 In the art room, we had lots of lovely activities such as making paper-chain friends, finger-printing faces, and a funky 3D hand creation all supplied by the super-amazing book by Marion Deuchars Art Play. If you’ve not come across it before, it is a great resource packed full of great activities for young creatives. We will be taking more inspiration from this book later in our programme.
We have a whole host of family activities at Kingshill House including our monthly Let’s Create sessions in the garden which see a lot of young people of all ages get stuck into creative imagination. Think unstructured, loose parts, googly eyes, lots of tape, glue, paint, a little bit mad and plenty of fun. Come along, second-Saturday of the month, more details can be found here.
Further still we have Impromptu Shakespeare coming to Kingshill House for a day of hilarious Shakespearean comedy on Saturday 29 July, 11:30am-12:30pm. Not only are they performing their theatre production, but beforehand there is a special family workshop taking place - with limited spaces! The workshop will be fun and silly, with some really insightful educational bits too. Suitable for anyone who has started doing some Shakespeare at school or home (around 11+ but this can vary). £7 per young person (accompanying adult is free). Check out the production here. All of this is made possible by the generous support from The National Lottery players and the Community Fund, helping us deliver our Made for Sharing Project. 
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We're excited to be hosting multiple theatre groups this summer and are inviting the whole family to be immersed in live theatre for the first time at our historic venue. Live theatre is a great way to introduce young people to different stories, historical events, and social issues in a fun and engaging way. With this new programme of events we're reaching a new, younger audience in the local area. Starting the summer off is Midlands based theatre company, Don't Go Into The Cellar!, with Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of the Four on Friday 16 June at 7:30pm. It is an original one-man show where Sherlock Holmes meets a miscellany of other larger-than-life characters - classical Victorian detective action at its finest! The show is adapted from the Conan Doyle and is suitable for 11 years+. £16.00 per person/£42.00 per family (2 adults 2 children).
If you haven’t had enough of Shakespeare by that point, be sure to visit Dursley Heritage Centre and see their exhibition ‘Shakespeare’s possible links to Dursley’, which will be open from July. Tickets for these events are available from our What's On page. EleanorMarketing & PR Manager
Kingshill House is at the beginning of its sustainable journey and we are excited to start planning our response to climate action both in the team, the building and our community. We want to establish and strengthen partnerships with local environmental organizations, businesses, and government agencies because we see that there is strength in working together. Collaborating with these entities can lead to shared resources, joint initiatives, and a collective effort towards addressing local environmental challenges. Take a look at the Green Drinks Code which states that Green Drinks are Agenda Free
We would like to encourage people to share ideas of how they see the Green Drinks developing in the future, what sort of speakers you would like to hear and suggestions of how to turn discussion into action. We are hoping that by hosting events such as this we are reducing the amount of doubling-up on work and acting blind to what others doing. Networking is at the heart of creating a community, so our first event will be Green Drinks at Kingshill House Creative Centre on the 24th May with 7:30pm as ringing of a bell as a start time. This is intended as an entirely inclusive social get together for all and everyone wanting to find out about or engage with, making Cam & Dursley a sustainable place to live where nature thrives. Hope to see you there. Images are from our Permaculture Community Garden and our large garden to the side of the House which we hope to develop soon. Author; Georgie White WinterBusiness Development Manager at Kingshill House, believes that collectively we can make a difference and work together as a community to reduce climate change.
Many of the pieces were contemporary and not originally written for the harp, but converted for her to perform. “Gabriella has a passion for the role of the harp within the contemporary music space and the future of the instrument on the concert platform.” I was so intrigued with what the harp would sound like in person, only every seeing it being performed on tv and I wasn’t disappointed, it really is a fascinating sound, and its not surprising that it is attributed to the visual of heaven, or mythological storytelling.
Watching Gabriella perform, using her whole body to play the instrument, curving over during a low note and leaning back, moving her shoulders, neck and head in a flow during a higher note, was a magical thing to watch. Seeing the harp being performed in one of the Georgian rooms of Kingshill House Creative Centre with its high ceilings, large windows and bay was very special. It looked like it had always been there, just beautiful as the warm evening sunlight drifted across the room spotlighting the harp and audience.  More classical performances will be on the horizon and we hope to programme some mini classical performances for our young audience to enjoy. Keep checking our website for information. Thank you to everyone who came to this concert and the whole Classical series.
 In the beautiful woods surrounding Dursley the banks are smothered with lush green wild garlic, and every year my kids and I venture out to gather leaves. This year we made wild garlic pesto, which is delicious with pasta, onion bhajis and a pretty amazing curry. Here you can find the recipe for the wild garlic pesto and the onion bhajis for you to make yourself. But you need to move quickly as it is close to the end of the season. This bank holiday weekend would be the perfect time to go and forage. And if you're interested in foraging, then watch this space for our future workshops as we will be hosting one later this year with Martin Conyers from Wild Acres which will be all about foraging and art.
Author; Georgie White WinterBusiness Development Manager at Kingshill House, with a passion for creativity and a big believer that art is for everyone. Kingshill House has often been described as a space of sanctuary but why is that important?25/4/2023
Our classical music series is returning in March at Kingshill House Creative Centre with an exciting mix of concerts. Following the success of our first ever classical music series last year, we're back with a special three-part series featuring baroque, classical and romantic concerts.  Passacaglia Duo at Kingshill House Creative Centre last year Our music series is bringing a high-level of musicianship to the area, and at a reasonable price too, as we want to make our events accessible to as many people as we can. We’ve all felt the impact of the last few years, and we're encouraging people to come out and hear new things that might not usually be available to them in their local area. Our next series begins in March and ends in May. The first classical concert of 2023 is with the prizewinning Fitzroy Quartet with their programme of Mozart, Haydn and Schubert. Next, in April, we have the wonderful baroque ensemble Brook Street Band - famed for their interpretations of Handel. Ending the spring series is upcoming Welsh harpist, Gabriella Jones. Gabriella will be performing a romantic programme including Franck, Rachmaninov, Puccini and Liszt. We are offering a 'classical music series' discount when you book all three events in our series. Watching live classical music offers an immersive and unparalleled experience. This brand-new series at Kingshill House Creative Centre allows access to world-class performances and we're also hoping to welcome new comers to visit our historic venue for the first time. Eleanor TelferMarketing Manager at Kingshill House, with a masters degree in Ethnology, Folklore & Ethnomusicology, and is a big supporter of arts, culture and traditions.
We also launched several firsts for Dursley, the first Maternal Journal sessions with artist Athene Greig, Dursley’s first Diwali celebrations (which was so good) and included live music from DanceGuru, Dursley’s first Record Fair with Vinyl Daze Record Fairs and we brought Drag to Dursley for all ages! Cake, Neon, Salt, and Sofira all put on an unbelievable show (especially considering the heat as it was the hottest day of 2022!) More Drag to Kingshill House Creative Centre come soon!! 2022 saw us launch Let’s Create, an unstructured monthly activity session for all young people, a Classical Series which hosted baroque chamber ensemble Passacaglia as they perform as the Passacaglia Duo, internationally renowned Anglo-Irish Carducci String Quartet and the much anticipated award winning classical guitarist Renata Arlotti.
Of course we had our annual show with Tyndale Art Trail who presented a wonderful talk from Aardman Art Director Richard Edmunds. And we are hoping that we are going to do more with Aardman in the future, watch this space.
2022 was the year of collaboration and making new friends, which we love! Projects including Foraging for Food & Art, a walk, talk, sketching and soup which was a collaboration with Wild Acres, Dursley Welcomes Walkers and Jo Beal. It was a day to slow down the pace, learn, explore, and taste whilst creating a wonderful nature map. We were also part of a wonderful project supported by the NHS and partnership with Prema, Under the Edge Arts, Create Gloucestershire, the Quarry Chapel and GL11 which provided a programme of creative activities designed to boost confidence and assist with well-being. Activities included printing with blocks, creating nature sketchbooks, Taiji and Qigong- and the feedback was great. In fact we have received further support to continue the project this year too (watch this space).
Throughout 2022 we have been so lucky to host 3 of our own exhibitions. Kicking off the year with ‘Mind - be here, present / be here’ now co-curated with Athene Greig which was an Open Call asking for submissions that considered the creative mind and mindful practice after several years of a pandemic. Then we hosted ‘Nature, Our Environment’ with artists Jo Ball, Maria Barbu (Marsh&Moor), Jo Beal, Izzy Bridgland, Ella Burling, Joss Cole, Ellie Hawkes, Julia Pomeroy, Kathryn Stevens & Georgie White who all explored the importance of our environment through their practice. Final we finished the year with ‘Food for All’, with artists Olivia Brazier, Jayne Dickinson, Lucy Duke, Karen Glover, Claire Graves, Catherine Hill, Elaine Hunt, Henrietta MacPhee, Kate McDonnell, Qing Pud, Emilia Symis, Shahar Tuchner, Emily Vanns, Clicky White, Michelle Yun-jeong Choi, Madina Zholdybekova who all show the importance of food through their artworks. In this show we also share a collection of public submissions in response to our question "Do you have a fond food memory you’d love to show?” Photos of birthdays, handwritten recipes passed down, and personal stories of fond food memories are shown in the Purnell room, capturing moments that we can all relate to. It is on until 28th February and has a fun activity sheet to complete as you explore the show.
Further still our workshops have been epic this year with activities such as Wendy Murphy producing beautiful rings, Kate King creating Penguin Badge Framed artworks (they are gorgeous), Katy Kebbell making ceramics with leaves and flowers, the fantastic Lisa Lavery creating cyanotypes, and Eloise Gordon immersing us all in a beautiful gong bath workshop. To finish the year of Mind, Body, Nature and Food we had our Festive Fortnight of workshops from Natural Soap Making with Meghan of SEAL, Christmas Table Centerpieces with Eve Squire of Daisy Belle Floral Design, and screen printing tote bags with Andy Kinnear. And if you're not exhausted then we finished the year with our Christmas Market which saw a wonderful selection of sellers including Kelly Eldridge, Lyn Ang and Anna Jones, Katy Kebbell, Geg Fayle Ceramics, Elaine Hunt, Claire Failes and Cherie Rimmel-Faulds. We had some creative fun with festive family activities including printing cards, and writing a letter to santa (which received a reply fyi). So that was 2022 (phew), and we have not stopped since (apart from a little break at Christmas of course.) This year is set to be just as wonderfully creative, community focused and open for all. Come join the fun at Kingshill House Creative Centre! And if there is anything you want to see at Kingshill House then tell us, we would love to know. Come join the fun at Kingshill House Creative Centre! Author; Georgie White WinterBusiness Development Manager at Kingshill House, with a passion for creativity and a big believer that art is for everyone.  We have been full on this autumn with so many fun, creative and exciting events happening at Kingshill House, it has been fantastic to see the House so alive with activity from the community. The courses have been packed with students learning watercolours, oil painting (which is new!), stained glass, flower arranging, loom weaving (also new!) and of course we’ve had our wonderful Mindful Scrap Crafting with Anna of Peace and Craft, which has been lovely to see flourish. Images above from this years courses, including Mindful Scrapcraft and Oil Painting  Our programme of weekly classes has grown and grown with Beginners Yoga with Claire on a Monday morning, three sessions of yoga with Vicky Bird, aka The Yoga Bird, on a Wednesday, including parent and baby yoga. Then we have a beautifully gentle relaxation yoga for mothers on a Wednesday evening with Mischa from Let Go Yoga, and of course two nourishing flowing yoga classes from Sarah of Elm Tree Yoga on a Thursday evening. We are absolutely loving all the yoga that happens here! Plus our resident Taijiqun and Qigong instructor Joe teaches on Tuesdays and Wednesday evenings, plus a Qigong & Meditation on a Thursday morning. These classes are for anyone to try, and there is no experience necessary, so they really are a marvellous way to refocus the mind and maintain healthy well-being. Plus you can meet new friends and enjoy activity with like-minded people. Images above from Wednesday evening mothers yoga class at Kingshill House with Mischa from Let Go Yoga The real success of this season has been our wonderful Diwali event where guests danced the night away with DanceGuru who be played their signature electro-live bhangra dance fusion! Everyone loved Mamas Meals who cooked up a storm of delicious Indian street food and then we were entertained by award winning Bollywood Belles for a beautiful performance and bhangra dancing workshop. Kids, adults, young, old, everyone got stuck into the Diwali-inspired craft activities making their own clay or jam jar lanterns, printing with Indian woodblocks and paper plate rangoli to bring good luck and prosperity! We danced into the night, welcoming both familiar and new faces, it was a wonderfully uplifting event and we are delighted with some of the feedback from the community;
"We enjoyed the food and especially Bhangra/ DJ night as we danced a lot at the time of closure. We would love to join next year as well." "What an absolutely wonderful evening. My 5 year son stated it was, 'The best night ever!' Thank you so much for hosting such a beautiful event." "Lovely atmosphere. Great food and good art activities for the family" "The friendliness of the people hosting and the visitors. It was a great experience and such a wonderful evening thank you" Images above from the fabulous Kingshill House Diwali event, a first in Dursley We have just finished Festive Fortnight which saw lots of Christmassy workshops in the House including natural soap making, tote bag screen printing, scrap crafting, the famous willow weave a reindeer with Sarah Edwards, copper foiling with resident stained-glass artist Caroline Lambert and Christmas table centrepieces with Eve Squire of Daisy Belle Floral Design. Images above from Festive Fortnight 2022 We are now hurtling into December, it’s snow joke, Christmas is coming.... how that has happened I am not sure! But we are all looking forward to our Christmas Market on Sunday 4th December, and this year it is set to be the best ever! We have a whole host of fabulous sellers, including Kelly Eldridge, Lyn Ang and Anna Jones, Katy Kebbell, Geg Fayle Ceramics, Elaine Hunt, Claire Failes, Cherie Rimmel-Faulds, Eve Squire. We have food, hot chocolates, sausage rolls, mince pies, soups. There will be music playing from ukulele legend Ed Brooking, our resident glass blower, Ben Gough, will be here so you can have a go at blowing your own hot glass bauble (booking essentially), and we have demonstrations from tutors including calligraphy by Adele Dark, screen-printing by Andy Kinnear and loom weaving by Alyson Matthews. We also have family activities including making a tree-topper, printing wrapping paper, and writing a letter to Santa. Sunday is set to be our most wonderful day of the year!! (sorry I couldn’t help it!) So hold on for deer life and come along to Kingshill House for our final event of the year, 11am-4pm. Merry Christmas!Images above from Kingshill House Christmas Market last year, 2021 Author; Georgie White WinterBusiness Development Manager at Kingshill House, with a passion for creativity and a big believer that art is for everyone. Finding the perfect space for your business can be difficult. But don't worry, we've got you covered! Read on to discover our top tips for finding the right place for your business. Start with an Estimate.Before you start looking at properties, make sure you have an idea of what you're looking for. You'll need to consider things like square footage, number of rooms, parking availability, and how many team members you wish to fit into the space. At Kingshill House we have a variety of spaces from empty rooms with not much more than a cupboard in them, to rooms with tables, chairs and refreshment stations. Either way, you should consider if you are looking for a short-term rental agreement or perhaps something longer-term where you may wish to budget in converting the space for your business needs.  Image: Kingshill House entrance hall Look at the Area's Demographics.Once you have a good idea of what you're after, it's time to start looking at the area demographics. This will help you understand how much demand there is for your business in the area. Kingshill House is located in the market town Dursley, Gloucestershire with great connections to
Dursley itself has a thriving community with plenty to do from beautiful country walks to a high street of independent shops to mooch around. There is certainly a sense of creativity and thirst for culture, as well as plenty of cosy pubs and lovely eateries to enjoy. Muddy Stilettos recently announced Dursley as one of the best places to live because of its "nature trails and breathtaking views on your doorstep. This place has a strong arty streak, attracting a talented, bohemian community of creators, crafters and artists." Kingshill House has rooms available for longer-term hire where a business can set up shop and join our community. You could be a developer, architect, graphic designer, start-up, or perhaps an office expansion. Or maybe you're a florist, barber, or brewery who is looking to launch your business. We are very open to ideas and have plenty of space as well as an audience living nearby who will support the success of your business.
Images; Dursley town centre Check out the Local Amenities.You'll also need to consider the local amenities available to you and your team. Are there any shops, restaurants, cafes, gyms, parks, schools, or other facilities that you'd like to be near? These things can make a big difference when it comes to choosing where to open your business. Dursley has an abundance of great things to keep you busy, including the Old Spot at the bottom of Stinchcombe Hill which was named CAMRA pub of the year in 2007, CYT gym with plenty of fitness classes to keep you going, and just down the road is the Slimbridge Wetlands centre both fun for bird watchers and those who love to splash in puddles! (if you know you know). Kingshill House hosts creative workshops, events, courses and activities for all ages and abilities. We also have a generous health and well-being programme which includes yoga, qigong, maternal journal, mindful scrapcrafting, taijiquan, sound baths and many more. There is also something to do and plenty to keep you busy in Dursley.
Image: Kingshill House Georgian building, entrance hall and stairs Ask Around.If you're looking for somewhere new to set up shop, ask around. People who work in the area will often be able to give you some insider knowledge about what's going on in the area. They might even be able to recommend places that aren't listed online yet. We have plenty of highly skilled tutors and passionate individuals who use Kingshill House regularly and benefit from the resources that the stunning Georgian rooms have to offer. This includes the Community Health & Wellbeing team from Stroud District Council, Kids and Adults Gaming days run by volunteers, Shine a charity that offers creative art therapy sessions for mums with postnatal depression, Cotswolds Vale Talking Newspaper (CVTN) a weekly talking newspaper for the blind, and a rehearsal space for a local brass band. This is an example of how Kingshill House provides a space for both traditional and contemporary creative practices, a hub of cross-pollination where a creative eco-system organically develops. It is worth talking to those who use Kingshill House already to understand what it is like to work here and be part of the community. “Grow your business with Kingshill House and fast forward your dreams.”Author; Georgie White WinterBusiness Development Manager at Kingshill House, with a passion for creativity and a big believer that art is for everyone.  |
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