in March:

2nd March at 2pm for 8 people

9th March at 2pm for 8 people

The tour lasts an hour and costs £8 per person (usually £16)

Please contact Jill on eamesuk@gmail.com  to book a ticket, stating which date you'd prefer. 

Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) is Hamlet in this fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

Tickets are still available for the Everyman Cinema in Salisbury's showing of Hamlet - the National Theatre's Live production.

Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) is Hamlet in this fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. Trapped between duty and doubt, surrounded by power and privilege, young Prince Hamlet dares to ask the ultimate question – you know the one. National Theatre Deputy Artistic Director, Robert Hastie (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Operation Mincemeat) directs this sharp, stylish and darkly funny reimagining.

Cast: Hiran Abeysekera

Director(s): Robert Hastie

Venue: Everyman Cinema, Endless Street, Salisbury.

11 of us are going so far - for a luxurious screening in their plush cinema.

Let's gather in the foyer by 12.40 as the film starts promptly a 1pm.

Flyers for Hamlet will be at the December and January meetings. Please see Jill at the front desk in the church hall.  

Please contact Jill Eames at the monthly meetings or on 07771511330 or eamesuk@gmail.com for further details.

Mompesson House, Cathedral Close, Salisbury

Meet at 11am 

​Please contact Jill Eames at the monthly meetings or on 07771511330 or eamesuk@gmail.com for further details.

George Herbert Walk - Tuesday 15 July at 11.00am 

Please note that previous information on the website was incorrect. The meeting time is 11.00am as per issued tickets

 Through Lower Bemerton led by Blue Badge Guide Georgina Haynes

Ticket price - £12

Although the story of Lower Bemerton begins in pre-history and is touched later by the Romans and  the Norman's, it is not until after the 17th century that the village achieves international fame  following  the actions of one man, George Herbert, one of England's greatest metaphysical poets and hymn writers. This gentle walk, led by local resident, guide Georgina Haynes, explores the remarkable converted Victorian St John's Church, the medieval St Andrew's Church and the garden of the Rectory with its Roman ford. Do join us for a memorable afternoon.

The last few tickets will be on sale at the July lecture - places are limited.

The walk will start at St Johns Place, Lower Rd, Bemerton, Salisbury SP2 9NP

This visit is now SOLD OUT

Bookings are being taken for a visit to Wilton House on Tuesday 20th May 2025.

Wilton House is the home of the 18th Earl and Countess of Pembrooke. The buildings and land were granted by Henry VIII in 1544 to the family. Major programmes of restoration and improvements continually take place and have included the addition of several new gardens and the complete renovation of the Inigo Jones South Front, including all the state rooms, the Dining Room and Wyatt Cloisters which received the HHA/Sotheby’s Restoration Award.

Visit details:

Maximum 15 tickets for this event

Members  - £19  (£16.50 for 65 and over) including tour, house and grounds.Non members £20

We have reserved tables in the café for tea afterwards.

Please meet by the entrance by 1.30 pm. Parking post code for sat nav SP2 0BJ

Wilton House, Wilton, Salisbury SP2 0BJ

To buy a ticket please email Jill Eames  -  eamesuk@gmail.com  (07771511330), who will send payment arrangements or book at the meeting on Tuesday 8th April.  

The date above is just the date this item was uploaded for info

Your committee is planning a varied programme of visits for 2025, which we hope will inspire you.  Nothing is set in concrete yet, but the outline plan is as follows:

Wilton House - private guided tour of the house and some of the artwork (May 2025)

Lawrence of Arabia in Wareham and Moreton, Dorset - guided visit (June 2025)

George Herbert in Bemerton - guided walk (July 2025)

Longford Castle - private guided tour (Aug/Sep 2025)

More details to follow as plans are confirmed.

Explore the timeless landscape and see the famous views sketched and painted around Salisbury by the great English artist, John Constable, between1811–1829 around Salisbury. Hear about his friendship with the Fisher family in the Cathedral Close and how Constable was inspired by Salisbury’s amazing heritage.  Guided tour by Blue Badge Guide.

Tickets £15

Meet outside Sarum College at 2pm

The New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park is a commercial gallery set in the rolling Wiltshire countryside, near Salisbury. Established in Sloane Street, London in 1958, the New Art Centre is a specialist in 20th and 21st-century art.

In 1994, the gallery moved from London to its current location at Roche Court, East Winterslow in Wiltshire with the house at Roche Court being originally built in 1804 for the family of Admiral Nelson. The park and woodlands which surround the house enable them to focus on exhibiting outdoor sculpture, making the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park a pioneer of the commercially-run sculpture park in the UK.

Since 1958, the gallery has championed showing young and emerging artists as its core ambition. Today, the gallery continues to show those artists who first exhibited with them decades ago. Now in mid- or late-career, they site those artists in the gardens and in the award-winning contemporary indoor spaces. 

Led by expert staff, the tour will run for two hours and cover the sculpture, exhibitions and architecture of the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park.

9 spaces remain (as at 20 July).   Cost £17.50 for tour including tea and cake.

Bugmore or “Boggy Moor” was a marshy area to the south of the city that for 300 years was the site of a large Franciscan Friary operated by the Grey Friars. Demolished by Henry VII and now only obliquely referred to in street names its former importance deserves our attention today. The area was also the site of a work house and a pest house used in bygone times to care for victims of epidemics such as plague, smallpox and cholera. Nearby can be seen an almshouse, a former catholic chapel and a medieval red light district. A Guided Walk September 12 at 2.00pm Tickets £12

Our visit to St Thomas’s  Church at 2pm on Tuesday 18th April will attempt to look at daily life, religion and politics in pre-reformation Salisbury in the late 15th century. A period of national change and upheaval that impacted on the citizens of Salisbury.

We shall try to access this culture through the prism of the great Doom or Judgement painting on the church’s chancel arch. Today, this remains one of the finest examples of the genre to be seen anywhere in the United Kingdom. It is an artistic gem of national importance of which we should be immensely proud.

First and foremost it is a direct message from the Catholic church  to its followers  laying out the consequences of  individual’s  repentance  or non repentance of their sins. The choice is presented  between  the  entrance into the joys of the Kingdom of  Heaven or existence in the eternal damnation of  the fires of hell.

But some historians argue there is another message presented by the painting, a political one, involving local bishops and merchants. You will be able to judge the merits of this proposition for your self during the visit. Don’t  miss it!

Tickets at £12 are available from David Richards at the St Francis Church lectures on the 14th February and 14th March.

The tour begins in the Market Place before a gentle stroll along ancient streets of this charming small town. We glimpse many aspects of its history, architecture and everyday life before an in-depth examination of the splendid Victorian Italianate Church.

 Some of the people and events described in the walk include:

- King Alfred and the Viking terror

- The Abbey, King Edgar & St Edith

- A leper Queen’s ghost

- A friend of Florence Nightingale

- An American Ambassador in Wilton 

- And even a set of Dragon’s teeth!

Fisherton was here before Salisbury’s foundation in 1220. It is the story of a simple Saxon settlement that spans the Millennium. Pillaged by a Viking warlord and occupied by the conquering Normans this was and is a private place, unvisited and overlooked. Its ancient church of St Clements has vanished but its hidden churchyard remains as one of Salisbury’s best kept secrets that you will explore on this walk. Nearby, Constable painted one of his ethereal views of Salisbury Cathedral. By contrast and a few yards to the north are visible the stark remains of a brutal gaol with its echoes of Protestant martyrs and protesting farm labourers. A few yards to the west lies Isambard kingdom Brunel’s splendid, albeit train free, station, the scene of our first rail disaster. Not far away is Salisbury’s second biggest building and another designed by John Wood the Younger… now where are they? Fisherton may be forgotten but its voices still span the centuries and give us a glimpse of our distant past.

Portsmouth Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Sea, has for centuries watched, listened and helped the people of Portsmouth navigate the passage of time. It has witnessed wars and peace, famous marriages, been bombed and rebuilt and remains a building of greatness and simple enduring beauty.

Our visit to Portsmouth will start in the morning at the The Land Gate where we shall meet our guide who will take us through Old Portsmouth close to the route that Nelson took the day he left England for the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

There will be a break for lunch at extra cost so some may wish to bring a picnic.

In the afternoon a Portsmouth Cathedral guide will show us around  the Cathedral.

The tour will start at Wilton Park & Ride where you can leave your car all day. Our coach will give an opportunity for Arts Society members to chat on the way to Portsmouth. Ticket cost of £30 will include transport and two guided tours.

Salisbury's Hidden History

An Exploration of the Rich Visual Heritage of the City's Highways and Byways

Salisbury is a medieval city whose citizens from earliest times have invested in decorative and fine arts to enhance their city and demonstrate their prosperity to the world at large. Homes, businesses and civic buildings display an extraordinarily rich array of decorative and fine art from the distant past to the present. The decorative art still visible includes works of carved wood & stone, plaster work, iron, glass and heraldic images. The fine art includes uniquely beautiful buildings, statues and paintings.

Decorative Art

One of the most eye catching heraldic images is the golden, glittering double headed eagle on the Guildhall.  The Odeon façade is covered in an abundance of images of strange and mythical creatures like the wyvern and the griffin. Elsewhere in the city are fine examples of decorative iron work like the massive gates, embellished with acanthus leaves, on the library.  Salisbury’s only carved stone image of Stonehenge will be shown.

Fine Art

Architecture is a fine art and provides the largest number of examples in the city. Buildings like Richardson’s Wine Store was based on a palazzo from Venice’s Grand Canal.  Banks have references to classical temples and Renaissance architecture.  The original Wilts & Dorset Bank has a magnificent sculpture with two elegant ladies: one holding a lamb and the other holding a horn of plenty The whole is topped with a wheatsheaf proclaiming the bank’s suitability for farmers. Art in the service of commerce.

Our War Memorial with a huge bronze lion, bronze lamps and bronze fencing, is of national importance.

Statuary is well represented in Salisbury:  Statues of Henry Fawcett, King Edward VII and The Walking Madonna are of exceptional quality.

Painting is represented by one of England’s finest medieval wall paintings, The Doom Painting in St Thomas’s Church.

Join this walk with a Blue Badge Guide and be amazed at the richness and variety of decorative and fine art still visible throughout our wonderful city.

Meet outside Salisbury Information Centre at 10.30 am.

Guided visit Breamore House and admission to museum followed by a guided visit to Breamore Church

In the morning we shall have a private tour of the house.

Corsham Court is an English country house in a park designed by Capability Brown. It is in the town of Corsham 3 miles  west of Chippenham and is notable for its fine art collection, based on the nucleus of paintings inherited in 1757 by Paul Methuen from his uncle, Sir Paul Methuen, the diplomat.

In the afternoon we shall visit Corsham Almshouses.

This is a most attractive and unique complex of 17th Century Almshouses, Schoolroom, Warden's House and Stables. The Schoolroom has original 17th Century furniture and Exhibition Room. Being beautifully eautifully restored, it maintains many original features.

The tour begins in the Market Place before a gentle stroll along ancient streets to tell the story of this charming small town. We glimpse many aspects of its history, architecture and everyday life before an in-depth examination of the Victorian Italianate Church.

The church’s founders in the 1840s, a Russian countess and her son, an English aristocrat, after visiting  Italy, created a church enriched with 2000 year old Roman pillars, exceptional medieval glass, Cosmati work, monuments old and new, 17C wood and 19C stone carving and fine metal work. In the 20th century, glittering Byzantine-style mosaics were added to complete one of the finest (and rarest) evocations of Italian Romanesque church architecture and art in Britain today.

This walk opens a window on a thousand years of culture through which Wilton evolved to where it is today and in so doing also hints, perhaps, at its future.

We shall visit the Ashmolean Museum in the morning.

The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, founded in 1683. The world famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time.

The Ashmolean’s collections are extraordinarily diverse, representing most of the world’s great civilisations, with objects dating from 8000 BC to the present day. Among many riches  are the world’s greatest collection of Raphael drawings, the most important collection of Egyptian pre-Dynastic sculpture and ceramics outside Cairo, the only great Minoan collection in Britain, outstanding Anglo-Saxon treasures, and the foremost collection of modern Chinese painting in the Western world.

We shall visit the Pitt Rivers Museum in the afternoon.

The Pitt Rivers Museum displays archaeological and ethnographic objects from all parts of the world and all time periods. It is truly a global museum. The museum is also a teaching and research institution and the curators are also university lecturers in either cultural anthropology or prehistoric archaeology.

Tickets £22

Travel by coach to the centre of one of England's most attractive cities. A local Blue Badge Guide will take us on an historic stroll through streets of elegant Georgian buildings and ancient churches. After lunch (not included) there will be a custom made tour of Chichester Cathedral with especial emphasis on its art. Ticket £26

A superb setting for modern and contemporary sculpture with a special exhibition of Barbara Hepworth's work. Afterwards relax with a sponge cake tea in the garden Ticket £11

This walk through the City of Salisbury examines the inspiring 800 year journey of Magna Carta from tyranny to democracy in England. We shall see how the liberty of Salisbury people was affected by harsh Norman Kings, powerful Bishops, cruel civil wars, severe punishments, a Rotten Borough and unjust laws. Tickets £7

Join us for a gentle stroll around this charming town. We will pay a brief visit to Sherborne Abbey, have a guided tour of St John’s Almshouse & its fine triptych and view the exterior of Sherborne School. Finally an examination of the history and buildings of Old Sherborne.

The Merchant’s House is the iconic three hundred and fifty year old jewel in Marlborough’s famous High Street. Built and occupied by prosperous silk merchant Thomas Bayly after the Great Fire of Marlborough in 1653, it contains nationally acclaimed wall paintings and decorative features, and is being restored by a charitable trust. This is an outstanding visitor destination for anyone interested in fine old buildings and the craftsmanship needed to create and restore them. There is a stylish shop, and a recently recreated garden in the style of the 17th century. The garden was completed in September 2007 and opened by Sir Roy Strong, distinguished art historian and writer, one of the patrons of the Merchant’s House. Designed by garden designer Jeffrey Galvin-Wright, and constructed by Hillier Landscapes, the garden is a reconstruction, in the spirit of the 17th century, of a Town House garden, owned by an affluent silk merchant and his family, who rebuilt the original Merchant’s House after the Great Fire of Marlborough in 1653. New Sarum DFAS Marlborough Visit Tuesday 9 July 2013 09.50 Meet at Merchant’s House, 132 High Street SN8 1HN 10.00 Merchant’s House tour begins. 11.15 Marlborough Walking tour begins. 12.45 Lunch (not included) 14.15 Reassemble at St Peter’s Church, High Street 14.30 - 15.30 Marlborough College tour Information: david@dhr.org.uk Tickets £20

Devizes Guided Walk & Museum Visit £7

Precise details of this visit, with an estimated cost of £30, will be available early in 2012.