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Enjoy a summer of fun packed activities at The Bowes Museum this year.

With a fantastic family exhibition, superb summer school and lots of arts and craft activities both in the grounds and in the gardens there's something to delight everyone at the Barnard Castle based Museum in the coming months.

The adventures of Clara has opened with fun rhino fact packed trails inside and outside the Museum, there are loads of free craft events happening in the grounds every week throughout the school holidays as well as artist led painting and sketching lessons, wellness sessions and the return of the fantastic Museum Late events, this year with a continental holiday at home theme, and much, much more.

Meet Clara, once the most famous rhinoceros in the world, at The Bowes Museum this summer!

See, hear and even smell what life was like for her as the Museum retells the adventures of Clara through fun packed trails with lots of fascinating rhino facts as well as information on how to preserve the species for the future, as the Museum has teamed up with the charity Helping Rhinos, and the chance to come face to face with a life sized rhino model too!

Pick up a passport and sticker sheet to discover how she left her home in India and travelled to Europe, where she created a sensation and was greeted by cheering crowds where ever she went, inspiring paintings, poems, songs and sculptures, just like the Museum's very own white marble statue, to be created.

The adventures of Clara has trails both inside the Museum and in its surrounding parkland as well as free craft events taking place each week throughout the school summer holidays in the gardens too.

The adventures of Clara is open from Saturday 17 July up to, and including, 31 October 2021.

The very best examples of a traditional art form handed down through the generations and seeing a huge resurgence in popularity today are on display in The Bowes Museum.

North Country Quilts: In Celebration of New Acquisitions is open until 9 January 2022 and features more than 25 exquisite wholecloth, strippy, pieced and star quilts as well as templates and wholecloth quilt tops.

This stunning exhibition is testament to the living tradition of quilting and marries the past and present of the craft, bringing together historic and contemporary quilts, with fascinating stories, from across the North of England that have been acquired by the Museum in the last 20 years.

 

The Bowes Museum is delighted to unveil its new look Cafe Bowes complete with a brand new delicious seasonal menu featuring lots of high quality locally sourced ingredients.

The Teesdale based interior designers Brown & Baxter refurbished the space creating a timeless classic French style, that makes you feel welcome from the moment you walk through the door with its relaxing, calm ambience.

Head Chef Ben Parnaby has been joined in the kitchen by Second Chef, Dawn Gibson, and between them they have over 30 years of experience working in top hotels and restaurants.

Cafe Bowes is free to visit without having to pay a Museum admission charge.

 

Come and join in the fun at The Bowes Museum this half term holiday.

With talks, tours, trails, tricks and tips there's something for everyone of all ages to enjoy taking part in.

The excitement starts on the weekend of the 29th and 30th of May, when you can pick up a kit to create a windchime to bring the sound of music to the gardens or find out the secret behind making a stunning wholecloth quilt.

Our Young Curators will be in action throughout the week, giving tours and talks with an insight, from their perspective, into the collection.

We'll be hosting yoga and meditation in the grounds, alongside many other events both inside and outside the Museum, including a Magical Super Saturday too.