Group Visits
Normanby Hall Country Park welcomes group visits and we have a fantastic range of tours and talks from which you can choose. Whether you prefer to explore the park at your own pace, or take a guided your, we have a number of options available. We can also deliver many of these talks within your community.
The Normanby group visit offer
- Preferential admission rates for pre-booked groups of 15 or more
- A variety of talks and tours to choose from
- Lunches and/or afternoon tea served in the Hall (must be pre-booked)
- Free admission and hot drink for the coach driver
- Free familiarisation visit for the group leader
Tours and talks available
| Tour/Talk | Description |
| Tour of the Hall | This tour gives a fascinating insight into the history of the Hall and the Sheffield family, along with information on items on display in the period rooms. |
| Tour of the Garden | This tour looks at the three principles gardens at Normanby – The Victorian Walled Garden, The Secret Garden, and The Sunken Garden, looking at their history, evolution and planting design. |
| Tour of the Farming Museum | The tour of the Farming Museum points out highlights of the collection and relates interesting anecdotes and stories connected to the items and characters featured. |
| The Servant’s Trail at Normanby | This tour explores the ancillary buildings around the park which were necessary for the smooth running of the ‘big’ house, and the servants that would use them, with information gained from our library of oral histories. |
| Housekeeping through the ages | Join the Housekeeper to find out about the roles of servants in country houses like Normanby in the 18th and 19th centuries, and discover the differences between housekeeping now and then. |
| The Victorian Walled Garden | Discover the history of Victorian Walled Gardens, how they worked, and the factors that contributed to their success. |
| Garden Design in Britain – a potted history. | Learn about the major garden design movements through British history and a look at Normanby’s’ lost’ gardens. |
| ‘Victorian Secret’ – the clothes and lifestyle of a Victorian Lady | Undress the past, layer by layer, to discover the burden of clothes for the Victorian lady. Costume from the collection can be seen close up, and is used to show the typical attire of the period. This talk looks at the role that clothing played in the Victorian era. Was any of it practical, or was it all a matter of status and attractiveness? Explore the role of a woman, her place in society, and how her clothes symbolised this. |
| ‘Boggins and Plough Jags’ – Folklore in North Lincolnshire | Explore why and how various elements of folk life and folklore have managed to survive in North Lincolnshire. From ancient superstitions and ways of life, to the folk traditions we still engage in today. Investigate the local historians and folklorists who endeavoured to record these elements of rural life for posterity. |
| William Fowler of Winterton: A Georgian Architect and Antiquarian | Revealing the life and times of one of North Lincolnshire’s most famous sons. Fowler was a joiner and an architect who worked on buildings throughout Lincolnshire and beyond, including Beverley Minster. He also produced engravings of antiquarian subjects, mainly Roman and Medieval pavements and stained glass. The session also offers an opportunity to take a closer look at examples of Fowler’s work in the Museum’s collection. |
| Decades of Style | A look at the changes in evening wear from the 1840s to the 1970s, using stunning pieces from the costume collection to illustrate. From Victorian balls, through the Flapper jazz era and to 1970s disco, discover how fashion and etiquette have evolved. |
| Normanby Park: Auxiliary Hospital | An insight into Normanby Hall during the First World War. Madeleine Grout, Collections Assistant (Decorative Arts), uses photographs to illustrate life for recovering soldiers at Normanby Hall between 1914 and 1919. Discover the stories of the patients, nurses, staff and family and hear how this event affected the local area |
| Formal to Flapper | Using an array of items from the costume collection, lifestyles of people from the Victorian period to the 1920s are explored. Events such as Queen Victoria’s mourning for her husband and the First World War defined fashion, and this talk will look into how these types of events affected the clothing of the period. Discover how shocking the 1920s Flapper girl would be to the reserved Victorian lady! |
| Normanby Park: Auxiliary Hospital
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An insight into Normanby Hall during the First World War. Madeleine Grout, Collections Assistant (Decorative Arts), uses photographs to illustrate life for recovering soldiers at Normanby Hall between 1914 and 1919. Discover the stories of the patients, nurses, staff and family and hear how this event affected the local area
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Group dining
Groups visiting midweek can arrange for lunch or afternoon tea to be served in the Hall. Please see below for menus and prices.