HERITAGE OPEN DAYS
Dates: Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September

Times: 11am - 4pm
 

FREE ENTRANCE

​

We are delighted to be taking part in Heritage Open Days 2022 - England's largest festival of history and culture.

​

We have lots in store for you on those two days!

What has 6 legs, 5 eyes, 4 wings and its own inbuilt navigation system? A honeybee of course! To celebrate these quirky facts and indeed lots more about bees, we at Westbury Bee Group are excited to be holding our first Bee Festival. Highlights include children’s activities, story-telling, a treasure hunt (weather permitting), candle-making, seed-bomb making, gifts for sale, honey from our own hives at Westbury to taste and buy, a Honey Cake baking competition. Our youngest member, aged 9, who has been beekeeping for over a year now, is giving talks on his experiences and will be answering your questions. Our ever-popular Observation Hive will also be on display for you to see the bees up close, busily working away only centimetres from your nose…but safely behind glass. And our raffle, amongst other prizes, gives the chance to win a real beehive; the latest trend in outside decor, a hive makes a great talking point in the garden and can double as a storage solution. Or of course you could keep some bees in it!

​

​

Do you love to bake or have an aspiring baker in the family?

If so, why not enter our Honey Cake baking competition?

Cakes to be delivered to our Barn Gallery on Sunday 11 September

- 11am - 12.30pm for judging.

Please click on the image for the recipe that must be used.

​

​

​

​

​

Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust will also be joining us with information on the work that they do and the nature reserves they care for. They will offer advice on wildlife friendly gardening, volunteering and membership with the Trust. They will also have information on their Children’s Wildlife Watch Club and have some nature themed children’s activities to join in with.

​

The Artist Collective @ Westbury will have an exhibition within the main house and will be opening their studios.

​

The Legge Gallery will feature art created by members of our Westbury Art Club.

​

Meet us in The Great Hall at 1pm to learn more about our history.

“MK has no history”, you may hear, but it has – and not all from the late 1960s. Before the New City, it was a mainly rural area, and close by Shenley Wood there was a small farm called Westbury.

It hadn’t always been a smallholding. Once, there was a moated manor house here and even further back it was owned by a Saxon Lord, Wulfward the White, who lost it to a Norman Knight after the 1066 invasion. In 1670 the squire rebuilt the manor and installed a magnificent front door – our ‘Armada Door’.

Like many local farms it became part of the hunting landscape of Victorian England. Passing briefly into private hands in the 1950s it became a home for local artists, many of whom have gone on to international fame.

It’s actually quite the story. It’s why we call it ‘Milton Keynes’ Hidden Jewel’.

​

You can also join us on our walk around the ancient woodland that is Shenley Wood. The walk is led by a Parks Trust Guide.  Places are limited so do book your place using the link below.

​