Caroline Allen is our Visits Secretary:

In my role as the ExeDFAS Visits Secretary I try to stimulate interest in the decorative and fine arts by arranging pleasurable and informative trips to those places of specific cultural interest members would not normally have access to. For instance last year, as well as enjoying trips to Powderham Castle and The American Museum at Bath, we were privileged to be given an exclusive private viewing of the magnificent Castle Hill House & Gardens near South Molton, escorted around the house by the Countess of Arran herself, whose lovely home it is.

This coming year I intend to continue along the same lines with upcoming expeditions planned to the Exeter Catacombs in October and Sir Walter Raleigh's Sherborne Castle in May 2012; followed by a combined private visit in June 2012 to the secreted Cothelstone Manor with its rare Grade 1 listed gatehouse and the nearby beautiful medieval Cothay Manor & Gardens.

Following the success of last year's mini-break to Buxton, we will also repeat the 4 day / 3 night format with a trip to Dublin in late June 2012. Our hotel is ideally situated in the centre of the city from which we can explore among other sites the National Gallery of Ireland, the Hugh Lane Gallery of modern and contemporary art, Trinity College, and Dublin Castle which houses the Chester Beatty Library containing a rich collection of manuscripts, prints and early books, and the National Botanical Gardens.  We will have a dedicated guide in the daytime, and discuss what we have seen and experienced over convivial dinners in the evenings.  It is very satisfying to spend time on these visits with like-minded souls who enjoy similar interests. I hope to give members more of such satisfying times this coming year.
                                                                   Caroline