National Trust

Your guide to What's On this weekend

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Fri, 03/04/2016 - 10:06pm

Your essential guide to what’s on in and around Exeter this weekend (4-6 March 2016).

THEATRE

Betrayal Friday & Saturday, Northcott Theatre, Exeter Emma is married to Robert. But for seven years, she’s been having an affair with Jerry, Robert’s best friend. Betrayal begins at the end of the affair, and pursues an enthralling journey to its very beginnings. As memory reels backwards towards the moment the affair started, the lies tangle into a web of deception. Is Emma betraying her husband? Is Jerry betraying his best friend? Or are they all betraying themselves. https...

Secret Supper Club to open at Killerton

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Mon, 02/29/2016 - 1:26pm

Killerton’s Kitchen Restaurant, situated inside the Georgian mansion near Exeter, is to celebrate home-grown ingredients and local cooking talent by throwing open its doors to a new Secret Supper Club.

The fine-dining restaurant, which won Gold in last year’s Taste of the West awards, will open late on the first Wednesday of the month from 2 March until December. Diners can look forward to dishes like venison terrine, pork tenderloin and chilli chocolate fondant made from local produce grown on and around the National Trust estate.

The changing seasonal menus will include...

Fashion to dye for: Vintage designer pieces show how colour shaped style and status

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Fri, 02/19/2016 - 10:21am

A rainbow of vintage and designer pieces, ‘toxic’ colours and dye recipes are set to be revealed from one of the National Trust’s largest fashion collections. The latest exhibition, Fashion to dye for, has opened its doors to invite people into the wardrobe and discover how colours, dyes and design shaped fashion history. From a 50’s red silk gown (said to have belonged to Princess Margaret), a 1960s shirt by Pucci, a skirt suit by Bernat Klein and an early Laura Ashley dress, the collection brings to life how colour can reveal much about the wearer and also looks into the origins, status...

Fashion to dye for

Event Date: 
29/10/2016 - 10:00am to 30/10/2016 - 5:00pm
Venue: 
Killerton House, Broadclyst, Exeter

A rainbow of vintage and designer pieces, 'toxic' colours and dye recipes are set to be revealed from the National Trust's largest fashion collection. From Saturday 13 February, Killerton's latest exhibition 'Fashion to dye for', will be opening its doors to invite people into the wardrobe to discover how colours, dyes and design shaped fashion history. From a 50's red silk gown (said to have belonged to Princess Margaret), to a 70's blue denim jacket and flares and a young boys red dress - colour can reveal much about the wearer. The collection brings to life how colour can reveal much...

63% more plants blooming in 2016 Valentine’s Flower Count

The snowdrop has been voted the top spring flower for the third year running in the South West, with the gardens at Stourhead, Lanhydrock, Kingston Lacey and Cotehele being the most popular places to see spring blooms. National Trust Garden teams in the South West have recorded more flowers in bloom since 2008 in this year’s annual Valentine’s Flower Count, with nearly all gardens showing an increase in the amount of varieties of plants in bloom. In 2008 3,335 plants in bloom were recorded in Devon and Cornwall (where the flower count first started), marking the earliest spring so far...

New garden trail launched at Knightshayes

Families can travel all around the world this half-term at Knightshayes, following in the footsteps of intrepid Victorian plant hunters. With the launch of a brand new family trail, they can discover amazing trees, shrubs and flowers from all corners of the globe.

The Knightshayes garden passport trail takes families all around the beautiful woodland garden. From Chile to Australia and Taiwan to North America, explorers will have to find the passport stamp on each tree and add it to their own Knightshayes passport which they can collect visitor reception.

A brand new...

A rainbow of colour bursts into Killerton

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Mon, 02/08/2016 - 12:07pm

A rainbow of rare designer pieces, ‘toxic’ colours and secret dye recipes are set to be revealed as the National Trust delves into its wardrobe of over 20,000 pieces from Killerton’s fashion collection.

From 13th February, the latest exhibition, Fashion to dye for, will be opening its doors to invite people into the wardrobe and discover how colours, dyes and design shaped fashion history.

Would you risk your life in the name of fashion? If you think green is the colour to die for, find out how people used toxic arsenic to formulate a particular shade of green. If absorbed...

Playing around the trees at Knightshayes

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Mon, 02/01/2016 - 11:06am

Designs for a new play area at Knightshayes are to inject new life into four fallen trees which were the victim of some of the worst storm damage the National Trust estate has ever seen.

The designs, which include a tree house and tunnels bored into the trunks, will form a new natural play area looking to reintroduce risky play into a safe world.

For 150 years, the cluster of four oak trees towered over the gentle rolling Devon landscape at Knightshayes – until the high winds of in the winter of 2014 resulted in all four blowing down.

Three came down in one night,...

Volunteers needed to defend Castle Drogo

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Thu, 01/28/2016 - 12:49pm

Castle Drogo is holding a volunteer open day on Saturday 6 February from 11am until 3pm for anyone who would like to find out more about getting involved.

This is the most exciting time in the history of Castle Drogo since its initial construction. After receiving funding in 2012 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Interreg, a European grant, the building project is now over half way. More volunteers than ever are needed to share the exciting interpretation that has been created.

Laurence Harvey, Volunteer Coordinator, says: “There are lots of opportunities at Castle Drogo,...

Repairing tiger ears and scraping paint at Knightshayes

Knightshayes is undergoing some important, though rather unusual, conservation work this winter including the repairing of a tiger’s ears.

Traditionally, National Trust properties are closed during the winter, but the team at Knightshayes feel it’s the perfect time to witness conservation first hand and discover new items from the collection. Over the next few months visitors will get to see a different side to the gothic mansion as staff and volunteers set about deep cleaning the rooms and collection. Although the team work hard to take care of the estate all year round, the most...

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