We feel privileged that these artists have generously donated their work to be loved and cared for by us!
We are open to visitors on:
10am - 1pm Mondays (by arrangement), Tuesdays, Wednesdays (by arrangement), Thursdays
10am-4pm Wednesday 13th May
1pm-5pm Sundays
A collage of images from artworks donated to the museum: a butterfly, beetle, snowdrops and pine cones, Richard Jefferies' desk, and an abstract black and white print.
gifted
3rd - 31st May
The Richard Jefferies Museum has been very fortunate to have artistic friends, and for our first exhibition of 2026, it's our great pleasure to share with everyone all the quirky, classic, and beautiful art we've been gifted over the years.
#art #exhibition
Three trees are the focus, these are located in our lower garden. Leaves are only just starting to unfurl, but the branches are covered with white flowers. You can just spot the old cart parked by the back gate.
April showers (and hail, and bright sunshine) bring, er, April flowers?
Some of our fruit trees are letting us know they're awake (just look at those gorgeous white blooms)... thanks to the wassail the Swindon Folk Club brings through our gardens every January!
#trees #ThickTrunkTuesday
While lots of work is still going on in the gardens, nature still lets us know that it's springtime, and everything is waking up!
Two amaryllis flowers blooming in the office. Note the red outlines on the white petals!
Clumps of beautiful blue forget-me-nots, lately visited by a bee, glow in the spring sunshine.
Moss grows on a slice of log, propped up against a metal fence in the copse.
Jack-by-the-hedge and its green, heart-shaped and saw-toothed leaves, flowers by the wooden gate.
It turns out today is International Plant Appreciation Day!
"A hundred years of cowslips, blue-bells, violets; purple spring and golden autumn; sunshine, shower, and dewy mornings; the night immortal; all the rhythm of Time unrolling."
The Open Air
#PhotoMonday #plants #nature
A group of people standing and sitting, smiling for the camera, as they flank a golden statue of a man. The museum cottage and new greenhouse are in the background. Please note the date this image has been posted.
Well, a centre-piece for our new garden design has been gifted to us by an anonymous donor in America. All we have to do in thanks is change our name to 'The Donald Trump and Richard Jefferies Museum'.
An actor in Victorian-style dress sits on an old cart, reading a book, while the videographer films him.
The actor playing Richard Jefferies sits on the single bed in the attic room, striking a thoughtful pose as the videographer adjusts the angle of the shot.
A videographer holds a camera on a gimbal, filming an actor walking through a garden.
A few more shots of @primetheatre.bsky.social's day at the Richard Jefferies Museum. Many thanks to the team for doing such stellar work!
Two people stand in front of a banner promoting local supermarket Asda's community foundation. They are carrying an assortment of gardening items, donated by Asda to the Richard Jefferies Museum.
Many thanks to Asda for their very kind donation of gardening items - they will really come in handy this year!
The actor is being dressed to play Richard Jefferies. He wears a white shirt, black waistcoat, and neckerchief (cravat?).
The actor smiles slightly, and his script (actually notes to help him ad-lib) sits on the floor a little in front of him.
The videographer adjusting his image composition. The digital SLR is mounted on a very sophisticated-looking gimbal and tripod.
The videographer gets some up close shots of Richard Jefferies' actual desk, which is being used in the video.
We had the crew from Prime Theatre at the museum today, filming pieces for a project involving primary schools. These will be used prior to students visiting the museum!
#BehindTheScenes
@marstrina.bsky.social @jimrobbins.bsky.social @swindoncouncil.bsky.social @primetheatre.bsky.social
The Richard Jefferies Society has planned a public walk around Coate on 18th April, starting at the museum at 10.45am - come along for a pleasant constitutional! A public talk follows on Jefferies' post-apocalyptic novel After London (from 2.30pm).
www.richardjefferiessociety.org/2026/03/rich...
"... dotted with yellow buttercups, and strewn with bloom shaken by the wind from the trees: is not this better than formal-patterned carpets, and the white flat ceilings that weigh so heavily upon the sight?"
Wild Life in a Southern County
Spring blossom from the cherry plum at the bottom of the garden is starting to fall, the ground of the den is covered in it.
The enormous cherry plum, whose canopy creates the museum's den. Its blossom for this year is starting to fall, and it is carpeting the floor.
More signs of spring, very welcome after such a wet winter!
#Spring #ThickTrunkTuesday #trees
"A flood of sunshine falling through a roof of rosy pink and delicate white blossom overhead; underneath, grass deeply green with the vigour of spring...
We are still trying to raise funds for the initial phases of the Centre for Arts and Wildlife. Please donate if you can!
www.richardjefferies.org/caw
#charity #fundraising #weather
We obviously aren't losing £137k a day when the forecast is poor... BUT it does highlight one of our big issues here at the museum as most of our usable space is outdoors, and why we desperately need a new building!
'Misleading weather apps cost attractions thousands'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
A little head made out of soil / compost, with seedlings for hair, and little stones for ears and teeth. This little character is smiling!
What an utterly brilliant sculpture one of our volunteers, Freddie, made this week. 🤯
It could definitely do with a name, don't you think?
#NameTheHead #art #volunteers #spontaneity #sculpture
Close-up side view of the white flowers from the blackthorn, a UK native plant.
Another view of the white flowers from the blackthorn, a UK native plant, on a sunny day.
Spring is springing. 🌼
"The blackthorn is perhaps the first conspicuous flower..."
Wild Life in a Southern County
#TimelineCleanse #BloomScrolling
..., and give their artist freedom to paint to fancy, for it is Nature's imagination which delights us—as I tried to explain about the tree, the imagination, and not the fact of the timber and sticks."
The Open Air
A number of families sitting at benches and under trees in the 'copse' area of the museum grounds.
What a beautiful day to be outside!
#Spring #NatureTots #Outdoors
"Those, therefore, who really wish their gardens or grounds, or any place, beautiful, must get that greatest of geniuses, Nature, to help them...
Diggers and other bright yellow industrial equipment parked by the roadside, with two workers in high visibility clothing in the background.
Props to Swindon Borough Council for turning up as scheduled to remove the large sign blocking motorists' view of our lovely museum and preparing to add a new pedestrian walkway, plus a dropped kerb to serve our side entrance!
@swindoncouncil.bsky.social @jimrobbins.bsky.social
Two extremely tiny white mushrooms growing on a dead branch. In the background is an old tray with partitions that we use at Nature Tots for storing garden discoveries.
Ferns and their bright yellow (orange?) spores!
This is why #NatureIsAwesome.
Nature Tots is back this morning!
richardjefferiesmuseum.sumupstore.com/product/natu...
We've set up a new #Pixelfed profile dedicated to photos from our 'grand design' — beautiful, more accessible gardens and a new #community #building.
Highlights will be featured on our other channels, but if you'd like to see everything, follow us over there!
gram.social/richardjeffe...
A seed snail (cardboard and compost wrapped in a spiral), sitting on a cardboard sign saying as such.
A small hand, holding a wooden spoon, spreading compost onto a plastic strip that is used in making seed snails.
Two children scooping and spreading compost onto plastic sheeting, an esential step in making seed snails.
It's the last couple of days of the #FestivalOfTomorrow and we're at STEAM, making seed snails.
It's been great to see so many families engaging in the activities on offer from so many different groups.
#community #science #Swindon
A toddler's wellie boots and flowery coat are seen with the toddler using a stick to write in the very muddy ground.
Big, big appreciation to our Nature Tots/Kids families for removing muddy footwear when entering the museum - it really helps to keep the museum clean!
#KeepYourMuseumClean #mud #toddlers #ToddlerLife
A small red backpack with printed images of cars, traffic lights, and lorries.
Someone's left a bag at the museum, get in touch if it's yours.
#LostAndFound #Swindon #NatureTots
If you're able to help us raise funds for our ambitious plans, you can donate here: www.justgiving.com/campaign/rjcaw
Thank you - any amount you can spare helps!
The museum's faithful friend, Royston Cartwright, has called our attention to the fact that the museum and our grand design has made the local paper!
www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/2584680...
#Fundraising #FundraisingFriday #Swindon #Arts #Wildlife #Community
A small clump of snowdrops viewed from above.
Pink hellebores in the flowerbed in front of the cottage.
A lone daffodil blooms proudly under the holm oak.
Periwinkles next to the kitchen (staff) door.
"Before I had any conscious thought it was a delight to me to find wild flowers, just to see them."
The Open Air
#WildflowerWednesday #BloomScrolling
Nature Tots is an outdoor group with a focus on nature and all its bountiful gifts - come dressed for the weather and sensory play (i.e. mess)!
Book 5 separate dates in a single purchase and every child gets a free cupcake and drink, as does one accompanying adult (they can have a grown up cake).
A toddler looks out of a window of the museum's first floor, peering at families playing in the gardens below. The window is covered with a semitransparent film, detailing what the gardens may have looked like in Richard Jefferies' childhood.
When the children go back to school after half-term, the museum's stay and play group reverts to its 0-5 focus with Nature Tots.
richardjefferiesmuseum.sumupstore.com/product/natu...
#nature #toddlers #ToddlerLife #InvitationsToPlay
