FREE Public Guided Tours
2025-10-23 11:00 - 12:00 UTC | Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance
Our team of Volunteer Tour Guides will be offering insights into the current exhibition through a program of short guided tours.
Tours will be offered at 11.00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The tours are included in the admission price to the Gallery and last between 30 and 45 minutes. No booking is required, but places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

October Half Term Activity: Greenstone axeheads plus histoirc farming
2025-10-29 11:00 - 14:00
What is Greenstone? And what was it used for?*Adventure through time, as we discover one of the oldest materials for making farming tools.*Starting in the Neolithic, the time when organised farming practices began, and finishing in the 1800s, as we celebrate some of Penlee’s farming paintings from the Newlyn School of Art.*We will be making a variety of crafts, all inspired by farming, old and older, as well as by Allantide, a traditional Cornish event celebrating the end of the Harvest Season.*Come join us for a FREE drop-in workshop featuring apples & axes!

Half Term Activity: Picard People Painting
2025-10-30 13:30 - 14:30 | Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance
Biddy Picard loved to paint people in harbour scenes, capturing everyday life in our local West Penwith villages. Join us to make your own Biddy Picard-inspired painting and personalise it with your own family, friends and pets!
FREE Event, drop by anytime between 1.30 pm-3.30 pm

Arty Afternoons: Newlyn School Air Dough figures
2025-11-01 14:30 - 15:30
Come and see our Newlyn School paintings and spot the Newlyn fisherfolk and their families. Then, have fun making a little Newlyn figures with soft air-drying dough!
FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

Arty Afternoons: Water textures – Lamorna Birch
2025-11-08 14:30 - 15:30
Look closely at Lamorna Birch’s beautiful paintings and see how many different watery scenes you can find. Then get creative together by making water-inspired landscapes, using colourful tissue paper and other fun materials.
FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

Arty Afternoons: Biddy Picard style 3D Houses
2025-11-15 14:30 - 15:30
Biddy Picard loved painting village scenes with pretty white cottages. Come along and create your very own 3D Cornish cottage using card, collage, and lots of imagination. A fun activity for families to enjoy together!
FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

Lecture: Heroines in War
2025-11-19 14:30 - 16:00 | Queen’s Hotel, Penzance
Heroines in War: Women War Artists and the depiction of Women’s role in the Second World War with Catherine Wallace
In this lecture we look at some of the Women artists whose work was commissioned to depict subjects as varied as the bombed out buildings of London during the Blitz, the evacuation of children from London, the heroines of the various Women’s Auxillary Units including Air Transport, Air Service, Territorial Service, as well as the many jobs women undertook in industry such as welding and vehicle fabrication; working in munition and camouflage factories including those in Cornwall. The work of the Women’s Land Army, which was a considerable force during the Second World War, was also captured by many artists, including Ethel Gabain and Evelyn Dunbar. Women War artists were also sent abroad to record the release of prisoners from Belsen and the refugees in Germany, including Doris Zinkeisen and Mary Kessell. The talk ends with Dame Laura Knight’s powerful depictions of the Nuremberg trials.
Date & Time: Wednesday 19th November, 2.30pm
Venue: The Queen’s Hotel, Penzance
Tickets: £7 Friends, £15 Non-Friends
Book Now!

Arty Afternoons: Lamorna Birch Leaf Garland
2025-11-22 14:30 - 15:30
Explore all the different leaves in the park and in our Lamorna Birch exhibition at Penlee House. Join us to make a beautiful leaf garland out of paper, card and felt which you can hang in your home.
FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

Baby Sensory
2025-11-24 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-12-08 10:00 - 11:30
Free, drop-in session for babies from birth to crawlers. Come and experience the amazing artworks whilst exploring sensory play together in the Gallery.

Arty Afternoons: Biddy Picard Still Life
2025-11-29 14:30 - 15:30
Visit our exhibition of Biddy Picard’s paintings and take a look at her colourful still life works. Create a still life oil pastel artwork by making your own composition of flowers and fruit.

FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

Arty Afternoons: Christmas Cards
2025-12-06 14:30 - 15:30
Christmas is on its way! Christmas cards first became popular during the Victorian era, when Penlee House was built as a home for the Branwell family. Join us to start the season off by making crafty Christmas cards to send to your family and friends.
FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

Little Penlee Explorers: Drop-in sessions for under 5s
2025-12-08 10:00 - 12:00
Join us to explore, play and create at Penlee House! With activities throughout the galleries, these free, drop-in sessions are for under-5s and their grown-ups.
Monthly on Mondays, 10 am-12 pm.

Arty Afternoons: Christmas Wreath
2025-12-13 14:30 - 15:30
Come make your very own Christmas wreath with all sorts of fun craft supplies, then take it home to hang up as a brand-new decoration!

FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm

Arty Afternoons: Christmas Tree Sculpture
2025-12-20 14:30 - 15:30
Design and make a colourful Christmas tree sculpture inspired by Biddy Picard’s blue, ceramic tree displayed in Gallery 5.
FREE family activities take place every Saturday; drop in anytime between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.
