Morwellham is an award-winning attraction, just four miles west of Tavistock, which forms part of a World Heritage site, featuring an historic port, village, copper mine and railway on the banks of the River Tamar.  A highlight is the unique narrow-gauge Mine Railway which enables you to travel by train along the banks of the River Tamar before venturing deep underground in the George & Charlotte copper mine to experience the harsh working conditions of Victorian miners.

The coach departs from the Holman Way car park, Topsham, at 0900.am.  Please note that there will be no pick up in Budleigh Salterton.  We plan to return to Topsham at 5.00pm.

The cost is £46.00 pp.  Lunch is not included in the cost.

To book a place, please see the Visits Secretary (Sue Perry) at any lecture morning (she will be at the table on the right as you enter the Hall).  Alternatively, you can access a booking form by clicking here.

The cut off date is 24 April 2026.

THIS VISIT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED.

Castle Drogo On our way to Great Fulford, we will stop for lunch (not included incost) at Castle Drogo. There will some time for a bit of wandering around.  For non NT members, there is a fee of £16.50 to enter the Castle.  The cafe and grounds are free to enter.  You can find out more at this website:-

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/castle-drogo

Great Fulford Surrounded on all sides by its own private landscaped park, the house stands witness to 800 years of history. Never demolished and rebuilt, it has evolved with time. Great Fulford has been the home of the Fulford family since at least the 12th century.. The house includes some stunning Tudor panelling and a William & Mary period great staircase. Cream tea included in cost.

The coach departs from the Holman Way car park, Topsham, at 1030.am. Please note that there will be no pick up in Budleigh Salterton. We plan to return to Topsham at 1800.

The cost is £40.00pp. This covers Tea at Great Fulford as well as the coach. Lunch is not included in the cost. To book a place, please see the Visits Secretary (Sue Perry) at any lecture morning (she will be at the table on the right as you enter the Hall).

Alternatively, you can download a form using this link:-

https://theartssocietytopsham.org.uk/DocumentStore/Great%20Fulford%20booking%20form.pdf

The cut off date is 28th February 2026.

THIS VISIT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED.

THIS VISIT IS NOW FULL.

Cotehele boasts an atmospheric Tudor house with Medieval roots, a mill on a historic quay, a glorious garden with valley views and an expansive estate to explore.  (However, the site is only partially open on the day we visist.)

Every year Cotehele’s gardeners build a 60-foot garland from thousands of flowers grown on the estate. A tradition since 1956, the garland adorns the Great Hall throughout Christmas. The team of garden volunteers and staff make the garland over two weeks in November.  This will be one of the highlights of the visit.

You can find out more at this website:-

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cornwall/cotehele

The coach departs from the Holman Way car park, Topsham, at 0900.am. Please note that there will be no pick up in Budleigh Salterton. We plan to return to Topsham at 5.00pm.

The cost is £25.00 pp. For non National Trust members, there is also an entrance fee of £9.50.  Lunch is not included in the cost.

To book a place, please see the Visits Secretary (Sue Perry) at any lecture morning (she will be at the table on the right as you enter the Hall). Alternatively, you can download a form using this link:-

https://theartssocietytopsham.org.uk/DocumentStore/Cotehele%20booking%20form%20.pdf

The cut off date is 10th November 2025.

Merrivale Stone Rows, Princetown

Dartmoor is covered in fascinating prehistoric sites, and the stone row at Merrivale is one of the finest in the National Park. The monuments were probably built between 2500BC and 1000BC. However, you will learn much more on the visit as you will have a fully qualified guide!

Tavistock

Tavistock is a thriving, friendly market town. It is an ancient stannary town and home of the cream tea, Tavistock is the only town in Devon to hold world heritage status.  Not to be overlooked is the famous pannier market or the award-winning farmers’ market.  Your visit will be a guided tour of the town.

To whet your appetite, go to this site by clicking here.

The coach departs from the Holman Way car park, Topsham, at 0900.am. Please note that there will be no pick up in Budleigh Salterton. We will leave Tavistock at 4.00pm.

Cost is £ 26.50 pp. Lunch is not included in the cost.

To book a place, please see the Visits Secretary (Sue Perry) at any lecture morning (she will be at the table on the right as you enter the Hall).  Alternatively, you can download a form at our website.

The cut off date is 11 April 2025.

Kingston Lacey is a National Trust property which featured recently in a TV series on NT houses and properties. A look at the NT website will give more details on the House. Do have a look! (See the link below.) The House and its story is well worth knowing!

The NT website address is:- https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

The coach departs from the Holman Way car park, Topsham, at 0900.am. Please note that there will be no pick up in Budleigh Salterton. We will leave Kingston Lacy at 4.00 pm. There will be a comfort break at West bay Garden nurseries.

The cost is £ 37.00 pp.  For non National Trust members, there will be an extra charge of £17.00 for entry to the house. Lunch is not included in the cost.

To book a place, please see the Visits Secretary (Sue Perry) at any lecture morning.  (She will be at the table on the right as you enter the Hall.)   Alternatively, you can access a form using this link.

The cut off date is 1st March 2025.

Buckland Abbey

Buckland Abbey is part museum, part house, and filled with treasures. There is no mistaking the magnificence of the medieval Great Barn, originally a tithe barn which has remained virtually unchanged since it was built all those centuries ago.

Click here for information.

Brent Tor Church

Brent Tor is one of the most impressive rock outcrops in Dartmoor. With St Michael’s Church at its top, it makes a distinctive and famous silhouette on the Dartmoor skyline. The tor is unusual as it is one of the few on Dartmoor not to be made of granite.

The coach departs from the Public hall, Budleigh Salterton at 0830 am and from the Holman Way car park, Topsham, at 0900.am. We will leave Buckland Abbey at 4.00pm.

Click here for more information.

Cost £ 29.00. The entry fee for Buckland Abbey is £15.00 for non NT members. Lunch is not included in the cost.

To book a place, you have 3 options.  Firstly, please see the Visits Secretary designate (Sue Perry) at any lecture morning (she will be at the table on the right as you enter the Hall). Secondly,  you can send an email request to the Society email (dfasexe@gmail.com).  Finally download a booking form using this sentence as a link.

The cut off date is 19 August 2024

The coach departs Budleigh Salterton Town Hall at 8.00am and Holman Way car park, Topsham at 0830am.  We will stop at Gordano services enroute for about 45 minutes and depart there at 1045.  (Timings are dictated by Highgrove requirements.)  We aim to arrive at Highgate at 1200.  We will depart Highgrove between 1530 and 1600.

The visit will be divided into 2 groups each with its own guided tour. Both groups will have a late lunch at 1420.  So, if you can’t wait until then, take the opportunity to have a snack at the Gordano services.

Be warned! Some areas of the garden are cobbled, uneven, heavily gravelled and can be slippery when wet.  Please wear appropriate footwear.

Please bring with you a form of photographic identification, eg a passport, driving licence or bus pass.  You will not be allowed in if you don’t!

Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England.  The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period.  After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, William de Mohun constructed a timber castle on the site as part of the pacification of Somerset.  A stone shell keep was built on the motte by the start of the 12th century, and the castle survived a siege during the early years of the Anarchy.  At the end of the 14th century the de Mohuns sold the castle to the Luttrell family, who occupied the property until the late 20th century. Further information is available at this link.

The visit will allow time to eat in the village of Dunster or at the Watermill and to visit the small Dunster museum.  A tour of the kitchens of the castle at £3.00 may be avaialble depending on enough volunteers being on duty.

The coach departs Budleigh Salterton town hall at 8.30am and Holman Way car park, Topsham at 0900am. We will leave Dunster at 4.00pm.

The cost of the visit is £20.00 for National Trust members and £37.00 for others.

To book a place, please see the Visits Secretary (Dianne Westoby-Brooks) at any lecture morning (she will be at the table on the right as you enter the Hall). Alternatively, you can download a booking form at this link. Please pay in advance of asking to be put on the list for the visit.  If paying by cheque, please post date the cheque no more than 2 montns in advance.

Please note that if we do not get enough members to sign up for a visit by one calendar month before the date then the visit will be cancelled.

Athelhampton nestles in the Piddle valley, between Tolpuddle and Puddletown.

The ancient manor of Athelhampton has been continually lived in since Saxon times. The manor is mentioned in the Domesday book. The current house was largely constructed in Tudor times, with the Great Hall built by Sir William Martyn in 1485. It is considered one of the finest examples of Tudor architecture in England. The house was extended in Elizabethan times when the West Wing and Kitchen Wings were added. The Kitchen opened to the public for the first time in 2022. in 1891, Athelhampton was purchased by the young Victorian gentleman, Alfred Cart de Lafontaine who created the fabulous gardens that surround the house and restored the house taking advice from his friend and mentor Thomas Hardy.  However, in addition to the above, you can learn more at this link.

Our visit will include a guided tour of the house.

The cost of the visit is £35.00 unless you are a member of the Historic Houses Association, in which case the cost is £23.00.

The coach will pick up In Budleigh Salterton at 0830 and Topsham, Holman Way car park, at 0900.

This visit is now full

Mount Edgecumbe

(Click above for website)

Mount Edgecumbe House is the former home of the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe.  Set in Grade I Cornish Gardens within 865 acres Country Park on the Rame Peninsula, South East Cornwall.   In the heart of the park are the colourful 18th Century formal gardens in the Italian, French and English styles, complimented by the newly established American plantation and New Zealand garden.

Antony House

(Click above for website)

18th-Century house set within a magnificent landscaped garden, still home to the Carew Pole family.  One of the finest surviving Queen Anne buildings in the West Country.  View the outstanding collection of portraits, including works by Sir Joshua Reynolds and a famous painting of Charles I during his trial.  There are also fine examples of period furniture, textiles and tapestries.

The coach departs Budleigh Salterton town hall at 8.00am and Holman Way car park, Topsham at 0830am.

We will leave Cornwall at 4.15pm.

Total cost £41 for National Trust members and £52 for others.

This visit is now full.  If you wish to join a waitng list please let the Visits Secretary know.  Contct details are in the paragraph below.

To book a place on the waiting list, please contact the Visits Secretary (Dianne Westoby-Brooks). An email to the Society account or through the contact button on the home page will suffice.  Othewise please write to her at 23 The Chase, Topsham Devon, EX3 0FB. 

Sherborne Abbey

Founded by St Aldelm in AD 705, the Abbey has developed from a Saxon Cathedral to the worshipping heart of a monastic community, and finally to one of the most beautiful of England’s parish churches. For many it is still the cathedral of Dorset.

Our tour of the Abbey starts at 11.00 for an hour. The group are then able to visit and explore Sherborne and have some lunch,  before we take the coach to

Sherborne Castle

This has been the family home of the Wingfield Digby family since 1617. Built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594, this historic house reflects a glorious variety of decorative styles from over 400 years of English History. It houses nationally important collections of furniture, paintings and porcelain, and is set in the middle of a wonderfully romantic Capability Brown garden. 

The tour around the castle is ‘self guided’, and there are many stewards in the rooms to advise. The house has a delightful tea-room available for refreshment, and there is an opportunity to explore the landscaped garden.

£35 per person

The coach picks up in Budleigh Salterton at 08.30 a.m. and at 9.00 a.m. at the Holman Way car park.

Our coach departs the castle at 4.00 p.m. and we aim to be back in Topsham at 5.30 p.m.

• Payment for this visit can be made to Dianne Westoby-Brooks in person or by cheque.
• Payment can be made by sending a cheque to Dianne Westoby-Brooks, 23 The Chase, Topsham, EX3 0FB
• Cheques should be made payable to ExeDFAS
• Or by BACS remittance to 30-93-14 a/c 02689599 quoting ‘Sherborne’ as reference.

Home to the Earl and Countess of Sandwich, Mapperton is a glorious sandstone manor house and romantic valley garden deep in a lost Dorset combe among tumbling hills and unspoiled countryside. Fifteen acres of gardens descend from the croquet lawn, through the formal topiary down to the wild garden.

The Sandwich collection includes pictures by Lely, Van de Velde the Younger, Scott, Reynolds and Hogarth. There are several portraits of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, who served under Cromwell and became Charles II’s first general-at-sea. He helped his young cousin, Samuel Pepys, to become the Navy’s first great administrator and the ship models and naval paintings date mainly from this period.

“Throughout the house 16th, 17th and 18th centuries meet each other at every turn. Yet – and this is notably characteristic of Mapperton – they do not quarrel. Diversity never means discord. Rather the different ages combine to create an unexpected and richer harmony.” – Lord David Cecil, Some Dorset Country Houses, 1955

Mapperton was voted ‘The Nations Finest Manor House’ by Country Life and was principal location of 2015 film ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’.

It is a glorious Jacobean manor overlooking a 15 acre Italianate garden, with orangery, topiary and borders, descending ponds and arboretum. The house has outstanding views of Dorset hills and woodlands.

Tours of the house for us will be at 12 and 1pm

The Coach House Cafê serves hot and cold drinks, delicious cakes and cream teas, popular toasties, sandwiches and light lunches

Pick up is at Budleigh Salterton 9.00 am and Topsham 9.30am

Our coach departs the castle at 4.00 p.m. and we aim to be back in Topsham at 5.30 p.m.

Payment for this visit can be made to Dianne Westoby-Brooks in person or by cheque. Payment can be made by sending a cheque to Dianne Westoby-Brooks, 23 The Chase, Topsham, EX3 0FB. Cheques should be made payable to ExeDFAS. 

Or by BACS remittance to 30-93-14 a/c 02689599 quoting Mapperton

The Box is Plymouth's major new museum, art gallery and archive. Opened September 2020

Nine permanent galleries showcase the city’s incredible collections and include 14 monumental ships’ figureheads, thousands of natural history specimens, a full-size woolly mammoth replica, paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and ceramics, objects, film and photography, documents, maps and plans

Our visit includes

Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy

‘Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy’ is the national commemorative exhibition for the Mayflower 400 anniversary. It’s Plymouth’s largest loans exhibition ever and has been co-curated with the Wampanoag Advisory Committee to Plymouth 400 in the USA. Forget everything you thought you knew about the Mayflower. The exhibition debunks the myths and explores how one ship connects four nations over 400 years.

Powerful perspectives are shared through images, ideas and objects including the first Bible to be printed in America, the last known record of the Mayflower, the oldest existing state document of New England, drawings, diaries, maps, plans and portraits, and the first piece of Wampanoag art commissioned by the city.

The exhibition features 300 items, on loan from 100 museums, libraries and archives from around the world, including Native American items from The National Museum of the American Indian and the Harvard Peabody collection

Permanent Collections: Journey through time and experience the development of the Port of Plymouth – understand the people who made it their home and the Mammoth creatures who roamed the pre-historic landscape. Travel the world in 100 Journeys and get to know those who boarded the Mayflower in 1620.

The ‘Our Art’ gallery showcases Plymouth’s fantastic art collection. As you enter the gallery, you’re greeted by a grand display of paintings that represent over 400 years of artists painting Plymouth. The artworks follow the coastline from the River Plym to the River Tamar and provide a varied vista of Plymouth through the eyes of artists across the centuries. They include some of the earliest existing depictions of Plymouth – small sketches and watercolours that date from the 1600s.

Across from this visual panorama of Plymouth you can see a showcase of three centuries of artistic production from the South West. Reynolds established his first studio in Plymouth, going on to found the Royal Academy of Art and becoming one of the most important portrait painters of the 1700s. 200 years later, Robert Lenkiewicz had several studios in Plymouth’s historic Barbican area where he painted the city’s characters

Food and Drink

The Box Kitchen & Bar – serving a range of tasty meals, snacks and drinks. The Little Box, a brand new café in Tavistock Place  with an equally delicious range of locally sourced food and drinks.

Transport is by coach, leaving Budleigh Salterton Town Hall at 9 a.m. and Holman Way Car Park, Topsham at 9.30 a.m.. Cost will be £23.50 per person.