The Watts Gallery is situated in Compton, near to Guildford.

The coach will leave Culverhayes Car Park Sherborne at 8.00am and shortly after will pick up in Wincanton.  We hope to arrive in Compton at approximately 10.30am.

The Watts Gallery was founded in 1904 by George Frederick(GF) and Mary Seton Watts.  Artists and pioneers GF and Mary initially relocated to Compton from Holland Park, West London having built Limnerslease as a winter retreat. GF was one of the foremost artists of the nineteenth century and became known as ‘England’s Michelangelo’ due to his powerful works and paintings.  Mary, a visionary designer and artist, founded the Potters’ Art Guild at Compton. The Watts Gallery site includes the Arts and Crafts home, Limnerslease which houses their studios.   The surroundings are beautiful, both gardens and buildings.  The Galleries include remarkable paintings and sculptures and the Grade 1 listed Arts and Crafts Watts Chapel, is approximately an 8 minute walk from the Gallery.

The Watts Gallery, the shop and the café are all fully accessible.  The Watts Chapel and Watts Contemporary Gallery are not suitable for wheel chairs.  Don’t miss the excellent shop!

Coffee will be served on arrival.  This will be followed by freetime to see what you wish.  Lunch will be served at 1 pm.

If you have booked to take the tour, this will be after lunch, at 2.00pm.

The basic cost of the Visit is £64 per person for current members of the Arts Society Sherborne (£69 for non members, which includes members of other Arts Societies). There is a discount of  £7.50 for holders of an Arts Fund card.

The cost includes return coach travel from either Sherborne or Wincanton, driver’s tip, entry to the gallery, coffee and biscuits on arrival and a lunch consisting of a sandwich platter, seasonal fruit platter and an elderflower cordial drink.

Unfortunately, because of limited capacity in the café the gallery requires that all catering for group bookings must be prebooked, so we have included coffees and lunch in the basic package.

The guided tour of the chapel is optional at an additional cost of £7.50 per person but needs to be prebooked at the same time.

The visit is limited to a total of 30 participants. We will run a wait-list for a limited number of applicants if the limit is reached in case of cancellations or, if there is sufficient demand, we may be able to increase the limit by using a larger coach. Payments made for inclusion on the wait-list will, of course, be refunded in full if places do not become available  including u3a members. A lower limit applies to the guided tour of the chapel, but again this will be wait-listed if demand requires.

Note that visits can sell out very quickly, so please express book early to avoid disappointment and, in any case, by 2 June 2026. It is likely that the visit will have sold out well before the closing date is reached.

Unless the Visit has to be cancelled by us, no refunds will be made for cancellations after the closing date, unless the place can be filled by someone on the waiting list.

To book this visit please complete and submit the booking form below. On submission you will be taken to a payment form which should be completed in accordance with the choices made on the booking form .

You can pay by credit/debit card or bank transfer. Your booking will not be complete until we have payment has been made.

If you have a query or booking/payment issue please use the contact form below the booking form.