VISIT THE DUFTON HOARDE
Enter slowly. The record remains open.
The Dufton Hoarde is a small, artist-led Museum of Rural Memory situated in Dufton in the North Pennines.
Visits are deliberately limited so that the rooms can be encountered without crowding. Time is allowed for looking, reading, conversation and consulting the Public Registers.
ENCOUNTERING THE HOARDE
The Dufton Hoarde is encountered in person through timed visits and small-group bookings.
The Keeper spends an hour with the group introducing the museum and the way it came into being before visitors move through the rooms, encounter the sculptures and fragment texts, and consult the Public Registers.
Simple prompts are available for those who would like them, but nothing has to be completed or resolved.
Tea and coffee are served as part of the encounter.
Duration: approximately two hours
Maximum number: eight people
FUNDED VISITS DURING 2027
Free Keeper-led visits during 2027 are supported through the Land of Lead and Silver programme, led by the North Pennines National Landscape and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.
Funded places will remain available until the allocated programme has been completed.
Funded admission: free
Duration: approximately two hours
Maximum number: eight people
Once the funded allocation has been completed, the standard prices will be:
Individual admission: £18 per person
PRIVATE / GROUP VISITS
A private Keeper-led encounter can be arranged for families, friends and groups of up to eight people.
Separate visits are also welcomed from artists, universities, researchers, museums, heritage organisations and community groups.
Professional visits may include an introduction from Dawn Hurton, time within the museum and a discussion shaped around the interests of the group.
Enquiries are particularly welcomed from those interested in sculpture, rural practice, landscape knowledge, material research, archives, artist-led museums and institutional forms.
Private Keeper-led visit: £120 for up to eight people
Longer or specially tailored visits: arranged by quotation.
AFTER THE HOARDE
The encounter can continue beyond the museum.
Visitors may take a self-guided walking kit into the surrounding landscape. It includes a short route, map and a series of prompts for noticing paths, walls, water, weather, former mining ground and other traces held in the place.
A local stop for refreshments or lunch may also be suggested. Food and refreshments outside the Hoarde are booked and paid for separately.
The walking kit is included with funded visits during 2027 while stocks and programme resources remain available.
The route is self-guided and subject to weather, ground conditions and individual access requirements.
MAKE A MUSEUM FRAGMENT
A one-day making encounter with the Hoarde
The day begins inside the museum.
Participants select a piece of landscape knowledge from the books, maps, images and records gathered around the work. This might concern need-fire, hoar frost, a sheep smoot, mining signs, women’s labour, water beneath stone or another detail that has survived only partially.
Following a demonstration, each person makes a small museum fragment using paper, rag pulp, fibre, earth pigment and materials associated with the Hoarde.
The object is not made as a historical replica. It becomes a material response to the knowledge selected.
Participants also write a short museum label or Register entry through which the object enters an imagined collection.
No previous experience is required.
Duration: approximately 10.30am–4.30pm
Capacity: five to six people
Individual places: £110 per person
Private group of five: £525
Private group of six: £600
Materials and refreshments are included. Lunch arrangements are confirmed separately.
No public dates are currently scheduled. Bespoke days can be arranged for groups, artists, students, researchers and organisations.
THE KEEPER’S TABLE
A commissioned small-group creative wellbeing offer
The Keeper’s Table is a calm, supported encounter for groups of up to four people.
It combines time inside the museum with material handling, simple making, conversation and, where appropriate, a short encounter with the surrounding landscape.
No artistic experience is required and there is no pressure to complete a finished object. The emphasis is on sensory engagement, companionship, careful looking and working at an individual pace.
The Keeper’s Table can be commissioned by social-prescribing services, care organisations, charities, community groups, wellbeing programmes and cultural partners.
Duration: approximately two and a half hours
Capacity: up to four people
Commissioned fee: from £400 per session
Six-session programme: from £2,400
Materials and refreshments are included.
The level of support, access requirements, partner responsibilities and any evaluation are agreed with the commissioning organisation.
The Keeper’s Table is an artist-led creative wellbeing offer. It is not clinical therapy.
THE KEEPER’S FIELD SHELTER
Making days, commissioned gatherings and small-group sessions may also take place seasonally in the Keeper’s Field Shelter.
The traditional canvas field shelter stands in the garden beside the museum and provides a place for reading, handling materials, making and gathering close to the landscape from which the Hoarde has grown.
Visitors encounter the museum first and then move into the shelter to work in response to it.
The Field Shelter is a contemporary working structure. It should not be presented as an original historic feature or a reconstruction associated with the former inn or mining industry.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Opening dates: [ADD OR LINK TO BOOKING CALENDAR]
Visit length: approximately two hours
Maximum public group size: eight people
Address and postcode: [ADD]
Arrival: [ADD WHERE VISITORS SHOULD WAIT AND HOW EARLY THEY SHOULD ARRIVE]
Parking: [ADD]
Access: [ADD STEPS, THRESHOLDS, DOOR WIDTHS, SEATING, LIGHTIG AND ANY LIMITATIONS]
Toilet: [ADD]
Children: [ADD AGE, SUPERVISION AND BOOKING POLICY]
Photography: [ADD]
Assistance dogs: [ADD]
Outdoor activity: Walking and use of the Field Shelter are subject to weather and ground conditions.
Late arrival and cancellation: [ADD]
Contact:hello@dawnhurton.com or the relevant visit enquiry form.