Explore the Bowes Museum for fun for all the family

Bowes Museum’s summer school will feature Magic Workshops on Monday, August 9 and Monday, August 16 from 9.30am until 4pm, where youngsters will be able to learn amazing magic tricks to wow their friends and family with from the Museum’s favourite, Magic Andrew.

They can then enjoy a packed lunch followed by an afternoon of crafts and exploring the adventures of Clara exhibition – all about Clara the rhino, who was once the most famous rhino in the world.

Children can embrace their inner divas on the final day of the Museum’s summer school on Monday, August 23.

From 9.30am until 4pm they can follow in the footsteps of Museum founder Joséphine Bowes by learning theatrical skills.

After enjoying some packed lunches they’ll don stage make up and put on a show!

Visitors can follow the fantastic adventures of Clara exhibition trails until October 31 to hear, see and even smell what life was like for the most famous rhinoceros of the 18th century, who travelled from her home in India to become a celebrity in Europe.

She toured cities meeting kings and noblemen and was greeted by cheering crowds wherever she went; inspiring poems, paintings and sculptures like the Museum’s own white marble one to be created. Visitors can follow fun rhino fact packed trails both inside the Museum and in the grounds to discover more about this amazing rhinoceros as well as find out how to save the species for the future as the Museum has teamed up with the charity Helping Rhinos.

Come and join Clara’s escapades around the Museum on Saturday, September 25 from 11am until 3pm with our Clara family fun days, with loads of crafts and trails for people of all ages to enjoy during these magical days, with lots of free activities in the grounds and others, free with admission, inside the Museum.

Every week throughout the holiday season visitors to the Museum’s gardens will be able to join in with some free craft making sessions to celebrate the adventures of Clara.

On Mondays from 11am until 3pm they’ll be able to make free Woven Dreamcatchers inspired by her journey by land and sea. Materials can represent land, sea, culture, fashion or climate.

The dreamcatchers can be decorated with sticks, straws, leaves, ribbons and bows.

On Tuesdays, people can join in the free Message in a Bottle activities in the grounds from 11am until 3pm.

They can design and create a map celebrating our adventures of Clara exhibition. Stain it with tea and add rhino paw prints to show part of her journey, India to Rotterdam or her trip around Europe. Use a feather quill pen to inscribe a message of hope, kindness, courage and friendship, just like Clara and the captain’s journey. Then they can roll and tie it with a ribbon before popping in a bottle to take home.

Our Little Treasures group continues to meet throughout the summer months, from 10am until noon on Thursday mornings. Costing £3 a child, it’s great way to introduce little ones to the Museum in a fun and exciting way.

They get to make a craft and explore the collection with stories and singing along the way. It’s also a chance to make new friends for young and old alike.

On Saturdays throughout the holidays, children can join in the free fun celebrations in the grounds with our Venice Welcomes Clara activities, from 11am until 3pm, where members of the Museum’s education team will be handing out kits to create a festive rhino eye mask or horn headdress inspired by Venetian masks that can be decorated with lace, ribbon, sparkles or pompoms.

For adults, help us celebrate our sensational Spanish collection of paintings, which is among the very best in the UK, during the final of our late events on Friday, September 24 from 6pm until 9pm in this superb Spanish themed evening, Hola Spain!

Enjoy live music and sangria as you saunter around the Museum’s awe inspiring galleries for £5.

Hankering after the flavour of Spanish fayre? Then book a table in Café Bowes to savour some scrumptious tapas to make an evening of it.

Do you feel sometimes feel like everyone else comes up with the bright ideas?

Well, you can find out their secret during our Get Creative - Explore, Experiment and Play with Light sessions in the Museum on Saturday, August 21, Sunday, August 22 and Sunday, September 4, from 10am until 3pm for those aged 16 and over.

It costs £50 including lunch and bursary places are available on application.

During these day long sessions with the creative thinker Dave Bramston, participants will explore, experiment and play with light using ceramics, glass and paper.

No specialist equipment or knowledge required.

Join the internationally renowned textile artist Pauline Burbidge for an Illustrated Talk on Saturday, August 28 from 2.30pm until 3.30pm to find out what inspired her to create the quilt she donated to the Museum that’s on view in the North Country Quilts exhibition. She’ll give a presentation that will track her inspiration, making and completing two of her most recent quilts, “Plantforms”, which is on display and a recent “Quiltscape” called “re-told Stories: Pitt Rivers Legacy”.

The talk, which costs £5 per person, will end with a short film and there will be opportunity to ask Pauline questions at the end.

Bring your picnic and a blanket and join us for a day of creativity on Monday, August 30 on the back lawn of the Museum for our Young Curator’s Tea Party.

They’ve been inspired by the Fashion and Textiles collection and have put together a day of workshops you can try your hands at from 11.30am until 3.30pm.

Jess Langford and Lucy Addison will be leading a jewellery making workshop and you can also create your own statement fashion accessory in another.

There will also be an open-air photo studio where Young Curator and photographer Sophie Somers will be taking portraits of people adorned in their newly created jewellery and fashion pieces. Please note if you are under 16 you must be accompanied by an adult.

Join North East painter Gavin Watson for his sketching the Museum workshops on Saturday, September 4, where you can do some sketching in the grounds, looking at the Museum building, the people in the grounds and taking inspiration from the current exhibition by ceramicist Paul Scott.

The sessions run from 10.30am until 1pm and from 2pm until 4.30pm. They cost £30 per person and all materials will be provided.

Programme your brain to think link a genius in the Museum’s Get Creative - Have-a-go - Manipulate, Explore, Play (online) workshops on Sunday, September 5, Wednesday, September 8 and Thursday, September 9 from 5.30pm to 6.20pm for those aged 16 and over. Join this 50-minute online session with creative thinker Dave Bramston looking at how ideas are generated with short, simple hands-on activities. No specialist equipment or knowledge required.

Visit thebowesmuseum.org.uk to download the outdoor trails for the Woodland Fairy Trail and Nature Trail to do at any time in the grounds.