The Booking Secretary for this programme can be contacted on 01823 253994.
Visit to Tyntesfield, North Somerset
Illustrated Talk: “Secret Hiding Places”
Lunch at the Bird in Hand, North Curry
Talk: “From Theatre to Yoghurt”
Visit to Newark Park, Ozleworth, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire
Visit to A la Ronde and Bicton Park, Exmouth
Illustrated Talk: “Fyne Court after the Conservation Project”
Visit to Salisbury Playhouse for World War I Play
Visit to Dorchester and the Tutankhamun Exhibition
Illustrated Talk: “A Cornish Kaleidoscope”
Illustrated Talk: “Montacute Brings History Alive for Younger People”
Visit to Claverton Manor, Bath, for “Christmas at Claverton”
Christmas Lunch at Oake Manor Golf Club
Wednesday 1 October
This is a repeat of last October's visit to the glorious Gothic Revival extravaganza, Tyntesfield, at Wraxall, North Somerset.
Created by four generations of the Gibbs family, each generation has left its mark on the house, resulting in a unique insight into the changing world of an English estate. For its wealth of decoration, the chapel is not to be missed.
The surrounding 500 acres of land include formal gardens, parkland and a walled kitchen garden. Visitors can see conservation work in progress on the estate.
Antony Gibbs, the son of an Exeter surgeon, started life as a wool merchant but established himself in Madrid, selling English cloth in Spain and exporting Spanish fruit and wine to England. Business did not prosper until his sons, George and William, took over.
Much of their fortune came from trade in guano (the droppings of sea birds) from the Pacific coast of South America. The first shipment was in 1842 and guano became Britain's most popular fertiliser (buy some on eBay).
William Gibbs became head of the firm when George died, and work on Tyntesfield began in 1863. The total cost represented less than one year's profits! Gibbs and his wife had a family of seven children and 18 grandchildren among whom were the descendants who made Tyntesfield the fascinating place we see today.
There is a charming drawing of Tyntesfield in the Jim Clifford Gallery.
Saturday 4 October
West Monkton Village Hall, Monkton Heathfield, 2.30pm
Anne Bowring, who is a National Trust voluntary speaker, was Administrator at the 14th century manor house, Clevedon Court, North Somerset, from 1990 to 2000. (Clevedon Court is renowned for its Georgian terraced gardens and collections of Eltonware ceramics and Nailsea glass.)
Her involvement with many Trust properties has provided her with a superb knowledge of many interesting aspects of which the ordinary National Trust member may never otherwise be aware.
Monday 6 October
The Bird in Hand is a traditional, inviting village inn with flagstone floors, beamed ceilings and inglenook fireplaces. It has a large bar area and a separate, tastefully decorated restaurant. An imaginative range of home cooking, including vegetarian, continental and English dishes, is available, with prices starting at £3.75.
The inn is in a wonderful setting. The lush well-watered grassland of the Somerset Levels is home for herons, lapwings, snipe and mute swans as well as other wildlife. Water-loving plants, such as yellow flag iris, flowering rush and arrowhead, flourish among the drainage rhynes (pronounced “reens”). One can take a short stroll from the village across Curry Moor to the banks of the River Tone.
Saturday 18 October
West Monkton Village Hall, Monkton Heathfield, 2.30pm
The speaker, Peter Lea, is a retired theatre manager who had a career change to enable his mother to enjoy her latter years with him. He tells delightful anecdotes about his experiences in the theatre and recounts later episodes in his career.
This took him to the financially expanding business of Yeo Valley Yoghurt and the recent Yeo Valley Restoration Project in which a 250-year-old barn overlooking Blagdon Lake in the Mendip Hills was converted into an eco-friendly, low-energy building, now serving as an education and conference centre.
Wednesday 22 October
Newark Place, a former Tudor hunting lodge in the Cotswolds, is rare among National Trust properties in that it is both a stately home and an individual's home. Michael Claydon has furnished the house himself, and evidence of his personal influence is clear from his own books and from his choice of art on the walls, from modern works to traditional oil paintings and watercolours.
The house was renovated from 1970 by an American, Bob Parsons, a Trust tenant on a repairing lease. He spent three decades restoring an estate that was in such bad condition that the Trust was thinking of removing the roof and abandoning the house as a ruin.
Today, Newark Park is a magnificent property, with a splendid vista of the Ozleworth Valley.
Tuesday 28 October
A La Ronde is a unique 16-sided house built for two cousins in 1796 to display their collection of items brought back from their Grand Tour of Europe. Among the fascinating interior decorations is a feather frieze and shell-encrusted gallery which, because of its fragility, is viewed on closed-circuit television.
The afternoon will be spent exploring the lovely gardens at Bicton Park, visiting the beautiful palm house and seeing the 25 champion trees, the tallest and/or largest of their kind in the Britain. Bicton's 134ft (41m) Grecian fir is the tallest ever recorded. We shall also be able to visit the museum, which is all about how farming used to be, ride on the railway – or even go ice-skating!
Saturday 1 November
West Monkton Village Hall, Monkton Heathfield, 2.30pm
Andy Mayled, the National Trust's Property Manager for Somerset Countryside, will describe how the conservation scheme has returned Fyne Court at Broomfield to the grandeur of its earlier years.
A lecture given by Mr Mayled after the annual general meeting of the Quantock Centre in February stimulated great interest in the changes planned or taking place throughout the county, and particularly in the grounds of Fyne Court where the lake and woods are especially appreciated.
Saturday 8 November
This is an excellent opportunity to see “A Month in the Country” by J L Carr, adapted by Philip Wilson. The play is set in Yorkshire following the end of the first World War 90 years ago.
Two survivors are trying to forget the horrors of the war by uncovering a more distant past. The first of them, Tom Birkin, is restoring a church mural. The other, Charlie Moon, is looking for an unmarked medieval grave. Moon remains outside both church and community. Birkin, shunned by the church, falls in love with the vicar's wife, Alice Keech – an encounter he will never forget.
We shall attend a matinee performance of the play. Those who prefer not to go to the theatre may like to use the trip to visit the Cathedral, for example, or to do some Christmas shopping.
Wednesday 12 November
Any Quantock Centre member who missed Tutankhamun in London now has a chance to see him in Dorchester. The Dorchester exhibition is an excellent reconstruction of Howard Carter's 1922 discovery. The treasures are spectacular, even if the gold is not real.
There will be time in the morning to see the Terracotta Warriors (allow one-and-a-half hours for this) or visit the Roman house or take a walk by the river.
Saturday 15 November
West Monkton Village Hall, Monkton Heathfield, 2.30pm
Tom Burr, former Associations Liaison Secretary for the National Trust, once gave a lecture aboard a ship cruising towards Fowey during a Trust tour of England's south west coastline. He extolled the achievements of the Trust in Cornwall.
One of his motives was to lure members of the cruise party on to a coach tour next day of “Cornwall Saved by the National Trust”; most of them wanted to visit the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
Despite these counter-attractions, he filled the coach, and we shall hear the lecture that won over members of his group
Tuesday 18 November
Shire Hall, whose construction was completed 150 years ago, is a building we all know, but very few of us have ever been inside. During a guided tour, lasting an hour-and-a-half, we will be shown the courts, the cells and the Council Chamber as well as having the history of the building and its workings explained to us.
Saturday 6 December
West Monkton Village Hall, Monkton Heathfield, 2.00pm
Caroline Jeeves, the Learning Officer at Montacute House, will talk about her responsibilities which fall in line with the national curriculum in schools. She will explain how, on a day-to-day basis, she and her band of learning volunteers bring history alive for children. This includes involving families and encouraging young people's projects inspired by the house and its stories.
She will also talk about the close links Montacute enjoys with the National Portrait Gallery, London, which owns many of the paintings in the house.
Kay Robins will round off the talk by explaining her role as a learning volunteer and giving an insight into four of the portraits which can be seen at the house – those of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, the Countess of Bedford, and the Duke of Buckingham and his family.
Tuesday 9 December
The American Museum at Claverton Manor, Bath, is renowned for its Christmas decorations – and we shall have our own exclusive tour to enjoy these and the fine old house.
Claverton Manor was designed by Jeffry Wyattville in 1820 and is filled with American artefacts collected by two American citizens, Dallas Pratt and John Judkyn. This is a unique collection and the only museum of Americana outside the United States.
Our own private tour of the house and decorations will start with an American tea, to include American cookies. There will be time to visit the recently opened American Heritage Exhibition and the shop which stocks a wide range of American craft goods.
Friday 12 December
By popular request, we have booked Oake Manor Golf Club, near Bradford-on-Tone, for our Yuletide lunch. The clubhouse and restaurant have fine views of the Quantock, Brendon and Blackdown Hills.
The lunch will give an opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones, and there will be a Christmas raffle.