Activities and Events

A variety of exciting activities, workshops and events take place in the museum galleries, the community rooms and out in the town. These include getting hands on with museum objects, art sessions, memory cafes and ‘behind-the-scenes’ tours of the museum stores. Keep checking back regularly to see what’s coming up.

See our latest newsletter here

Full details about our upcoming events:

Museum Make and Create

FREE family activity, first Saturday of the month, 10:30-12:30

Upcoming Workshops:

Saturday 7th June: To coincide with the annual opening of St Leonard’s clock tower this workshop will share the history of Newton Abbot’s famous medieval landmark that has been part of the town for over 900 years. Make an artwork about the tower inspired by our mosaic tower model on show in the museum and create a beautiful brooch to wear. Book here

Saturday 5th July: What does freedom mean to you? When do you feel most free? Come and have fun creating with fabric, collage and paint. Join in making some celebration bunting that will link the museum and library as part of a national project. Artist Jane will lead you through a fun confidence building workshop open to all levels of ability.

Saturday 2nd August: We are celebrating the railways throughout August so come along and find about the history of the railways in Newton Abbot. Make a model engine and a goods wagon so that you have somewhere to put your ‘nick nacks’ and treasured objects.

Toddler Tuesdays, during term-time

Upcoming sessions will be available to book for FREE from the week before, you can even set a reminder through Eventbrite! You can look at all upcoming sessions here

Pre-booking to attend these sessions is required

If the session is sold-out please contact the museum to check if there are additional spaces available due to cancellations or to be added to the waiting list.

Upcoming sessions:

• Free informal sessions for children up unto the age of 4
• Every Tuesday during term-time
• 9:30-10:30
• Takes place within the museum space

Please note that food and drink (except water) are not allowed in the museum space, but we have a seating area on the first floor where you can enjoy any food that you have with you.

Take advantage of Newton’s Place facilities:
• Hot drinks machine and seating area upstairs with highchair
• Accessible toilets with changing facilities

Twilight Sketching

Returns Autumn 2025!

Every Monday fortnight 4pm – 6pm

No booking required, FREE

Bring your sketch pad and pencils and relax in the magnificent surroundings on the Museum. Be inspired by historical treasures and being out your creative side.

Poetry at the Museum

FREE

Book here

7pm 17th July

‘Unearthing Templer Way‘

Join us in July for a 90 minute performance developed specially for Newton Abbot Museum. Some of the South West’s best-loved poets present their Templer Way writing to a backdrop display of artwork illustrating this unique part of Newton Abbot’s heritage.

You may know the Templer Way well – may even have walked all 16 miles of this favourite South Devon footpath and be familiar with its 200+ years of local history: from 1792 when James Templer constructed a canal between Teigngrace and Newton Abbot to transport clay from his workings, through 1820 when George Templer built the iconic granite tramway linking Haytor Quarry with the newly extended canal. 

But here is a completely new approach to that chronicle of human endeavour: a group of highly accomplished local artists and writers have spent many months documenting the landscape and industrial developments each in their own unique form.

The concept of visual artists working closely with writers is not new. But here the collaboration has been outstanding: poets have taken inspiration from newly-created images while mark makers – painters, printmakers, photographers and potters – have read and listened to the poets then created their own responses to the writing. The result is visually spectacular, socially involving and fascinating. Expect an evening of fascinating facts, evocative poetry and stunning artworks, all in the wonderful surroundings of the museum – don’t miss it!

(Unearthing Templer Way is part of the Teignbridge Arts Project)

Creative Writing Workshop

£7.50 pp

Book here or at the museum front desk

Monday 4^th August, 1pm-4pm

Not suitable for children

Note: this event fundraising for the museum, the workshop leader is kindly offering her time for free.

If tickets are sold out online, please contact the museum on 01626 201121 or [email protected]

If you have access needs please contact the museum on 01626 201121 or [email protected]

Workshop leader: Vanni (Myfanwy)

Some of the activities will involve pairwork.

Upcoming Relaxed visits

Newton Abbot Museum welcomes anyone who might benefit from visiting the Museum at a quieter time.

Upcoming Sessions:

Monday 11th August, 1pm-3pm

Monday 27th October, 1pm-3pm

Monday 16th February, 1pm-3pm

In the meantime you can contact the museum to find out when the quieter times in the museum are.

Explore our galleries in a calm and relaxed environment where we will ensure our sound levels are reduced. There will be a quiet space available away from the galleries, and you are welcome to borrow our new sensory bags and ear-defenders.

These sessions are great for visitors with Autistic Spectrum Disorder or other communication and sensory needs and their families / carers but are suitable for all.

To help you prepare for your visit we have made a visual story which you can see if you click here. For other access information please visit our Museum Access page.

If you have any questions about the Museum’s relaxed visits or require any further information, please email [email protected] or phone 01626 201121

Temporary Exhibitions

Your Space Case (in the conservation section)

A monthly treat is in store when you visit the museum as we change this case each time to feature either outcomes of art projects or objects that are collected by local people, providing something different to see each time you visit us.

May: Ship Ahoy! Something completely different for May in Your Space as we feature a collection of model boats from the Indian Ocean,  including a very rare boat model from Sri Lanka that is no longer made today. These delicate little models were collected as part of doctoral research by the museum’s curator, Dr Charlotte Dixon.

June: Items from Shaldon Road Methodist church on the Buckland estate to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They will be showing items from the church that have been used by the congregation across the years.

July: Enthusiastic collector, Paul Massie, has always enjoyed collecting and started with the usual stamps and coins but was never able to stop. Throughout July, Paul will share his collections of photographic processes dating from the 1850s onward, some Scottish Presbyterian communion tokens and club-night fliers from the 1990s – an eclectic mix indeed.

August: More items from the museums enormous collection of railway-themed objects will be on show to compliment our Summer exhibition.

September: Museum objects from the 1920’s will fill the case this month. Come and view largely unseen gems from the museum store rooms from over 100 years ago.

October: A locally-made dolls house will grace the Your Space case this month. Using all sorts of arts and crafts our local dolls house enthusiast has created a unique miniature home with lots of quirks.

Do you have a collection that you would like to share? We are looking for collections to share across 2026. To find out if any of your cherished items could go on show in the Your Space Community Case in the future, please have a chat with staff in the museum or email our Community Engagement Officer Kate Green at [email protected]

***

Within the community rooms, the museum and local groups/schools can hold regular exhibitions of collections and artwork.

There is always something new to see and do in the museum – even for regular visitors. Every month, a different group or school chooses a new item for our ‘Object of the Month’ case. The photo wall has a new theme each month, with historic images of local places, people and events from different eras. The ‘Your Space’ case is updated regularly with displays of collections or artwork by the local community. Our ‘Recent Donations’ area allows us to display the very latest objects that have been added to the museum collection. In addition, our bespoke gallery cases have a flexible design so that displays can be easily updated and changed and the objects swapped with items in our stores.

Do you have a collection or make anything that you would like to share in the Your Space Community Case? We’d love to hear from you – please contact us with your suggestions.

You can find details of Town Council events here

You can view our museum gallery of past events and activities here or explore past temporary exhibitions and the museum collection here

The community rooms in Newton’s Place are available for hire, full information is on The Town Council’s website here