<![CDATA[Combe Down Art Trail - Blog]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:23:56 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Thank you for supporting the 2025 Art Trail!]]>Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:30:24 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/thank-you-for-supporting-the-2025-art-trail
Wow, what an amazing weekend we had! The five minute video above shows a glimpse of our ninth Combe Down Art Trail, with over 40 talented artists showcasing their work across venues dotted throughout the village. From painting, ceramics, sculpture, and photography to jewellery, textiles, prints, collage, and more - there  was truly something for everyone to enjoy. 

Venues ranged from artists’ homes and studios to local public spaces, including the Peggy Dodd Centre and The Hub at Mulberry Park, both of which will be serving refreshments, as well as the Jewish Burial Ground, the Calmer Rooms, and the Museum of Bath Stone.

A SNAPSHOT OF THE TRAIL
New to 2025 was the curated "snapshot" exhibition at the Museum of Bath Stone, featuring work from every participating artist. It was the perfect place to get a taste of what was on offer.

COMMUNITY GALLERY
As well as emerging and established artists taking part, Combe Down Art Trail included a Community Gallery of artwork by the wonderful children at Mulberry Park Educate Together Primary, Happy Days Nursery, Combe Down Nursery, Combe Down Toddlers, and Combe Down Primary School! 

Over 250 visitors joined us in our vibrant celebration of creativity, community, and local talent. Need to see more? View the slideshow below. Still feel like you missed out? Come back in 2026 and be inspired!
]]><![CDATA[Submissions now OPEN!!]]>Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:53:41 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/submissions-now-open
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We're delighted to say submission to our 2025 Combe Down Art Trail is now OPEN!! Head over to our submission page for all the information. Artists are welcome to take part from their own house/studio or in one of our public venues (please note: places in public venues will be allocated first to artists living in or close to the Combe Down area of Bath).

Private houses/studios
Please let us know if you would like your own premises to be on the trail, and if you are willing to share with other artists.
If you have previously exhibited in another artist’s home, please contact them directly to check availability.

Public venues
If you’d rather not open your home or studio, we are in the process of securing a few smaller public venues, depending on demand. If you’re interested in exhibiting in a public venue, please let us know.

Museum of Bath Stone – Snapshot of the Trail
We’re offering a curated preview of the Art Trail at the Museum of Bath Stone. Each participating artist will have the opportunity to showcase a single piece, providing a snapshot of the creativity on display throughout the event.

School gallery
Combe Down Primary School will host an exhibition of artwork by its pupils in the school hall, and the PTA will raise money for the school during the event.

Website
We will update the Combe Down Art Trail website with artwork and artist information: cdarttrail.com

Social media
We will also be sharing updates about the trail and participating artists on our social media platforms.

Insurance
We recommend artists have insurance against loss or damage to their artwork.
There are many options tailored specifically for artists, starting at around £38 per
year. For example:
a-n insurance
Visual Arts Association

Please note: this insurance typically covers your artwork and public liability, but not your home or personal belongings. If you plan to use your home as your venue, check your home insurance policy covers you for any theft or damage unrelated to your artwork (e.g. a stolen laptop). We’ve never had an incident where this was needed, but we feel it’s important to highlight for your consideration!

Fees
There is a £30 fee which covers the costs of posters, essential items, advertising,
and charges for the art trail website. We reuse as much as possible to keep costs to a minimum.

Follow and following
Follow us on Instagram and we’ll follow you back!
You might also like to follow @bathopenstudios, who promote all seven Bath art
trails.
We’re also on Facebook – click the links below to find us!

Dates
Applications open: April 21st, 2025
Deadline to apply: July 24th, 2025
Notification of acceptance: July 31st, 2025
Payment deadline: August 8th, 2025 (To confirm your participation the fee will need to be paid by this date.)

The submission form will be downloadable from Monday 21st April until Thursday 24th July when submissions close. Please return the form, along with a jpeg of your artwork, via email to cdarttrail@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you!!
]]><![CDATA[New Beginnings for 2025!]]>Mon, 31 Mar 2025 15:45:08 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/new-beginnings-for-2025
We’re thrilled to introduce Natasha as our new Art Trail Lead! She’s stepping into this vital role of organising the event, following in the footsteps of Sally Jefferies and Jeni Wood. Please join us in giving her a very warm welcome!
Natasha will be working alongside our dedicated Art Trail Committee: Ele, Kathy, Vikki, and Hilary.
We have some exciting plans in the works, which we’ll be sharing in the coming months! In the meantime, here are the key details you’ll need to apply.
COMBE DOWN ART TRAIL 2025
When: 13th - 14th September 2025, 10 AM - 4 PM
Where: Combe Down (see map for boundary)
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This year, we’re doing things a little differently! Instead of our usual numbered venue trail, the 2025 event will be a collection of open studios.
Your “studio” can be your house, shed, garage, or even a dedicated art space. If you don’t have a suitable location, consider asking a friend, neighbour, or fellow artist who may be willing to lend you a space for the weekend—such as a conservatory, garage, or garden.
We will also have a limited number of spaces available in a few smaller public venues (see below).

Who Can Take Part?
Artists living or working in Combe Down can open their own studios or join another artist’s space, as long as the venue is within the mapped area. If you’d like to participate but don’t have a venue, let us know—we’ll do our best to accommodate you.

​Previous Combe Down Art Trail participants (not from Combe Down) are welcome to apply again, but please be aware we have limited public space and priority will be given to local artists.
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Hosting another artist? If you have space to share, feel free to invite fellow artists to join you. To ensure all participants are advertised, please let us know who will be exhibiting with you. If you’re open to hosting but need help finding artists to share your space, let us know how many other artists you could host and we can connect you to the artists requiring a space!

Public Venues
If you’d rather not open your home or studio, we are in the process of securing a few smaller public venues, depending on demand. If you’re interested in exhibiting in a public venue, please let us know.

Key Details
Fee: £30 per artist
Applications open: April 20th, 2025
Deadline to apply: July 24th, 2025
Notification of acceptance: July 31st, 2025
Payment deadline: August 8th, 2025 (To confirm your participation the fee will need to be paid by this date.)

We’re so excited to bring art and creativity to the village again!
]]><![CDATA[Combe Down Art Trail Needs You!]]>Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:21:06 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/combe-down-art-trail-needs-youPicture
Hello! It’s early in the year, but we’re reaching out to all Combe Down Art Trail artists, visitors, and supporters in search of volunteers to help run the art trail this September, and most specifically for someone who can take on the leadership role.

The Combe Down Art Trail has been a great success for the past eight years, first under the leadership of Jeni Wood and then Sally Jefferies, both of whom have since stepped down from the role. 
 
The team of volunteers includes Catherine Beale (press), Ele Nash (website, Instagram), Vikki Yeates (Facebook and miscellaneous), Kathy Pearce (finance), and Hils Strickland (design) as well as others who offer ideas and support. All these roles can be restructured under new leadership.
 
The team is looking for a new leader who can liaise with artists and the wider mailing list for the five months leading up the trail (from April when submissions go live). The things that need doing are:
·         Taking over the database – this contains the application forms, artist details, venue details. This can be copied onto your own computer
·         Taking over the email list – this is a gmail account accessed via a password
·         Taking over the bank account – this is an online NatWest account for art trail fees and expenses
·         Managing deadlines for printing the maps, posters, and items for the local press.

​These tasks can be done by one person or potentially shared. You don’t have to be an artist!
 
We really hope the art trail can take place this year, so please do get in touch if you can help with any of these roles by emailing us by Wednesday, March 5th!
]]><![CDATA[Thank you for coming!]]>Mon, 09 Sep 2024 17:21:33 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/thank-you-for-coming
THANK YOU to everyone who took part and came to our 2024 Combe Down Art Trail over the weekend!! Wasn't it great?! If you missed out, or didn't quite get around to every one of the 23 venues, fear not! Here is a taster of photos from each and every one - thank you Ele Nash for the 15,000 steps it took to complete the trail!

The wealth of artistic talent taking part this year was awe-inspiring. As well as paintings, prints, photography, and ceramics there were wire, stone, and clay sculptures, glasswork, pottery, jewellery, box art, cards, and textiles. Visitors had their portrait photo taken, watched demos of stone carving with Bath Stone Carving Group, admired sculptures by Bath Sculpture School, learned watercolour techniques with Catherine Beale and collage with Karen George.

All of that excitement meant the refreshments including lunch at the Peggy Dodd Centre were very welcome!

Venues this year were spread throughout the old village, to the new addition of Mulberry Park, and out into the Foxhill estate. Artists could be found at the St Andrew’s Community Centre, the Museum of Bath Stone, and the Peggy Dodd Centre, as well as in their own studios and homes.

The street gallery on nursery and school railings and in windows showed off artwork created by Combe Down schoolchildren and toddlers and was an excellent addition as always!

The art trail relies on a lot of volunteers so thank you Vikki Yeates, Catherine Beale, and Kathy Pearce for helping to keep everything running as smoothly as it should, to Hilary Strickland for the beautiful posters and map, and to Ele for the walk, website, and our Instagram 😊 

And a final very special thank you to Queen Organiser, Sally Jefferies, who has been in the role of herding artistic cats for the past six years. This was her final one as chief and we can all agree it was the best yet!
]]><![CDATA[Save the Date: 7th - 8th September!]]>Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:17:29 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/save-the-date-7th-8th-september
Before everyone possibly starts going off on their “summer” holidays, make a note for the weekend of 7th - 8th September for the Combe Down Art Trail!!!! We are so excited about the wealth of artistic talent taking part this year with 46 artists taking part, including many new to the trail. 
As well as paintings, prints, photography and ceramics there are sculptures, wire and wooden animals, pottery, jewellery, box art and textiles. This year visitors can have a portrait photo taken, watch demos of stone carving with Bath Stone Carving Group, and sculptures with Bath Sculpture School, watercolour technique with Catherine Beale and collage with Karen George. You can also enjoy refreshments including lunch at the Peggy Dodd Centre.

There are venues throughout the village, with artists at the St Andrew’s Community Centre, the Museum of Bath Stone, and the Peggy Dodd Centre, as well as in their own studios and homes in the village. The street gallery on railings and in windows shows off artwork created by Combe Down schoolchildren and toddlers.

Combe Down Art Trail aims to encourage art across our community and to do as much as possible to protect the environment by reusing and recycling the red and green lanterns, venue numbers and arrows along the route.

The Combe Down Art Trail website is currently being updated (thank you Ele Nash!) and will soon have all the details here including the brochure and art trail map (thank you Hilary Strickland for the beautiful design work, including the image here!)

The art trail relies on a lot of volunteers so thank you too to Sally Jefferies for tirelessly organising the event, and to Vikki Yeates Catherine Beale, and Kathy Pearce for helping to keep everything running as smoothly as it should 😊
]]><![CDATA[Calling all artists in the Combe Down area!]]>Sat, 04 May 2024 10:16:40 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/calling-all-artists-in-the-combe-down-area
Calling all artists in the Combe Down area! We are now open for submissions to this year's Combe Down Art Trail! Are you a jeweller, a sculptor, printmaker, oil painter, watercolourist, ceramicist, photographer, craft-maker, mixed media artist? Do you live or work in the Combe Down area of Bath? Then you might like to join us in our art trail that runs from Saturday 7th - Sunday 8th September, 10am - 4pm!
Please follow the link to our submissions page for more information and how to apply. The closing date for submissions is Sunday 30th June. Any questions, feel free to drop us a line via email cdarttrail@gmail.com.
We look forward to hearing from you!
]]><![CDATA[Group Exhibition at 44AD - Submissions Open]]>Sun, 28 Apr 2024 09:35:09 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/group-exhibition-at-44ad-submissions-open
Calling all art trail artists! We have unexpectedly been given an opportunity to have a group show at 44AD from 15th - 21st July as part of Bath Open Studios (BOS)! Artists from all seven of Bath's annual art trails and open studios, including our Combe Down Art Trail, are invited to submit up to two artworks on the theme 'Outside the Box'. 2D (including box canvasses) and 3D work is welcome and can be a literal take on the theme or artists can think outside the box!

44AD is a really great central venue (near the Abbey) and is a bonus exhibition for artists in the seven art trails in Bath.
Please go to the BOS website for more information and for the submission form if you would like to enter. Submissions close 14th June.
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Don't forget, May and June are packed with other Bath art trails and open studios! ​Larkhall: 4th - 6th May, Newbridge: 18th - 19th May, Bear Flat: 25th - 27th May, and Widcombe: 22nd - 23rd June! Keep a look out too for information coming soon about our own Combe Down Art Trail on 7th and 8th September!
]]><![CDATA[Bath Open Studios Exhibition at the RUH]]>Thu, 19 Oct 2023 19:38:24 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/bath-open-studios-exhibition-at-the-ruh
We’re delighted so many of our artists are taking part in the this year's Bath Open Studios exhibition in support of the Art at the Heart project.
In the central ground floor corridor of the Royal United Hospital, artists from all seven of Bath’s art trails and open studios have come together under the banner of Bath Open Studios to show their amazing artwork!
We know how brilliant the established and emerging artists are in Bath and how hard they work to make their annual art trails the great community events they are. Showing this success in the RUH to a wide range of hospital staff, visitors, outpatients and inpatients is a privilege, with one third of sales supporting Art at the Heart.

Bath Open Studios

"Bath Open Studios (BOS) is delighted to be exhibiting artwork at the RUH, in support of Art at the Heart. On show is a lively and eclectic mix of paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics, sculpture, and mosaic by talented artists across our great city.
BOS is a voluntarily run group representing seven art trails and open studios that take place annually in seven areas of Bath:
Bath Artists’ Studios
Batheaston Art Trail
Bear Flat Open Studios
Combe Down Art Trail
Larkhall Open Studios
Newbridge Arts Trail
Widcombe Art Trail
Bringing together many of the established and emerging artists who take part and organise these community events in one exhibition is a fantastic opportunity to shine a spotlight on their work, as well as on the trails themselves.
Find us on Instagram @bathopenstudios or head over to our website bathopenstudios.co.uk for more information about any of the art trails and open studios, and the artists involved."

Artists taking part from Combe Down

​Paul Wilkins
Catherine Beale
Linda O’Gorman
John Simpson
Penny Richards
Kathy Pearce
Sally Jefferies
Josie Bahar
Wenda Bartlett
Robert Lee
Pat Betts
Richard Ford
Rosemary Simmons
Apoorva Raghav
Ele Nash
The exhibition runs from now until mid-January 2024.
]]><![CDATA[THANK YOU!!]]>Mon, 11 Sep 2023 08:41:04 GMThttps://www.cdarttrail.com/blog/thank-youThank you to everyone who came to our 2023 Combe Down Art Trail on Saturday 9th - Sunday 10th September, 10am - 4pm! And to all the children who created our fabulous street galleries, and to the artists who opened their studio doors and joined in venues to showcase their glasswork, ceramics, craft, paintings, prints, jewellery, photography, and sculpture. It was amazing - even if the weather was a bit hot! Here is what happened...
See you again in September 2024!!
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