GILBERT White and the Oates Collection Museum will be celebrating with a day of African dancing, crafts and activities for its re-launch after spending £3m of lottery funding.
Tom Heap, of BBC television’s Countryfile and other programmes, will be performing the opening ceremony of the new stableyard and galleries at the Selborne venue this Saturday at 11.30am.
Throughout the day, the Lions of Zululand will be performing and conducting workshops. Visitors can enjoy the expanded museum, galleries and grounds free for the day.
Among other attractions will be silhouette artist Steve Price who creates portraits in this traditional style in a slick and entertaining manner.
The new greenhouse will be opened and garden volunteers will conduct tours of the grounds.
Tours of the Frank Oates Gallery will be available and there will be talks and tours of the first temporary exhibitions to be held in the house.
One is on illustrations for The Natural History of Selborne, which have been created since 1789 when White’s book was first published, while in the Life Lab visitors can examining some of the specimens from the museum’s learning collection.
The museum is open from 10.30am-4.30pm. For more information, visit the website at: www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk