Join us for a 90 minute guided walking tour around Henley followed by a 2 hour boat trip with Hobbs of Henley.  

For more details and a booking form please click HERE. 

Why don't you join us all for lunch by the river ?  This is our annual summer lunch and this year we are returning to the Mediterranevm Restaurant at Bray.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.  

This is a self-drive visit to Dorneywood house and gardens.  The visit includes a guided tour of the house and an opportunity to explore the gardens, followed by an afternoon cream tea outside under a gazebo.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.

This is a two lecture special interest meeting.  Dr. Jonathan Foyle will give two lectures:  

1. A Paradise Garden - The meaning of medieval plants in art, and, 

2. The Nature of the Beast - Animals in medieval art.  

For detailed information go to our News section or click HERE.  

To view the flyer for the event please click HERE.  

Join us for a visit to the Turner and Constable EXhibition at Tate Britain.  We make our own way to Tate Britain to start the visit at 10:30 am on Thursday 5th February 2026.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.  

The Arts Society Englemere will hold its annual Christmas Lunch at The Windlesham Golf Club on Friday 5th December 2025.  Tickets from £58 per person.  

Enjoy a welcome drink on arrival, a three course lunch with tea or coffee and mince pies to follow.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.  

Join us for a relaxed summer lunch at The Talbot Inn.  Enjoy a welcome drink and a three course meal followed by tea or coffee.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.

Join us for a visit to Royal Holloway College on Wednesday 2nd July 2025.  

Travel independently to Royal Holloway College for a guided tour of the Founder's Building.  After a light lunch, provided as part of the visit, you can enjoy a talk on the paintings in the picture gallery with time to view the painting afterwards.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.

Join us for a visit to Stonor House, Gardens and Park on Wednesday 4th June 2025.  

Travel independently to Stonor House for a guided tour of the House in the morning.  After a light lunch, provided as part of the visit, you can enjoy a free flow visit of the gardens and grounds.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.  

A visit to The Watermill Theatre to see a matinee performance of Pam Gems' play 'Piaf'.  The visit also includes a two-course pre-show lunch with coffee/tea included.  

For further information and a booking form please click HERE

Join us for a guided tour of Spencer House on the morning of Monday 27th January 2025 and then a further guided tour of the Supreme Court in the afternoon.  

Travel independently to Spencer House for a coffee before the tour.  Afterwards take lunch in one of the many eateries around and then congregate at the Supreme Court for the guided tour.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE

Join us for a summer lunch by the river at the Mediterranevm restaurant, Bray.  Enjoy a selection of starters, choice of main course with desserts and coffee to finish.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.

We shall leave Ascot by coach to visit Kelmscott Manor where we shall be served coffee on arrival.  After a tour of the house we shall be served lunch and then we depart by coach for Buscot Park where we can enjoy a free flow vist.  

For further information and a booking form please click HERE.

We shall leave Ascot by coach to visit Penshurst Place and after a tour of the house we can walk to Penshurst village to see the church of St. John the Baptist and the Sidney family crypt.  

For further information and a booking form please click HERE.  

Join us to see and hear how this remarkable painter used and manipulated fashion to create portraits of the time which still captivate today.  

Travel independently to Tate Britain, welcome teas and coffee before a one hour introductory lecture.  Buffet lunch and then entry to the exhibition for the remainder of the time.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE

Join us with our guide, Stephen Burstin, on a walking tour around the area of Aldgate and Spitalfields.  This will be a sedate walk with plenty of breaks and opportunities to sit down along the way. 

For more information and a booking form please click HERE

We regret that we have had to cancel this visit because of lack of support.  We shall keep this visit destination in mind and re-instate it in the future if there is sufficient interest.  

Join us at 1:00 pm for a summer lunch by the river.  Enjoy a selection of starters followed by either rack of lamb or sea bream.  Dessert and coffee to finish.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE.  

Join us for a visit to Broughton Castle and Sulgrave Manor.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE

Please note that if you wish to come on this visit you must apply before Sunday 14th May.

The Watts Gallery and Artists' Village is an art gallery in the village of Compton, near Guildford, Surrey.  It is dedicated to the work of the Victorian era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts.  

We shall travel independently and meet at the gallery.  After refreshments we shall enjoy a guided tour of Limnerslease House before lunch.  After lunch we can visit the gallery in our own time.  

For more information, visit schedule and a booking form please click HERE.  

We shall leave Ascot by coach to visit Great Chalfield Manor; a beautiful medieval manor sitting in peaceful countryside.  We shall have time to enjoy the gardens and have a guided tour of the house.  

We then depart for Bowood House, home of the Lansdowne family since 1754.  There will be time for a snack lunch and then we can enjoy a tour of the house.  

For more information on the two houses, schedule and costs please click HERE.

Chavenage House was built in 1576 and since Tudor times only two families have owned it.  

Our visit includes a light lunch, a tour of the house by a member of the family and tea and cakes before we leave.  

For more information about the house, the visit schedule and a booking form and cost please click HERE.

Bateman's is an old sandstone house surrounded by gardens, farmland and rolling countryside.  A place where you can still feel the spirit of its former owner; Rudyard Kipling.  

Sissinghurst Castle was the home of Vita Sackville West and Harold Nicolson and they transformed it from a tudor prison/poor house into a wonderful eccentric home with a garden full of fabulous plantings and small discoveries.  

For more information and a booking form please click HERE

We join our guide, Andrew Davies, for a leisurely stroll around Westminster to enjoy river views, Whitehall Court, the Embankment Gardens, Dean's Yard and the Georgian village of Westminster.  

For further details of the walk and a booking form please click HERE

Join us for a live online virtual presentation of some of the treasures of the Borghese collection.  Our guide will be Stuart Harvey who is a qualified and licensed guide of Rome and The Vatican.  

For more information and joining details please click HERE

We have arranged for a talk by Frank Woodgate followed by a visit to the exhibition all at Tate Britain.  

For further details and a booking form please click HERE

Join us for a virtual walk through Old Lisbon with Marta, our local guide.  

For more details, times and joining instructions please click HERE.

Join us for a live online virtual presentation of some of the treasures of this collection.  Our guide will be Jane Choy-Thurlow, an Arts Society lecturer and a guide at the museums in The Hague.  

For more information and joining details please click HERE. 

Join us for a virtual walk through the centuries in one of the UK’s most beautiful cities taking in some hidden corners and quirky spots you might have overlooked before.  George VI said that the history of York is the history of England.  Join Sarah Cowling, our online guide in uncovering the many layers that make up this fascinating city.  Sarah is a Blue Badge Guide for London and Yorkshire and now lives permanently in her native county.  

For details of how to join please click HERE.

Join us in a real-time virtual walk around the Cannaregio area in Venice guided by Luisella Romeo (a fully qualified Venetian guide). Let her show you the secrets of this fascinating district. She will explain about the hidden places and piazzas of her much-loved city.  

A virtual walk on Zoom at 11:00

Joining details will be sent a few days before.  

For more details please click HERE.

Join us on your screen in the comfort of your own home as Blue Badge Guide Jackie Clare takes us on a virtual tour of Legal London at 2:30 pm

The Inns of Court, the Royal Courts of Justice and the surrounding area are the home of London’s legal profession. Discover a hidden warren of courtyards and squares, halls, churches and gardens. Learn how English law evolved over the centuries, and how it continues to influence the law in countries the world over.  

Details of the tour and how to join will be available nearer the time.

Located in the sunny paradise of southern Italy, Pompeii was sandwiched between lush vineyards and fertile plains to one side, and the bountiful waters of the Bay of Naples to the other.  When the ash from Mount Vesuvius began raining down on Pompeii in AD 79, people were engaged in typical day to day activities.  

See over 400 rare objects, including fine masterpieces of Roman art.  Everything from the exquisite mosaics and frescoes in the villas of the wealthy to the remains found in kitchen drains, show what the Pompeiians loved to eat and drink.  This remarkable exhibition provides an extraordinary insight into their everyday lives.  

For full details of this visit and a booking form please click HERE.

Our first stop will be a guided tour of Romsey Abbey founded over 1000 years ago; steeped in history with fascinating artefacts both ancient and modern.  Its interior is lofty and elegant belying its sturdy external structure.  

Then onwards to charming Mottisfont.  Set in gorgeous grounds with burbling streams and flower beds.  The house is a family home full of delightful rooms with echoes of genteel life before the war.  From a medieval priory to a Tudor manor, culminating in a family home between the wars.  

For details of the visit and a booking form, please click HERE.  

Highgrove is the home of HRH Prince Charles and is renowned for its ever evolving gardens.  These gardens were created by the Prince over the last 38 years.  As an important haven for a rich variety of flora and fauna, the gardens have been developed not only to please the eye, but to be in harmony with nature.  

We will make our journey there by coach.  For full details of this visit and a booking form please click HERE.

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is one of the finest Hindu temples in Europe.  The building is constructed entirely of Italian marble and limestone that has been designed and hand-carved in India before being shipped to the UK.  It has been described as one of the Seven Wonders of London and here is an opportunity to see it and learn a little bit about the Hindu faith whilst enjoying the marvellous architecture.  

We will make our journey there by coach.  For full details of this visit please click HERE.  

We have been able to re-book the visit to Waddesdon Manor and Christmas Fayre which was arranged for last year but cancelled due to localised heavy snowfall. 

Come and join us in a new adventure at Waddesdon Manor.  There is an International Christmas Fayre taking place with lots of opportunity to buy unusual Christmas presents from around the world.  We have arranged for a guided tour of the house, which will be beautifully decorated for Christmas and the visit culminates in a very special afternoon tea in the Menagerie.  

Built nearly 700 years ago and enlarged over the years to become a much-loved family home to the Singer family, Ightham Mote was the centre of a lively social scene including Ellen Terry and John Singer Sargent.  The moated house is set in delightful gardens in a secluded valley and retains much of its historic furniture and carving; each room having a story to tell.  

Knole Park houses a fine collection of art and furniture in its showrooms and is a base for NT conservation work.  It was also the home, at one time, of the Sackville-West’s whose private life was the talk of society.  The house is beside the town of Sevenoaks and is set in an extensive medieval deer park.  

The Arts Society Englemere in conjunction with The Arts Societies of Runneymede, Windsor Day, Windsor Evening, Ascot and The Windsor Festival will host a lecture in St George's Chapel, Windsor to celebrate 50 years of NADFAS / The Arts Society.  

St. George's Chapel: Its Origins and Inspirations

by Dr. Jonathan Foyle.  Lecture starts at 7:30pm

A visit to The Watermill Theatre to see 'Sweet Charity'.  The visit also includes a two-course pre-show supper with coffee/tea and mints.  

The first Christian church at Winchester was built in the 8th century and became known as the Old Minster.  Soon the Old Minster became a cathedral; seat of a bishop whose diocese stretched from the English Channel to the river Thames.  It was the most important royal church in Anglo-Saxon England and was the burial place for some of the earliest kings of Wessex, including Alfred the Great.  

All changed with the arrival of William the Conqueror who installed his own bishop who set about building a new church; the basis for the present cathedral.  In the centuries that followed, wealthy and powerful bishops put their stamp on the Norman cathedral.  They remodelled it with soaring gothic arches the 14th century, making it even more ornate in the 15th and 16th centuries.  By the early 16th century, much of the Cathedral you can see today was complete.  

Paul Cézanne is one of the most influential artists of the nineteenth century and his unique method of building form with colour and analytical approach to nature influenced the art of Cubists, Fauvists, and successive generations of avant-garde artists.  This major international exhibition brings together for the first time over fifty of Cézanne’s portraits from collections across the world, including works which have never been on public display in the UK. 

A lecture about the exhibition at 12:00 noon followed by free flow tour of the exhibition after 2:00pm.  Members to make their own arrangement for travel to and from The National Portrait Gallery.  

Come and join us in a new adventure at Waddesdon Manor.  There is an International Christmas Fayre taking place with lots of opportunity to buy unusual Christmas presents from around the world.  We have arranged for a guided tour of the house, which will be beautifully decorated for Christmas and the visit culminates in a very special afternoon tea in the Menagerie.  

The bus departs at 9:30am from near the Jaguar garage in Ascot High St.  After we arrive we will be given an introductory talk and a chance to have some coffee and a snack.  The tour of the house begins at 1:30pm and will last about 2 hours.  There will then be some free time to explore the  Christmas Fayre.  High Tea will be served in the menagerie at 5:00pm.  The coach will leave at 6:45pm and will aim to arrive back in Ascot at about 8:30pm

Leeds castle was described by Lord Conway as the loveliest of Castles.  Located in the shadow of the North Downs it was built on two islands in the River Len.  Originally a Royal Saxon manor of wooden construction, it was later raised in stone by a Norman baron in the reign of Henry I.  Owned by the Kings and Queens of England for 300 years it was later owned by the St Legers, Culpeppers and Fairfaxes.  Purchased by Lady Bailie in 1926 it became the Leeds Castle Foundation on her death.  

The Wallace Collection is one of the finest collections of art ever assembled by one family.  Five generations of collectors have each made their own special contribution.  This delightful house is crammed with the best of craftsmanship in painting, porcelain, glass, furniture, arms and armour.  This is the province of Dr. Tobias Capwell who spoke to us so eloquently about arms and armour in November last year.  There is something to excite everyone’s interest as you wander from room to room.  The tour will emphasise the particularly special pieces in the collection but you will find your own favourites hidden in the hoard!  

The Beaulieu estate was founded on land gifted to a group of Cistercian monks by King John.  With the dissolution of the monasteries it passed to a secular owner, Thomas Wriothesley, a direct ancestor of the present Lord Montagu and became a private home. The motor museum started in 1952 with a display of veteran cars by the Present Lord Montagu's father and shows models from the 1900s to the present day.  

Sheffield Park Garden is an informal landscaped garden laid out in the 18th century by Capability Brown.  The estate is mentioned in the Domesday Book; and in August 1538, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, entertained Henry VIII there.  By 1700, the Deer Park had been partially formalised with four lakes forming the centrepiece.  By 1885, an arboretum was being established, consisting of both exotic and native trees.  

From 1916, Charleston was the country home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and became the meeting place for the group of artists, writers and intellectuals known as ‘The Bloomsbury Set’.  Virginia and Leonard Woolf, E. M. Forster, Lytton Strachey and Roger Fry were frequent visitors.  Inspired by Italian fresco painting and the Post-Impressionists the artists decorated the walls, doors and furniture.  In addition to the house and artists' garden, there is an exhibition gallery showing a mix of contemporary and historical shows of fine and decorative art including work by Renoir and Picasso.  

A guided tour around the Cathedral followed by a free flow visit to the nearby Guildhall Art Gallery.  Travel by coach to and from Ascot. Own arrangements for lunch between the venues.  

Open to members only until 9th February, therafter guests of members may join if sufficient places are available.

Departs Ascot 08:00 hrs, homeward at 16:00 hrs.

An exploration of 1000 years of English history, art, architecture.  The Tour commences in Westminster Hall followed by both Houses.  This event will be hosted by our local MP - Adam Afriyie and lasts about 75 minutes.

Before lunch (not included) a visit to the small, but fascinating, Household Cavalry Museum.  The museum displays artefacts from the history of the Regiment formed from the Lifeguards and the Blues and Royals to guard British Monarchs.

The Coach leaves Ascot at 08:30, departs Millbank at 17:30.

Reserved places only

Finchcocks Musical Museum has a world famous collection of historic instruments set in a fine Georgian Manor.  Here are a collection of over 100 keyboard instruments; harpsichords, pianos, organs and many more.  There is an opportunity to try the instruments, explore the house and its grounds.

more information on:   http://www.finchcocks.co.uk/

Godinton House (pictured above) is set in a tranquil parkland setting with 600 years of history and contains an excellent country house collection of furniture, art, porcelain and curios.  A famous yew hedge surrounds the formal gardens divided into wild, Italian and walled sections.  Beyond are gardens which are full of colour and interest throughout the year.

more information on:    http://www.godintonhouse.co.uk/

Fenton House and Garden:  (pictured above) This handsome 17th Century (built 1686) merchant's town house is filled with a world class collection of ceramics, paintings, textiles, Georgian furniture and musical istruments.  The garden includes an orchard, kitchen and rose gardens, formal terraces and lawns.

From here, on a fine day, there are excellent views over London

Fenton House Website:

Keats House Museum:  A stunning Regency Villa (built 1814) where the poet John Keats lived from 1818 to 1820. This is the setting that inspired some of his most memorable poetry, including "Ode to a Nightingale".  Here, he fell in love with the girl next door - Fanny Brawne.  The house is a dedicated to poetry and contains many of Keats's original manuscripts and artefacts.

A programme of conservation work has been assisted by the Heriatge Lottery Fund and a grant from the Arts Council of England has recently helped to enhance the displatys and scope of the collection.

Keats House Website:

Construction for this seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales started in 1786, although it didn’t open until 1823. The architectural style is described as Indo-Saracenic Revival

One of the highlights of this trip will be the Mary Rose Museum, in addition to the HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

In 1681, Charles II commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to build this hospital for those 'broken by age or war', and it still continues to provide a home for old soldiers. The Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries’ Garden 1673, and is the second oldest botanical garden in Britain.