Suffolk, its landscape and people, its towns and industry has provided inspiration to artists from Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable to Cedric Morris in the twentieth century. The lecture will explore the history of Sudbury, its silk industry and the artists who worked in this county.

The Holland Park area in the late nineteenth century became a favourite place for artists, writers and intellectuals, with many subsequently settling there. Leighton House and ,Sambourne House are very different but equally fascinating examples of the artist-house.

Artist houses of the later nineteenth century provide a fascinating glimpse of the personalities involved, the architecture and Victorian decoration and design. The lectures will provide a background to the studio houses of the Holland Park area and the fashionable Aesthetic interior of the 1880s made popular by the many books and magazines published at that time and influenced by the work of James McNeill Whistler, Walter Crane, William Morris and Owen Jones.

The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn is one of the four medieval societies of lawyers known as the Inns of Court. The precise date of its foundation is unknown but its earliest records, known as the Black Books, date to 1422. . The Inn probably takes its name from Henry de Lacy, third Earl of Lincoln who appears to have been the Inn's patron, and whose own house was close by in Shoe Lane.

Lincoln’s Inn is the earliest of the four Inns of Court which gradually came to provide all that was needed for lawyers to practice at the Bar. There developed chambers to live and work in, a hall for eating and drinking, a chapel or church and a library.

The lecture will explore the fascinating history of the Inns of Court and trace the architectural development of Lincoln’s Inn and its surrounding buildings..

“The Cities of London and Westminster were again last night in a blaze of loyal illuminations …. in honour of his Majesty’s most happy recovery”. So reported The Times on 25th April 1789. Spectacular illuminations are explored in this fascinating exhibition which brings to life these magnificent displays which were such a popular form of entertainment in the later Georgian period.

This vibrant exhibition shows how developments in science and industrial technology, including the discovery of bright synthetic dyes in the 1850s resulted in an explosion of colour that was embraced by artists and designers and all classes of society. Vivid coloured textiles and fashion, brightly printed posters, wallpapers, ceramics all dispel the notion that Victorian Britain was a gloomy and grimy age.

This splendid exhibition celebrates the work of Willem Van de Velde the Elder and Younger, famous throughout seventeenth-century Europe as marine draughtsmen and painters

This major exhibition, held in Luton which dominated the British hat industry from the nineteenth century onwards, presents a stunning array of hats from around the world and explores the multiple purposes and significance of headwear over the centuries. Over two hundred hats ranging from the practical and purposeful to the whimsical and exotic reveal how headwear has been used both to protect and transform the wearer.

Farleys House was purchased in 1949 by the American photographer, Lee Miller and Surrealist artist Roland Penrose and over the next thirty-five years they built up a remarkable collection of contemporary art. he special visit to Zenzie Tinker Conservation Studio will look at the newly discovered collection of Lee Miller's clothes being conserved for the forthcoming exhibition in Brighton

This major exhibition, held in Luton which dominated the British hat industry from the nineteenth century onwards, presents a stunning array of hats from around the world and explores the multiple purposes and significance of headwear over the centuries. Over two hundred hats ranging from the practical and purposeful to the whimsical and exotic reveal how headwear has been used both to protect and transform the wearer.

This visit to Strawberry Hill will concentrate on spectacular objets d’art from The Schroder Collection in this special exhibition, Treasures from Faraway: Medieval and Renaissance Objects. These are displayed in Horace Walpole’s ‘state rooms’ - alongside are old master paintings currently on loan from the Dulwich Picture Gallery

The Augustinian priory and its hospital were founded in Smithfield in 1123 by Rahere, a courtier of Henry I. St Bartholomew the Great is all that survives of the priory but St Bartholomew’s Hospital, with its architecturally important buildings, has provided continuous medical care on the site that it was originally built on.

The Augustinian priory and hospital of St Bartholomew was founded in Smithfield in 1123 by Rahere, a courtier of Henry I. The lecture will explore the fascinating history of Rahere’s foundations and the long and colourful history of Smithfield.

The visit will explore the rich history of Rochester in Kent with visits to the Huguenot Museum, which traces the fascinating history of Huguenot enterprise in England, and the splendid Restoration House with its long history dating back to the medieval period.

Following a major redevelopment at the RCM, this delightful museum displays highlights from the College’s renowned collections of musical instruments, scores and portraits. These include a dated guitar of 1581, the earliest known stringed keyboard instrument – a clavicytherium – of 1480, a harpsichord by Alessandro Trasuntino of 1531 and a remarkable collection of English viols.

The lecture will trace the development of the ‘great estate’ of eighty-seven acres purchased in South Kensington by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. Its aim was to provide institutions which would promote the arts and sciences as advocated by their President, Prince Albert, and led to the creation of the great museums and colleges seen there today.

Paul Cézanne was an inspirational figure to younger artists in the development of modern art. He challenged conventions and broke the rules producing a unique vision; for Pablo Picasso, he was ‘the father of us all’. This superb exhibition brings together paintings, watercolours and drawings exploring the breadth of this great Post-Impressionist artist’s work.

The history of the City of London is reflected in its unique mixture of Roman remains, medieval structures, baroque splendour and contemporary architecture. The walk will explore some of the romantic and little-known spaces in the City of London, including City churches, delightful gardens and monuments and memorials.

The Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers is one of the oldest in the City of London, first mentioned in 1376 and granted full Livery status in 1462. The Company moved to Dowgate Hill in July 1476 and remains there to this day.

The eye-catching brick facades of Crosby Moran Hall, with their gables, ogee turrets and gilded weather vanes, are the creation of Dr. Christopher Moran, who has spent decades creating this neo-Tudor mansion based on sixteenth-century sources. It provides a majestic setting for the late-medieval Crosby Hall, the most important domestic building of its date to survive in London, which was moved from the City to Chelsea in 1910.

The lecture will trace the history and rebuilding of the area around the premises of the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers on Dowgate Hill. Nearby streets such as Fish Street Hill, Skinners Lane and Garlick Hill indicate a past full of bustle, markets and trade. Close by stands the Monument, designed by Robert Hooke in 1671, commemorating the Great Fire of London and the rebirth of the City with its legacy still seen today in Sir Christopher Wren’s many splendid City churches.

The lecture will trace the history of Chelsea and its colourful inhabitants from the time of Sir Thomas More, whose great house first gave the riverside village prominence to the celebrated artistic and literary communities of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

The history of the City of London is reflected in its unique mixture of Roman remains, medieval structures, baroque splendour and contemporary architecture. The walk will explore some of the romantic and little-known spaces in the City of London, including City churches, delightful gardens and monuments and memorials.

Freemasons’ Hall, one of the finest Art Deco buildings in London, is home to the United Grand Lodge of England and was built between 1927 and 1933 as a memorial to the Freemasons killed in the First World War. The visit will include the ceremonial areas, the magnificent newly-restored Grand Temple and the Museum, which contains a wealth of paintings, manuscripts and objets d’art reflecting the history of the Grand Lodge since its formation in 1717.

An introduction by Karen Limper-Herz, Exhibition Curator, and a visit to the exhibition, Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens at the British Library.

This fascinating exhibition, enhanced by paintings, jewels, textiles and fine maps, explores the complex relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots revealing a dangerous world of plots, espionage and treachery. Autograph letters, state papers, speeches, drawings and woodcut engravings illustrate key moments and events set against the backdrop of deep division between Protestants and Catholics.

The Postal Museum opened in its new home in 2017 and tells the fascinating story of the postal service from the time of Henry VIII to today’s technological age. The many intriguing objects on display include an eighteenth-century mail coach, a 1930s blue post box for airmail and a special exhibition of 151 years of the British postcard. The visit will include a ride on the historic Mail Rail.