Last Chance for free school visits to Houghton Revisited in November

An extra 300 places for school and college visits are being made available until the close of the 'Houghton Revisited' exhibition on 24th November, giving young people from across Norfolk an insight into a host of art treasures and artefacts collected by Britain's first Prime Minister.

Slots will be available on Wednesdays and Thursdays in November for groups of up to 30 students and teachers.

Schools can also access a host of specially created online resources, including a bespoke artist workshop lesson plan, prior to seeing the exhibits to give them more of an insight into how they can experience the art as well as the priceless treasures they are going to see.

'From Russia with Love', the education programme for the Houghton Revisited exhibition, was awarded funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The exhibition sees a number of paintings of international importance collected by this country's first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole returned to this country and hung in his Houghton Hall home exactly as they were two centuries ago.

Most of the works by renowned painters like Van Dyck, Velazquez and Rubens originally left Norfolk when they were sold to Catherine The Great and had pride of place in The Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia, before returning back to the UK specifically for this exhibition.

Already a large number of schools have taken part in the special education programme and organisers hope the extension will encourage even more to take part.

One of the schools who has already taken part is Ingoldisthorpe Primary where pupils and teachers thought it was a valuable visit. Ten-year-old Ben Richards, from Dersingham, said: 'I think people should come and visit because when you see the building, you think 'wow, this is going to be really good' and it is really good'. Classmate James Sutton, also ten and from Dersingham, added: 'Children should come and visit because it will really blow their mind. It is a really good place to see.'

A visit has also encouraged many to create their own displays. One example is Fairstead Primary School at King's Lynn who designed an exhibition inspired by what they saw which was then put in the education room at Houghton over the summer for other visitors to enjoy.

Meanwhile primary school pupils at Aldborough, near Cromer, are planning to recreate one of their school rooms in the architectural style of Houghton Hall, inspired by the building and the exhibition.

To book a visit for your school, please call the Norwich Theatre Royal on 01603 598582. Teachers can also email inquiries to education@houghtonhall.com

To access the education website, log onto www.houghtonrevisited.com/education.