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:

Music at the Museum

The Old Time Sailors be setting sail and bringing a night of music mischief and mayhem to the museum. Join us for an immersive adventure with this fantastic sea shanty band. 14th April at 7pm.

Book your tickets here

Museum Make and Create

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

Upcoming Workshops:

Saturday 1st March

Make a rosette in celebration of International Women’s Day, now available to book here

Saturday 5th April Be inspired by the historical rope-making trade that Newton Abbot is famous for. You may be familiar with the area in town called Rope Walk where there was a thriving trade of rope making in years gone by. You will be able to make your own rope in the workshop and create plant hangers or dream catchers to take home.

Saturday 3rd May Amazing inventions is the theme for May when we will be asking you to invent a robot or machine that will make the world a better place. The museum highlights inventions important to the town, including the diving machine invented by local man, John Lethbridge. He became a multi-millionaire with his deep-sea invention as he was able to retrieve much sunken treasure and goods from shipwrecks for companies world-wide. Fire up your imaginations and see what you can invent.

Saturday 7th June TBC

Twilight Sketching

Every Monday fortnight 4pm – 6pm

10th & 24th February

10th & 24th March

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.

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

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

Upcoming Relaxed visits

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

Our next Relaxed Visit will be in the New Year, 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)

January/February: A selection of objects chosen by two History Clubs that were run at the end of 2024 by Kate Green.

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.

March: Dating from the early 18^th century to the 20^th century, beautiful silver pieces will fill the cabinet, on loan from a local family who have been gifted or have inherited various pieces over the years. If you love objects made from silver, do pop in to the museum to see this eclectic mix of silver objects. You will also be able to see an impressive collection of silverware loaned to the museum by St Blaise’s church in Haccombe, including an Elizabethan goblet, large flagon and plates.

April: Tiny tots who come along to weekly parent and toddler sessions in the museum explore the space, play with toys, listen to stories and take part in singing nursery Rhymes, and they also make lovely artworks. Come and see what they have made in Your Space in April.

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.

Do you have a collection that you would like to share? We still have slots available across 2025. 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]

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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