Discover how the art of book illustration flourished in Britain from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. From the first forays of the Pre-Raphaelites into illustration, Walter Crane's toy books, Edward Burne-Jones at William Morris's Kelmscott Press, as well as Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and many more – including people like Charles March Gere and Maxwell Armfield who worked here in the Cotswolds. This talk will uncover the new trends in art, design and technology that led to this flowering of excellence. It was an exciting time of experimentation on the one hand and lavish productions on the other - we'll explore this fascinating period when book illustration became a high art in and of itself.

This illustrated talk by Kirsty Hartsiotis is linked to Stroud Book Festival

• Event takes place in the Museum’s meeting room next to the art gallery.

• Duration approximately 45 minutes to one hour.

• Tea and coffee included.

Tickets £7 (£5 for Museum in the Park Members)

Booking required. Book online or call 01453 763394

Image: ‘She went along, and went along, and went along’ by Arthur Rackham for English Folk Tales by Flora Annie Webster Steel (Macmillan and Co., 1922)

A talk exploring the the Art School and Nurturing Creativity, Heritage & Innovation in Contemporary Metal Arts Education.

Del Done MBE, CWCB, is Head of the School of Materials and Design and Course Leader for BA(Hons) Artist Blacksmithing, has an MA in Forged Metal Arts, and an MA Contemporary Crafts. She is a globally renowned scholar and educator, deeply rooted in the discipline of forged metal arts and crafts. We are delighted to welcome her to Stroud and invite you to join us.

After the talk there will be an opportunity to ask questions, share ideas and discuss today’s challenges for young people and educators.

Tea and cake at 4.30pm, talk starts at 5pm.

For teachers, teaching assistants, artists, activists, makers and anyone passionate about the importance of hands-on creative crafts and arts and crafts education.

Free but booking required. Book online or call 01453 763394 

Part of the Earth Fire Iron programme.

We are delighted to welcome back inspiring speaker Kirsty Hartsiotis who will be giving three talks this season. The first: ‘When we were little lads’: William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, the Friendship of a Lifetime

From the moment they bonded over bad accommodation at Oxford University, William Morris and Ned Jones were firm friends. They came from very different backgrounds – Morris had never wanted for anything, but Jones’ family was poor – but their shared love of medieval literature and art bound them together. Over the more than 40 years of their friendship they weathered personal storms, tragedies and political disagreements to create beautiful art and craft, collaborating on book design, stained glass and many other decorative projects. This talk charts the peaks and troughs of Topsy and Ned’s long and fruitful friendship, some of it right here in the Cotswolds!

• This talk takes place in the Museum’s meeting room next to the art gallery.

• Duration approximately 45 minutes to one hour.

• Tea and coffee included.

Tickets £7 (£5 for Museum in the Park Members)

Booking required. Book online or call 01453 763394

Image: Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris © National Portrait Gallery, London

Join Hector Coles MBE to explore the fascinating topic of archaeological ironwork (including examples from the medieval period). Hector is an internationally renowned Arrowsmith and Archaeological Ironworker. We are privileged indeed to welcome him to Stroud.

Free but booking required. Donations welcome. Book online or call 01453 763394 

Part of the Earth Fire Iron programme.

‘Good workmanship with happy thought’

Arts and Crafts expert Mary Greensted explores the fascinating history of Ernest Gimson’s metalwork and Cotswold Arts & Crafts traditions. Gimson (1864-1919) is best remembered as a furniture designer and architect but his metalwork designs were inspirational. He set up a smithy in Sapperton where the young men he employed produced useful and beautiful work under his guidance for use in the home and churches.

Free but booking required. Donations welcome. Book online or call 01453 763394.

Part of the Earth Fire Iron programme.

It’s a subject many of us love to talk about – the weather! But how do forecasters make their predictions? And what role do mathematical equations play in forecasting models?

Dee Atkins-Greig is a maths and meteorology tutor and a certified coach. Her early meteorological career was as a forecaster with the Royal Navy before she later became a weather presenter for BBC South on TV and local radio.

Dee joins interviewer Jo Durrant to share her passion for this subject, discussing everything from how storms are named to what constitutes a heatwave, and her favourite clouds. Plus, she’ll reveal some of the behind-the-scenes secrets of TV weather presenting.

Dee is a maths tutor, meteorology enthusiast, and ICF-trained coach. She began her career as a Royal Navy forecaster before moving into BBC local TV and radio as a weather presenter. She later became an instructor at the Met Office College and was partly responsible for the training of Tom Schafernaker and Chris Fawkes among other BBC weather presenters. After retraining as a secondary maths teacher and a short stint as a classroom teacher, Dee moved to Warsash Maritime Academy where she taught GCSE level maths and meteorology to Merchant Navy deck cadets. Now, as a dedicated maths and meteorology tutor, Dee helps students build confidence and develop independent learning skills. 

She is passionate about weather and clouds and is on a one woman mission to educate the world on how to get the best from their weather app!

This event is part of Jo Durrant’s ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ series and takes place in the Pavilion in the Museum's beautiful Walled Garden. Tea and coffee included and there will be a chance to ask questions or share ideas after the talk if you so wish. 

Tickets £7 / £5 including tea and coffee. Museum Members can bring a guest for free - look out for our ‘2 for 1’ ticket offer. Book online or call 01453 763394.

She’s one of England’s most famous monarchs, but queenship was by no means certain for Elizabeth I. Before she was three years old she had been a princess and then declared illegitimate following the brutal execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn. Many dangers and tragedies plagued her early life and by the time she did succeed to the throne in November 1558, she’d experienced more drama than most at the age of just 25.

Dr Nicola Tallis explores all of this turbulence and more in her book ‘Young Elizabeth’. Nicola is a historian and author who has also written about the lives of Lady Jane Grey and Margaret Beaufort. She joins Jo Durrant to talk about the longest reigning Tudor and some other incredible women from history.

Dr Nicola Tallis is an independent author and historian, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has worked as a curator, researcher, and lecturer, and specialises in the use of jewels in late medieval and Tudor England. Nicola has spoken at many prestigious events and venues including the Emirates Festival of Literature, the Tower of London, Hampton Court, and the National Archives. She has made numerous television and radio appearances, including on BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?, Channel 5’s The Vikings and The Gunpowder Plot, and Channel 4’s Frankie Boyle’s Farewell to the Monarchy. Nicola is the author of five books, and her latest, Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen. was Book of the Week in The Times.

This event is part of Jo Durrant’s ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ series and takes place in the Pavilion in the Museum's beautiful Walled Garden. Tea and coffee included and there will be a chance to ask questions or share ideas after the talk if you so wish. 

Tickets £7 / £5 including tea and coffee. Museum Members can bring a guest for free - look out for our ‘2 for 1’ ticket offer. Book online or call 01453 763394.

Fancy a whistle stop history tour, taking in all the big moments from the Romans to the two World Wars? But featuring individuals you might not have met before?

Award-winning history teacher, writer and historian Shalina Patel is the creator of the sensational Instagram account @thehistorycorridor, which posts bite sized history lessons. In her book ‘The History Lessons’ she invites you to reclaim your history education, by celebrating stories and people that are less familiar but no less fascinating.

Shalina Patel has over 15 years of experience in the classroom and is Head of Teaching and Learning at Claremont High School Academy in London. In 2018 she won the Silver Pearson Teaching Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year. She has been featured in publications from the Guardian to The Times and on programmes like BBC Woman’s Hour, BBC’s Teach Me a Lesson and Newscast. Shalina’s first book ‘The History Lessons’ was released in May 2024 and was heralded by the Guardian as aiming to ‘show adults their historical blind spots’ by ‘highlighting stories traditionally left out of the textbooks.

Tickets £7 / £5 including tea and coffee. Museum Members can bring a guest for free - look out for our ‘2 for 1’ ticket offer. Book online or call 01453 763394.

In this talk local historian Chas Townley explores the construction in 1837 of Stroud Workhouse, in response to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, when individual parish responsibility for paupers was handed to poor law unions. As well as providing basic shelter for destitute workers and their families, it also provided institutionalised care for disabled people and the sick and infirm for just over a century.

In 1937 the majority of occupants were chronically sick, infirm or disabled and the building also served as Stroud's maternity ward. Many workhouses of this period were soon to be incorporated into the NHS, but the fear and stigma of the workhouse often remained in the minds of the older generation. In the case of Stroud, in 1939, after a decade of indecision with no replacement in sight, it was declared unsafe and closed.

Part of the At The Margins exhibition programme.

FREE but booking recommended as spaces are limited - book online or call 01453 763394.

How did Gladys’ Leap in Cranham get its name? What was the real Rosie from ‘Cider With Rosie’ like? And why did George Holloway have a huge impact on Stroud?

Find out with travel writer, broadcaster, and author of ‘Glorious Gloucestershire’, Mark Cummings. His book takes you on a journey around the county, exploring literary links, world-changing innovations, quirky place names and much more.

Mark will be in conversation with Jo Durrant, to talk about the book, his love of Gloucestershire and will have plenty of Stroud stories for you too.

This event is part of the new ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ series - special guests in conversation with Jo Durrant. The Museum, Gallery and Walled Garden will be open from 7pm to 9pm giving you a chance to enjoy exploring in the peaceful after-hours.

Tickets £7 (£5 for Museum in the Park members - free to join) Drinks included

Booking recommended - book online here or call 01453 763394

“He was not for age, but for all time” is what Ben Jonson famously said of William Shakespeare. But how did Shakespeare’s contemporaries, such as Jonson, Christopher Marlowe and John Fletcher influence him?

In his book ‘Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers’ author and lecturer Dr Darren Freebury-Jones uses the latest techniques in textual analysis to provide a fresh look at the community of playwrights that shaped Shakespeare’s work.

On the Bard’s birthday, join Darren in conversation with Jo Durrant as he talks about his passion for early modern drama and why over 400 years on from his death, there are still new stories to uncover about the person many consider to be the greatest playwright of all time.

Tickets cost £7 or £5 for Museum in the Park Members - Membership is free to join.

Booking required. Book online here or call 01453 763394.

Exquisite Embroideries to Glittering Glass: The Work of Women Artists in Cotswold Churches

Join Kirsty Hartsiotis to explore the history of women's work in the churches of the Cotswolds. 

Women’s work has always been in our churches, but never more so than in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Sometimes we don’t know their names – but they’ve executed countless banners, vestments, and altar frontals as part of their work for their local churches. It’s not only church flowers and kneelers though! The growing emancipation of women in the latter part of the 19th century allowed them to set up in business, going into areas that men thought they couldn’t – stained glass, wood carving, metalwork. After the First and Second World Wars, women produced intricate calligraphy for rolls of honour, carved memorials and created memorial windows.

We’ll discover work by women such as Theo Moorman, Veronica Whall, Mary Lowndes, Nora Yoxall and Nan Reid, among many unsung women whose work enriches our churches right up the present day.

Tickets: £7 / £5 including tea, coffee and biscuits

How do you tell a story through a photograph? 
Award-winning professional photographer Jack Boskett started his Tewkesbury based business at the age of just 19 and his passion for photography coincided with his love of railways. 
 
His work has brought him much acclaim and recognition in railway publications and his skill has led him to photograph stars of stage and screen, prime ministers and especially members of the Royal Family. In fact, Jack took the only known photograph of a senior member of the Royal Family leaning out of a moving train!
 
Join Jack in conversation with Jo Durrant as he talks about his passion for photography, the different areas he’s worked in, what it’s like to capture Royalty and Railways and much more. 
 
Jo Durrant is the award-winning presenter of the independent arts & science podcast ‘Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe’. She’s a highly respected and accomplished interviewer and event chair, and a familiar face at literature, history, and science festivals. For over 20 years Jo was a presenter, producer & reporter with BBC radio and interviewed hundreds of people, from Melanie C to Tim Peake. She is now freelance.
After a successful summer series in 2024, Jo returns to the Museum in the Park for a new monthly series of ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ conversations. 

Tickets £7 / £5 (2 for 1 offer for MiP Members) tea and coffee included.
book online or call 01453 763394 or buy tickets on the door

After his sold-out talk on the Purton Hulks, we are delighted to welcome back historian Paul Barnett, this time with a talk exploring different aspects of life and work in Gloucestershire during WW2. Digging for Victory, bomb damage in Painswick, American tents at Sharpness and much more - this fascinating talk takes a look across the county. 2025 marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War, giving us an opportunity to explore the history of that period and the changes that the war years set in motion. 

Tickets £5 including tea/coffee (2 for 1 offer for MiP Members)

Booking necessary - book online or call 01453 763394

From the early suffragette photographers to today’s activist artists, photography has been shown to be a powerful way for women raise awareness of social injustices and campaign against them. 

Join Del Barrett, curator from Hundred Heroines Museum, dedicated to women in photography, for a journey through the 20th century and discover how the medium has been used as a form of protest and, in many cases, how activism led to changes in legislation.

From the streets of Edwardian London to contemporary California via Nazi Germany, see how women have made an impact.  

Tickets £5. Booking required - book online here or call 01453 763394.

Image credit: Emmeline Pankhurst by Lena Connell. C. 1907, courtesy the National Portrait Gallery

The end of the 19th century and start of the 20th century saw significant progress in both photography and women’s emancipation.  And it is no coincidence that the two overlapped … 

Many of the women’s contributions to photography have been airbrushed out of the history of the medium or attributed to men. Join Del Barrett, curator from Hundred Heroines Museum, dedicated to women in photography, for an illustrated talk about the early feminist pioneers of photography and how we can put the record straight.

The talk’s title is the title of an essay by Frances Benjamin Johnson, published in 1897.

Tickets £5. Booking required - book online or call 01453 763394

Image credit: Self-Portrait of Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1896 courtesy Library of Congress

The MOD War Detectives are a small team who are tasked with identifying missing British service personnel from World War One, World War Two and the Korean War. Join Alexia Clark from the Ministry of Defence to find out more about this important work.

Tickets £5 including tea/coffee (2 for 1 ticket offer for MiP Members)

Booking necessary - book online or call 01453 763394

Join writer and photographer David Elder to hear more about his fascinating and beautifully illustrated new book, ‘Secret Stroud’. Delve into the lesser known history of the town, with a chance to ask questions and have your books signed after the talk. 

Copies of the book will be available to buy from the Museum Shop with a discount for ticket holder. Tea, coffee and biscuits included.

Tickets £5 (2 for 1 ticket for MiP Members - free to join - for joining details click here)

Booking necessary - book online or call 01453 763394

Guest speaker Helen Picton from Old Court Nurseries and the Picton Garden in Herefordshire shares stories of her gardens with a focus on snowdrops. Old Court Nursery is a family-run nursery, holding a Plant Heritage National Collection of Michaelmas Daisies among other delights. Helen says, ‘And in winter, the stars of the show at Picton Garden are the snowdrop collection.’ 

Snowdrops from Old Court will be for sale in the Walled Garden.

Talk ticket includes a cup of tea or coffee.

Tickets £7 / £5 MiP Member / £3.50 MiP Volunteer

Booking required. Book online here or call 01453 763394 leaving a message with your name, telephone number and number of tickets required.

Discover mysterious, funny and romantic Cotswolds tales - delving into the traditions of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Bath and much more! The Cotswolds spans the west of England from Bath in the south up to Chipping Campden in the north, from Woodstock in the east to Stroud in the west. We’ll be going as far back in time as King Bladud of Bath, explore a medieval love affair at Woodstock, dip into Tudor history in Bisley, be petrified at the Rollrights and discover what the mice were doing in Gloucester – and more! This talk by folklorist and storyteller Kirsty Hartsiotis explores the tales told by the folk in the region - taking in evil queens, greedy kings, flying monks, little folk, big cats and much, much more! Discover what makes the Cotswolds tick!

Tickets £7 (£5 Museum in the Park Members & Concs)

Tea & Coffee included

Booking required - book online or call 01453 763394

Illustration by Katherine Soutar

Commoners and Kings, Quarries and Cattle, Trees and Grasses, Knights and Ladies. All have played an important role in the past of Rodborough Common. In this talk, PhD researcher Sharon Gardham will delve into this rich history. Using documentary evidence as well as the clues left on the land itself, we will cover more than a millennium of history, beginning in the Iron Age, through the medieval period, to the present day. Come along and explore the ways that Rodborough Common has been (and continues to be) important to so many.

Talk lasts around 45 minutes to one hour, followed by tea and coffee.

Tickets £5. Booking recommended, book online or call 01453 763394

Travel around Great Britain with Kirsty discovering our most famous - and our strangest - ghosts in this seasonally spooky talk. Kirsty Hartsiotis will be delving deep into our collective British ghostlore in this talk to send shivers down your spine this Halloween season. From the strange happenings at Borley Rectory in Essex to the famous Cock Lane Ghost we’ll look at ghosts that may or may not have existed – and how the truth was uncovered. We’ll meet lost Roman legions, prehistoric spooks, villages busy with ghosts like Pluckley in Kent and Prestbury in Gloucestershire. We’ll discover royal ghosts from here in Gloucestershire right up to the highlands of Scotland and much more besides. There'll be grey ladies, hooded monks and phantom carriages galore - come along, if you dare!

Tickets £7 (£5 Museum in the Park Members & Concs)

Tea & Coffee included

Booking required - book online or call 01453 763394

Melanie Backe-Hansen is a historian, writer, and speaker, who specializes in researching the social history of houses throughout the United Kingdom. She is the author of three books, House Histories: The Secrets Behind Your Front Door (2011) and Historic Streets and Squares: The Secrets on Your Doorstep (2013), and A House Through Time – with David Olusoga (2020). She was a consultant on the television series of A House Through Time. She is a member of the Royal Historical Society and an honorary teaching fellow at the University of Dundee. If you’ve ever wondered what secret histories your house could tell, this event is for you! Books will be available to buy and have signed.

This event is part of Jo Durrant’s ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ series. The conversation will be followed by a chance to ask questions and share ideas if you wish, and enjoy hot and cold drinks and a wander around the Museum, Gallery or Walled Garden.

Tickets cost £7.50, or £5 for Museum in the Park Members (Membership is free to join).

Advance booking recommended – book online or call 01453 763394. For adults and ages 16+.

Lucy Jane is a writer, presenter, and historical consultant, and she specialises in health, beauty, and leisure and where they crossover. She is the author of ‘Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium’ and her new book is ‘Chain Reactions: A Hopeful History of Uranium’ which is out at the start of July this year. Tracing uranium's past, and how it intersects with our understanding of other radioactive elements, this book aims to disentangle our attitudes and to unpick the atomic mindset. Chain Reactions looks at the fascinating, often-forgotten, stories that can be found throughout the history of the element.

Copies of the new book will be available to buy and have signed.

This event is part of Jo Durrant’s ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ series. The conversation will be followed by a chance to ask questions and share ideas if you wish, and enjoy hot and cold drinks and a wander around the Museum, Gallery or Walled Garden.

Tickets cost £7.50, or £5 for Museum in the Park Members (Membership is free to join).

Advance booking recommended – book online or call 01453 763394. For adults and ages 16+.

On Christmas Eve 1983, along with one donkey, two dogs, two cats and seven chickens, artist and gardener Charlotte Molesworth and her husband Donald moved into their dilapidated cottage. Join us on the 11 August 2024 to hear Charlotte explain how over the next 40 years they created one of the UK’s most enchanting, creative and magical gardens from cuttings from family and friend’s.

Charlotte’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion on whether gardening should be considered an art form. The panel will include Charlotte Molesworth, artist Cleo Mussi, who designed the planting in the Walled Garden, and Fiona Haser Bizony, founder of Electric Daisy Flower Farm. There will also be a chance to view Cleo Mussi and Fiona Haser Bizony’s exhibition ‘Photosynthesis’ in the gallery space.

Doors open at 6pm giving you a chance to explore the Walled Garden.

Advance booking essential for this special event.

Tickets £25 (£20 for Museum in the Park Members)

Book online here or call 01453 763394.

Photograph of Charlotte Molesworth by Paul Wetherell

Dr Daisy Dunn is a classicist and award-winning author. Her first two books, ‘Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet’ and ‘The Poems of Catullus: A New Translation’, both published in 2016, led the Guardian to name her one of the country’s leading historians. Her new book, published in May, is called ‘The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through The Women Who Shaped It’.  While Penelope and Helen of Troy live on in the imagination, their real-life counterparts have been relegated to the margins. Daisy’s new book inverts this tradition and puts the women of history at the centre of the narrative.

Daisy’s new book will be available to buy and have signed.

This event is part of Jo Durrant’s ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ series. The conversation will be followed by a chance to ask questions and share ideas if you wish, and enjoy hot and cold drinks and a wander around the Museum, Gallery or Walled Garden.

Tickets cost £7.50, or £5 for Museum in the Park Members (Membership is free to join).

Advance booking recommended – book online or call 01453 763394. For adults and ages 16+.

Many years ago when Theo was a young student he said ‘Maybe I could have an exhibition at The Museum in the Park one day’ … Roll forward to 2020 and what turned out to be an aptly named solo show: ‘Lost In Time’ was a collaboration with the Museum focusing on the large and eclectic stored collection not on public display - exploring the beautiful, the slightly unsavoury and the frankly bizarre. Theo’s striking images offered a window into the surreal, unexpected world that the objects found themselves in – inviting us to look again at the world around us. Hear about Theo’s work and ideas, and see some of the ‘Lost in Time’ objects up close.

This event is part of Jo Durrant’s ‘Our Beautiful Universe’ series. The conversation will be followed by a chance to ask questions and share ideas if you wish, and enjoy hot and cold drinks and a wander around the Museum, Gallery or Walled Garden.

Tickets cost £7.50, or £5 for Museum in the Park Members (Membership is free to join).

Advance booking recommended – book online or call 01453 763394. For adults and ages 16+.

Come and join us as we look at nature, relationships, education and urban wildlife. Experienced educator Adrienne Robertson will share her experiences in making the natural world a classroom for teaching resilience and confidence to children. Rebecca Charley from Stroud District Council will motivate us about conserving and protecting the natural world helping to identify both urban spaces and wider landscape where nature can be given more room to thrive. This free event is part of the Activist Alphabet exhibition programme giving ideas on how everyone can play a part in helping protect and enhance the natural world.

Free, donations welcome, to book your place please call 01453 763394.

Inspiring to be able to join Osh Gates, knowledgeable and enthusiastic permaculture, for a talk all about soil, part of the Activist Alphabet exhibition programme. Osh is opening up new pathways with soil care. He can tell what the weeds in your garden are telling you about the state of the soil. He is passionate about creating a better environment for microbes, insects and mushrooms.

Free, donations welcome, to book your place please call 01453 763394.

Exciting to have TV director and presenter Robert Llewellyn (of Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge and the Fully Charged Show) opening our event series around climate, community, microbes and more. Robert will talk about how we could live in a different, more sustainable way. His expertise is on transport and energy production. This FREE event is linked to the ‘Activist Alphabet’ exhibition of prints and poems by local artist Christine Felce.

Free, donations welcome, please call 01453 763394 to book your place.