01st February 2024
Capture, create, celebrate.
Opening spring 2024 after extensive renovation, The Sherborne is a stunning Grade I Georgian house with a difference...
Watch the video below starring Michael Cannon, our Founder of the Trust, sharing his vision for the building.
Watch the video below starring Michael Cannon, our Founder of the Trust, sharing his vision for the building.
Our aim is to create a landmark arts and events venue in the heart of Dorset that inspires the community and beyond, and is accessible to all.
The Sherborne will be a new and inspiring place where people gather, art lives, creativity and imagination thrives, life unfolds, and memories are made.
A relaxed ambience within restored historic and spectacular contemporary surroundings will welcome visitors from across the region to eat, work, play, and above all make their own stories.
An extraordinary house with many stories, The Sherborne has served its community in a variety of ways across the centuries. A stunning Georgian mansion with a Tudor wing in the heart of historic Dorset. It has been a bishop’s estate office, barn, court, grammar school, even played host to Charles Dickens, and no doubt much more over the years. The threads of time are woven into the fabric of the building, making it a destination rich in history and sure to inspire.
Today, after extensive structural and decorative renovation to preserve the past, including the nationally renowned Thornhill Mural, whilst building a sustainable legacy for the future, we are handing this glorious building back to the community. We’ve worked hard to produce an impressive space where creativity is celebrated, people come together, and curiosity is a culture.
Sherborne House Trust 2018, a registered charity, purchased Sherborne House in October 2018 with the aim of breathing long term life into a stunning albeit desperately neglected Grade I Georgian house.
Following over two years of very detailed pre-application discussions, working with the local Heritage Officer and Historic England and a specialist team of consultants from all disciplines, we were delighted when planning permission for the restoration of the main house and the addition of a stunning contemporary extension to the rear was finally granted in May 2021.Works started on site in September 2021 to transform this extraordinary building, which will open in Spring 2024.
We are pleased to welcome Dorset Visual Arts to be resident at the Sherborne as our main arts partner. DVA will be leading an exciting visual arts focused programme designed to engage the community and wider public.
