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THANK YOU to everyone who took part, supported, and came along to our 2026 Art Trail! There may have been a downpour, but nothing could deter the determined art trailer! More than 250 of you visited one or more of our 30 venues, enjoying chatting to local artists, appreciating a multitude of styles and forms of artwork, and buying lots of goodies to put in your homes or give to friends and family. Amazing!
All the over 40 artists, from tots to 90year olds, worked extremely hard producing outstanding work. Thank you for opening your studio doors and homes! Also thank you to our venues who offered up their space for artists - @museumofbathstone @calmer_rooms the Peggy Dodd Centre, the Jewish Burial Ground - and our community venues @combedownnursery @htcdchurch @combedownprimary @mulberry.park.educate.together @happydaysnurseries @combedowntoddlers @wildaboutbath And the hugest thanks to our leader @tapestries_by_natasha who, while juggling a busy day job as an architect with raising a young family AND creating beautiful tapestries, runs our art trail with a generous and organised spirit You are brilliant! Our designers in print, website, and social media @elenashart and @hilarystricklandart have (hehem ) also worked very hard to keep the art trail information sleek and up-to-date. So now, let’s all have a jolly good rest - but not for too long. It’s never too early to start creating and preparing for next year’s art trail! See you there!
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Introducing the gorgeous artwork, artists, and venues for this year's Combe Down Art Trail, set to take place on Saturday 12th - Sunday 13th September, 10am - 4pm!
Explore the work of over 40 local artists, schools and art groups exhibiting across 30 venues, with an inspiring range of painting, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, photography, jewellery, and much more. Begin your visit at the Museum of Bath Stone, where the 'Snapshot of the Trail' exhibition brings together a piece from every participating artist, offering the perfect introduction to the weekend. Join us for a vibrant celebration of local creativity, open studios, and the thriving artistic community of Combe Down!
(Special thanks to Hilary Strickland, Natasha Smiljkovic, and Ele Nash for all their tireless work putting together this year's trail - from posters to maps, venue listings to curating, website updating to Instagram posts, this is all done by them and on a completely voluntary basis!) 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!  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 [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!!
COMBE DOWN ART TRAIL 2025 When: 13th - 14th September 2025, 10 AM - 4 PM Where: Combe Down (see map for boundary)  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. . 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!  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! 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!
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 😊
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 [email protected].
We look forward to hearing from you!
Please go to the BOS website for more information and for the submission form if you would like to enter. Submissions close 14th June.
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! |
AuthorEle Nash Archives
September 2026
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