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Wednesday 11am - 4pm Thursday 11am - 4pm Friday 11am - 4pm Saturday 11am - 4pm Sunday 11am - 4pm

Sidney Nolan Trust

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Sidney Nolan Trust

Charitable Arts Trust, founded by Sir Sidney Nolan CBE (1917-1992). Sir Sidney Nolan was a leading artist of the 20th century.

Caring for arts, heritage and environment at The Rodd and Bleddfa Centre

The Rodd Opening Times:
Wed - Sun, 11am - 4pm
Season: 28 March - 4 October 2026 His Ned Kelly paintings became iconic, and today the Sidney Nolan Trust, which he founded in 1985, celebrates his life-long experimentation and passion for creativity, as well as his love for the environment. Located at The Rodd, the Trust cares

for his former home, studio, and 250-acre estate, together with a large collection of Nolan’s artworks, his library and personal archive. Our exhibitions and events present artwork from our collection, as well as exhibitions by contemporary artists. Our learning and residency programmes support children, young people, adults, and artists to learn, exchange ideas and create.

09/09/2026

Creative Learning Opportunities...

Our MAKE and Cultivate arts programmes continue to provide special opportunities for young people to connect with ideas and each other. We are also happy to pilot a new project, 'Ideas in Wood', drawing on the skills of local designer-makers Bim Burton and David Colwell. Read on for programme details and dates.

Ideas in Wood is a pilot series of woodworking sessions for young people who want to try something new or get more hands-on with materials. Led by expert designer-makers Bim Burton and David Colwell, who create innovative contemporary furniture, the sessions will help young people build confidence and develop dexterity, creativity, and expression.

The sessions run 22 September - 8 December 8 (Ex. half term Tuesday 27 Oct), 4:15 - 5:45 pm

MAKE is a FREE weekly arts and creative club for young people aged 7-11. Experienced local artists Sophie Ferrier and Olivia Mabey run the club, sharing their knowledge and skills with young people.

The sessions run 7 Sept – 7 Dec (Ex. half term Tuesday 27 Oct), 3.30 pm - 5 pm, Presteigne Youth Centre

Cultivate is a FREE monthly arts programme for 11–18–year–olds. The programme offers a safe social space for young people to develop their creative thinking and making skills through research and experimentation. Over the coming months, young people will conclude their current project on the disused 19th-century racecourse on Hergest Ridge before we partner with Mid Border Arts to offer a series of skills-focused sessions between November and March.

Saturday 17 Sept - Costume
Saturday 19 Oct - Performance
Saturday 21 November - Gamification
Saturday 5 December - Textiles
Saturday 30 January – Sound and Lighting
Saturday 20 February – Woodworking
Saturday 20 March – Filmmaking

To find out more or to join any of our activities for young people, please email [email protected]

03/09/2026

Saturday marked a milestone: 5 years of our young people's arts programme 'Cultivate'!

The programme was inspired by others' fabulous creative youth engagement work, particularly Peir Arts The Pier Arts Centre's Piergroup and Ikon Gallery's youth programme.

There are a lot of people to thank...

Firstly, all the young people who have willingly dragged themselves out of bed on a Saturday morning, have brought so many ideas and so much energy to the table, and are the reason the project continues to be so important. (Not forgetting mums, dads, uncles, aunts and grandparents!)

Secondly, the project's lead artist, Emma Posey, whom I randomly met on a train when the idea started to gain real momentum. All great projects start on trains, right? Emma's care and ambition for Cultivate have led to so many of the brilliant projects we've worked on.

Next, all the artists, cross-disciplinary experts, and organisations we've collaborated with. Too many to mention here, but they are all listed on our website. Working across art forms and with ecologists, archaeologists, scientists, and performers is central to the way we work.

The community we work in which always turns out and shows their support for our projects.

Finally, of course, to the generous funders of the programme. Without their support, none of it would be possible. Herefordshire Community Foundation, Community Foundation Wales, Ashley Family Foundation and Simon Gibson Charitable Trust.

Here's to another 5 years! Thanks

26/08/2026

August Bank Holiday in Presteigne is a true celebration of local, regional and international creativity.

The town will be alive with Presteigne Festival events and Open Studios Presteigne exhibitions for you to enjoy.

Charles MacCarthy presents a new exhibition titled 'Grasses' at the Bleddfa Centre. 27 - 31 August, 11am - 4pm.

On Saturday morning, join us for our 'Conversations with Artists' event and hear from artists Mark Richards, Kitty Perceval, Celia de Serra and members of Sidney Nolan Trust's youth arts group Cultivate hosted in partnership with Meadow Arts. 9.00 am at the Memorial Hall with FREE coffee and croissant.

23/08/2026

Artist Spotlight: Phoebe Barnicoat

We are delighted to celebrate Phoebe Barnicoat, winner of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Print-Focused Residency as part of the Sidney Nolan Art Prize 2026.

Phoebe’s Construction, 2025, is exactly that, a work built through an instinctive process of collecting, assembling, reworking and responding to the materials around her.

Wood gathered from the neighbouring farm. Leather from a found cowbell. An anchovy packet from her mother’s kitchen. Old painted canvas, crusted mud, nails, biro, oil pastel, glue and ink. Each material becomes part of the next decision, creating a wonderfully unpredictable piece of bricolage.

This sense of discovery runs throughout Phoebe’s wider practice, where everyday domesticity meets female wrestling, goblin trickery, humour, tenderness and a touch of the otherworldly. Her work refuses to settle into one recognisable style, instead evolving through a process of editing, destruction and reconstruction.

We are thrilled that Phoebe will be joining us at The Rodd for her two-week print-focused residency, kindly supported by the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust.

Congratulations, Phoebe. We can’t wait to see where the work takes you next.

13/08/2026

'Grasses' – an exhibition of paintings by Charles MacCarthy

27 – 31 Aug, 11 am - 4 pm (Until 6 pm on Saturday 29 Aug), Hall Barn, Bleddfa, LD7 1PA

"When I started painting, it was mostly landscape, but moving to Herefordshire in 1986 and with small children to look after, that became more difficult, so I turned my attention to still life and interiors, which I have continued to paint ever since, with the exception of this series of “Grasses”."

At the time (2010) I wrote;

"Going into the fields each day with my dog, I am more excited by the colours, shapes and textures that I walk through than by the distant views. The scrubby neglected bits, the bleached stems of nettles in winter, swathes of tall flowering thistles, along the old railway line, the white discs of hogweed floating amongst the blue-green shadows, fields of undulating pink and purple grasses. My walk passes through seven fields, a churchyard, a stream which I wade through and later cross again over a wooden bridge, an old railway line and several stiles and gates. It has become a daily meditation for both body and spirit, and I like the fact that it is all within half a mile of my doorstep in Kingsland.”

"Much to my delight, these paintings have recently inspired a wonderful piece of music, a string quartet, by composer Robert Peate, who was at the time a frequent visitor to our house, being a close friend of my son’s. Hearing this beautiful music now, I am prompted to do more paintings of “grasses’ and thereby extend the series.

Charles MacCarthy 2026

In tandem with the Grasses exhibition and festival concerts at St Mary Magdalene's Church, Bleddfa Community Cafe will be open in the Hall Barn on Saturday 29 Aug, 2 - 5 pm, serving tea, coffee, cold drinks and cake, and again on Monday 31 Aug, 10 am - 2 pm, also serving bacon rolls.

02/08/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Sidney Nolan Trust’s annual Community Day 2026.

With nearly 300 people joining us (not forgetting our four-legged visitors!), it was our biggest Community Day yet. Whether you came from just down the road or travelled a little further to spend the day with us, thank you for being part of it.

Over the next few days, we will be sharing a collection of moments from across the day. Families making and creating together. Music filling the air. Time spent exploring the house, exhibitions and grounds. Conversations shared between old friends and new. This is part one.

For us, community is about connection. It’s about creating spaces where people can come together, share experiences and simply enjoy being alongside one another.

If you were there, we would love for you to tag yourself or someone you spent the day with.

If we have shared a photo you’d prefer not to appear in, please send us a DM with a screenshot and we will happily remove it, no questions asked.

01/08/2026

Today is the day!
Join us at The Rodd Annual Community Day from 12pm–5pm.

We hope to see you there.

31/07/2026

Tomorrow’s the day! 🌿✨

Join us for our Annual Community Day at The Rodd from 12–5pm, where everyone is welcome and admission is completely free.

Spend an afternoon exploring the beautiful grounds, discovering our current exhibitions, and enjoying a programme of creative activities, music and nature for all ages.

Look forward to:

🎶 Live music
📖 Storytelling
🎵 Community choir
🌿 Wild Play with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
🧺 Willow craft with Brigit Graham
🎨 Artist-led nature sketchbooks with Olivia Maybe
🖼️ Art in the Barn
🌳 Knighton Community Woodland
🌱 Llais y Goedwig
🥕 Presteigne Community Garden
☕ Food and drink stalls

Whether you are visiting for the art, the landscape, the activities or simply to enjoy a summer afternoon in the Herefordshire countryside, we would love to welcome you.

🐾 Well-behaved dogs on leads are very welcome too.

📍 The Rodd, Presteigne
🗓️ Saturday (tomorrow)
🕛 12–5pm
🎟️ Free entry

Tag someone who would enjoy a day of art, nature and community, and we will see you tomorrow.

30/07/2026

Memory, loss and the quiet weight of the objects we cannot let go of lie at the heart of Whispering Reeds by Tegen Kimbley.

Winner of the Parker Harris Professional Practice Mentoring Award at the 2026 Sidney Nolan Art Prize, Tegen’s moving image work reflects on the emotional ties we form with the objects that shape our lives. Rooted in memories of childhood weekends spent sailing with family on the Norfolk Broads, the film gently explores grief, love and the ways personal histories continue to inhabit both people and places.

Rather than presenting the boat at the centre of the story in its entirety, Whispering Reeds allows its presence to be felt through absence, shifting between Tegen’s gaze on her father and her father’s gaze on the boat. The result is a thoughtful meditation on memory, attachment and the quiet ways we carry loss with us.

Working across documentary photography and film, Tegen’s practice is grounded in careful observation, exploring the relationship between people, place and the overlooked landscapes that shape our everyday lives.

We are delighted to see Tegen’s work recognised through this award and look forward to following the next stage of her journey.

28/07/2026

Today we say congratulations to Soul Baraitser, recipient of the Sidney Nolan Trust Residency as part of the 2026 Sidney Nolan Art Prize 👏🏻

Talking for the Family (2025) is a large-scale pastel drawing on handmade Himalayan paper that explores the complexities of human emotion through material, gesture and atmosphere. Inspired by the frescoes of Siena, Soul draws us into scenes that feel both intimate and monumental, where fear, care, joy and sorrow exist side by side.

Working with delicate handmade paper, Soul embraces its fragility, the drawing becomes more than an image; it becomes an object shaped by time, and transformation.

The residency at the Sidney Nolan Trust recognises the strength of Soul’s practice and supports the continued development of their work. We are delighted to congratulate them on this well-deserved achievement and look forward to seeing where the residency leads.

Soul’s work can be seen in the library at The Rodd

Please join us in congratulating Soul in the comments.

Address

The Rodd
Presteigne
LD82LL

Opening Hours

Wednesday	11am - 4pm
Thursday	11am - 4pm
Friday	11am - 4pm
Saturday	11am - 4pm
Sunday	11am - 4pm

Telephone

01544 260149

Website

http://www.sidneynolantrust.org/

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