Workshops Step out in Style this Spring! Monday 30th March 2026 10:30 - 12:00 pm Read More

Exhibitions 'Laura Ashley : From Kitchen to Catwalk' Extended until Summer 2026 Read more 'The Textile Collection of Elisabeth Frink' February 2024-Summer 2026 Read more 'Power Dressing' February 2025 - November 2026 Read more '20th Century Brides : A Hundred Years of Wedding Dress' 16th February 2026 Read more 'Youthquake:1960s' 16th February 2026 Read more More... More... More... More... More...

Online Talks List Online Talks for 2026 coming soon ...... Calling all Fashion Designers! Be inspired by our 'Youthquake:1960s' exhibition to design your own garments. We will use our Youthquake:1960s exhibition as a starting point to spark creativity in designing some exciting and innovative garments. Students from Arts University Bournemouth and local 6th forms worked with the staff from the Fashion Museum to bring this dynamic exhibition to life. We will also examine the the sketches, paintings and collage work of Heidy and Isabelle Becks. All materials will be supplied but feel free to bring your own pens, pencils and colouring materials with you. Under 16s must be accompanied by a parent/carer https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/calling-all-fashion-designers-tickets-1984958686866?aff=ebdsoporgprofile Read More

Accessibility Access to the Tearoom and Shop via ramp Accessible toilet Restricted wheelchair access to the ground floor Illuminated magnifying glasses available from the ticket desk Hearing induction loop available in the Lecture Room for use during talks and lectures Free entry for one carer / companion accompanying a disabled visitor. Were currently working on making the building more accessible for all visitors. We have steps to access the first floor but a digital screen is available to view the full collection.

Education Blandford Fashion Museum can support teaching and learning in your school or college. We can offer: Suitcase Loans A suitcase loan of clothing for a specific period eg WW2, Victorians. The suitcase can be collected from the Fashion Museum and kept for display for one or two weeks, depending on demand from other schools. The cost is £15 per week for the loan. For older students we can offer collections showing garment construction, such as boning or lace insertion. Talks at the Museum We can organise tours of the Museum for groups of children. Staff are welcome to come and view the exhibits prior to booking for their class. The cost for a visit to the Museum is £60 for up to 15 students. We offer a talk looking at the contents of a suitcase that a Victorian maid would take with her to her place of employment. The cost of a visit plus a talk is £90 per visit for up to 15 students. Family Workshops at the Museum We run regular popular family workshops and advertise these events through local schools, the Blandford Fashion Museum website and Eventbrite. eg Easter Hat workshop, ‘Make it Yours’ workshop where participants decorated a plain garment with fabric pens and embellishments. Research facilities Older students can request to see and sketch specific items to support their work in school. They would then be able to have the garments made available at a specific time by contacting info@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk . The cost for a research visit is £25 but this can be shared by up to 5 students. Notice is required in order for us to meet these requests effectively. Refreshments The Fashion Museum has a very inviting tea room where refreshments can be purchased. School groups can be accommodated in our Lecture Room. Break or lunchtime can be taken in the tea room. Please note we only sell scones, cakes and biscuits. Our shop has a range of items for sale, including books and our Museum Brochure.

Volunteering Did you know that Blandford Fashion Museum is led mostly by volunteers? We pride ourselves on the friendliness of our volunteers and the valuable contribution they make towards the running of the Museum. Whatever time you can give, volunteering is proven to benefit your health and wellbeing and can provide you with a sense of purpose, it can help you meet new friends, teach you new skills and bring fun into your life! The Museum now has some exciting opportunities where you can get involved with this fantastic local attraction and make a difference in our friendly museum tearoom and giftshop. If you are interested in volunteering and would like more information on any of these roles please email us at facilities@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk

Title Previous Next

Become a Member For information about becoming a Member of the Museum, which includes free access and discounts to our events, please email fashionmuseumblandford@gmail.com

Email - facilities@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk - Daily operational queries collections@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk - Collections related enquiries Phone - 01258 453 006 Post - Lime Tree House, The Plocks, Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 7AA Getting Here - Our opening days are Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10.00 am to 4.30 pm (last entry 4pm) . We are closed December- Mid-February each year for the change of exhibitions. Entrance: Adults - £6.00 Seniors (60+) - £5.00 Students (16+) - £4.00 Children under 16 - Free Friends of the Museum - Free Essential Carer - Free Please note that under 16s must be accompanied by a fee paying adult. On Foot Lime Tree house is on The Plocks, opposite the Royal British Legion in the centre of Blandford Forum. From the Market Place, follow the lane at the front of the Church (Church Lane) up past the small Short Stay car park. The museum is on your left. By Car The museum is in the centre of town, in the middle of Blandford’s one way system. From the Market Place, follow the system around to Salisbury Street, and then bear right at the fork. Turn immediately right into The Plocks and you will see the museum on your right. There is some on-street parking opposite the museum, and a short stay car park on Church Lane. Further parking (including Long Stay) can be found at Eagle House Gardens or at the Stour Meadows Car Park (free of charge). Both of which are only a short walk away. By Train Blandford Forum does not have a train station, but our nearest stations are Salisbury, Sherborne, Poole and Bournemouth (all around 40 mins by car). By Bus Y4 – Yeovil7 – Blandford St MaryX8 – PooleX12 – Weymouth20 – Blandford187 – Dorchester Advertising Partners If you are visiting Dorset on holiday, visit Cottage Holidays for places to stay: https://www.cottageholidays.com/blandford-forum/ Contact Us

Donation To Support Our Work We love sharing and celebrating fashion history with you, but we are only a small museum, staffed mostly by volunteers. We work hard to keep our prices low, but if you can give more please consider a monetary donation. Your donation would go towards a range of vital costs we have to keep the museum running, from heating and dehumidifying our rooms so we can provide the correct environment for our historic textiles, to emergency repair works (this year we have had to contend with a leaking roof, a broken dishwasher in our tearoom and issues with our boiler). It could also help us to afford to keep running events by contributing to the payment of equipment, guests and staff as well as subsiding the prices for our family focused workshops. We are a charity, as well as one of the only fashion focused museums in the UK. If you can, please consider donating today. Thank you. If you would like to make a monetary donation please follow this link: https://fashion-museum-blandford.arttickets.org.uk/donate Charity Number (Cavalcade of Costume Ltd): 1052471 Contact us at collections@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk Our donations page is hosted by the Art Fund SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER Enter your email here...* Yes, subscribe me to your newsletter. * Subscribe

Donations / Acquisitions Due to storage issues, we have to be very strict on accepting donations and making acquisitions. If you would like to donate items to the Blandford Fashion Museum please email photographs and any relevant information to collections@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk The donations will then be considered by our display team, before going through the acquisition panel, where the collections' manager and a group of trustees will decide if we accept the item. This process can take a few months. We are lucky that we receive a lot of offers of donations, but to process them takes time. If your item is accepted, we will arrange the relevant paperwork and set a date to deposit the item.Please note, as we are a fashion museum we only take items relating to costume and fashionable dress. We do not currently accept other textiles (such as quilts, tapestries etc) or social history items (such as dolls). We currently do not have the budget to purchase any items for the collection. Items accepted may be taken into our main collection, our education collection or be used for set dressing, but we will discuss these options with you more thoroughly depending on what we think is best for the item. Please do not deposit or post any donations to the museum without prior confirmation that we will accept the item. Doing this may result in disposal. Thank you for considering donating to us.