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

Privacy Policy Effective Date 17/11/2018 This Privacy Policy applies to the Blandford Fashion Museum website www.blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk and operated websites and its subdomains. This Privacy Policy explains what information of yours will be collected by the museum when you access the website and how the information will be used, and how you can control the collection, correction and/or deletion of information. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information we collect by other means (including offline) or from other sources. The use of information collected through our websites shall be limited to the purposes under this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service to customers. This website may log some information about website users (such as IP addresses). This information is anonymous and is held purely for system administration purposes. We may collect personally identifiable information about you, such as your full name, phone number and email address. Personal information will be stored on a secure server and will be processed by the site’s webmaster as the data controller. This data will be held and processed under the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018. Such information may be shared across the museum for the purpose of providing services to you. We will not give information about you to anyone else, or use information about you for other purposes, unless your consent has been given or the law allows this. The use of your personal information is also covered by our registration under the Data Protection Act 2018. You can, under this legislation, request a copy of the information we hold about you. If any information we hold about you is incorrect please let us know. We are committed to upholding the principles of the Data Protection Act, and will not process your information in a way incompatible with these principles. An individual who seeks access, or to correct, amend or delete inaccurate data should direct his query to webmaster@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk . If requested to remove data, we will respond within 30 days. Communication Whenever we contact you through email you will be told how to opt out of being updated by email in the future. This privacy statement only covers the websites run by the Blandford Fashion Museum. Other links within these sites to other websites are not covered by this privacy statement. We aim to ensure that our websites are up to date and relevant for our visitors. To help us achieve this goal we use Google Analytics and other analytical systems to analyse anonymous data collected by cookies about how visitors use our websites. This data also helps us to measure the success of our marketing campaigns. Cookies The information below shows cookies that are set by this website. We and any appointed third party company may use cookies and pixel tags to collect information about your use of the website to help us make improvements to our website. Cookies are small data files that are sent to your browser and pixel tags are needed in order to read cookies. Some cookies sent to your browser will help to save you time, for example by enabling you to leave a booking half way through and browse other parts of the website before returning to your booking. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings in your browser. However, you may not be able to use all the interactive features of our site if cookies are disabled. If you choose to disable cookies, each time you go to a new page, you will be treated as a new user and information that you input on other pages may not be saved. Cookies are usually automatically enabled, but you can choose not to accept them, you can choose to delete existing cookies from your browser or, by editing your browser options, choose not to allow cookies in future.) You may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to modify the cookie settings on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies. Measuring website usage (Google Analytics) We use Google Analytics on an ongoing basis to collect information about how people use the website, and from time to time share other third-party services. We do this to make sure we are meeting our users’ needs and to understand how we can improve the site. Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how you got here and what you click on. We do not collect or store any personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify you. We do not allow Google to share our analytics data. We use Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting to more accurately determine visitors by age, gender and interests. This helps us better establish the types of content we make available and what we produce online is relevant to our audiences. You can opt out of Google Analytics by implementing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

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.

Tea Room Welcome to our award-winning tearoom and gift shop situated on the ground floor of the museum. Enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with a slice of cake or maybe a cream tea in our traditional tearoom! We offer gluten free cake and biscuits and plant-based milk. On a warm day, you can relax in our enclosed sunny courtyard. We allow well behaved dogs in the tearoom but please use the side entrance as only assistance dogs are allowed in the museum. All visitors are welcome whether you are visiting the museum or not. We have an accessible ground floor lavatory and baby changing facilities. Our gift shop sells affordable fashion related books and other souvenirs. New to 2026 we will be selling gift vouchers for that small perfect gift. Please ask at the till.

Historical fashion museum set in a beautiful Georgian townhouse in Dorset LATEST NEWS 'Youthquake:1960s' Exhibition' 14th February 2026 Blandford Fashion Museum is excited to announce that we are now open and we have many new exhibitions to explore including the colourful 'Youthquake:1960s'. This is presented as part of the Fashioning Our Future project with The Salisbury Museum. Thanks to funding received from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Fashioning Our Future project, students from Arts University Bournemouth and local Sixth Forms have been working with the museum team to bring to life this dynamic exhibition. Find out more here ... VOLUNTEER WITH US BECOME A TRUSTEE Come and be a part of this friendly and unique museum and tea room by volunteering with us. Sign up here... We are currently seeking to appoint new Trustees to join our voluntary Board of Directors. We need those willing to take leading roles at Board level in developing sponsorship and donation income streams. For an informal conversation or to express interest, please contact Deputy Chair of Trustees, Associate Professor Rebecca Pride - rebeccapride19@gmail.com. GROUP VISITS Would you like a tailored experience and the chance to see our collection up close and amongst colleagues or friends? We have a variety of packages available! Please visit our 'Group Visit' page here ....

About The late Mrs. Betty Penny MBE founded the Blandford Fashion museum, located in Lime Tree House, in 1996. The house is a beautiful Georgian property in Blandford Forum, built by John and William Bastard after the town’s Great Fire in 1731. Mrs. Penny’s collection of costumes, known locally as the Cavalcade of Costume, form the nucleus of the present collection. However, since then the collection has almost trebled in size and continues to grow thanks to generous donations from the public. In 2024, thanks to Dorset Council for the Culture and Community Project Fund we were able to initiate Stage 1 of our digitisation project, which has enabled us to digitally record all of the paperwork and photography associated with the Cavalcade of Costume. We are looking at a way at making this available through our website but for now, if you are interested in studying this wealth of information please email collections@blandfordfashionmuseum.co.uk . The Arts Council gave the museum accredited status in 2010, and renewed it in 2015. We receive a small grant from the Town Council, but no other public funding. As a result, we have a few paid members of staff and an invaluable team of volunteers. We have a reputation locally for our friendly atmosphere. We have thirteen display spaces over two floors, and there is a rolling programme of exhibition changes. Our exhibitions showcase historic dress and textiles and the connection between fashion and social history. Additional facilities include a Resources Room for use by students studying fashion & textiles and a Lecture Room for study days.

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

The History of Theatre Costume Tuesday 16th June 2026 14:00 - 15:30 pm ... More Jewellery Picture Workshop Thursday 18th June 2026 10:30 - 1:00 pm ... More

'The Textile Collection of Elisabeth Frink' February 2024-May 2026 February 2024-November 2026 Dame Elisabeth Frink RA (1930-1993) Dame Elisabeth Frink was greatly affected by her up bringing during the Second World War and the military family she came from. Her work examines the strength and vulnerability of the male form. She was fascinated by birds and often depicted them. Using wire frames, Frink would build up her sculptures with plaster before casting them in bronze. In her lifetime she created 403 sculptures. As well as sculptures Frink drew, painted and designed in other mediums. Her art career started at Guildford Art School before she went on to Chelsea School of Art. Upon graduating in 1952, her first exhibition was entitled 'Humans and Other Animals'. Through the 1950s and 1960s, she taught at the Chelsea School of Art and St Martin's School of Art in London, alongside her blossoming art career. Whilst living and working in France in the late 1960s that she first started to experiment with her so-called 'Goggle Head' statues, partly inspired by the glasses worn by General Oufkir and to examine oppressive regimes. Upon returning to the UK, she moved to Dorset in 1976 and the following year she was elected as a Royal Academician. In 1982 she was awarded a DBE and continued to exhibit her work and take on large scale sculpture commissions including The Walking Madonna in 1981 which stands outside Salsbury Cathedral. Her final work, The Welcoming Christ, for Liverpool Cathedral was unveiled a few days before her death from cancer in 1993. Many of her sculptures are on display in museums, galleries, towns, cities and religious buildings across Britain and the world. Photographs and ephemera are available to study at Dorset History Centre. The Museum of Dorset holds the Elisabeth Frink collection. The textiles on display are from the Frink Archive at The Blandford Fashion Museum, provided to The Blandford Fashion Museum in accordance with the wishes of the artist's late son, Lin Jammet.

Title Previous Next

Step out in Style this Spring! Join us at the Blandford Fashion Museum on April 2, 2026 at 1:30 PM for a fun, hands-on Easter craft session! We'll be making cute Easter chicks and colorful Easter baskets—perfect for celebrating the season. Don’t miss out on this egg-cellent event! All materials are supplied. Children must be accompanied by a parent/carer. A drink and a biscuit are included in the price and you may also look around the Fashion Museum if you wish. This workshop must have 4 attendees to run. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/get-egg-cited-and-make-some-easter-chicks-and-easter-baskets-tickets-1984769484958?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

'20th Century Brides : A Hundred Years of Wedding Dress' 16th February 2026 Through the 1910s to the 1990s explore how fashion trends and personal choice saw the development of wedding dresses, from fairytale gowns to floral suits and everything in-between.