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Discover the Art on Your Doorstep – Northants & Rutland Open Studios Returns this September!

This September, Northants & Rutland Open Studios 2025 invites you to step inside the creative spaces of over 300 artists across the two counties. From cosy garden studios to vibrant pop-up exhibitions, the region’s biggest visual arts festival is back – bigger, brighter, and more welcoming than ever.

Running throughout the month of September, this inclusive, county-wide celebration of art offers a unique opportunity to meet artists, explore their working environments, and discover a wide variety of original work, including painting, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, sculpture, and mixed media.

Whether you’re a passionate collector, a curious browser, or simply looking for a memorable day out, there’s something for everyone. Proudly sponsored by Lamport Hall and The George Cadbury Trust, the event spans all corners of Northamptonshire and Rutland, with artists opening their studios to the public and exhibitions popping up in everything from barns and churches to cafes and
community halls.

At the heart of the festival is the Central Exhibition at Lamport Hall, running from 6th September – 4th October (Weds–Sun, 10am–4pm). This curated show offers a taster of the artists taking part and is the perfect place to begin your journey, helping visitors plan their studio visits and discover new favourites.

Festival organiser Katie Boyce said: “Northants & Rutland Open Studios is all about connecting people with creativity in their own communities. You don’t need to be an art expert – just bring your curiosity and a love for discovering something new.”

A full-colour printed brochure and interactive online map are available to help you navigate the festival from July onwards, with clear listings of artists, venues, and opening times.

Join us this September and celebrate the talent, passion, and diversity of our local artistic community.

Note to editor:

For more information, interviews, images, or press passes, please contact:
Katie Boyce
07746318347
katie@nros.co.uk

Northants & Rutland Open Studios runs for the month of September and all details about venues, exhibitions and studio opening times is available on the NROS website at nros.co.uk and will be published in the brochure which will be available at various sites across the county. We are proudly sponsored by Lamport Hall and the George Cadbury Trust.

Since relaunching in 2020, the Northants Open Studios has brought together an ever growing number of talented artists and last year welcomed over 12500 people, with over 4800 people visiting the Central Exhibition over the month of September and generated over £42000 in sales.

My favorite painting 2025

We ran a My Favorite Painting kindly sponsored by the Hayrack Gallery, and the runaway winner was Miss Marple by the wonderful artist Tina Bacon.

2025 Raffle Winners

We are pleased to publish the list of winners of our 2025 raffle. A full list can be supplied on request to info@aldertonartfestival.co.uk.

1st prize: Original painting kindly donated by Ruth Harris – winner: Clive R

2nd prize: Luxury hamper from Hartwells & Towbury Court – winner: Anna B

3rd prize: Half case of wine (6 bottles sauvignon blanc) – winner: Nick M

4th prize: Ellesse ski jacket, value £200, donated by Andrew Ward of Hela Brands – winner Graham W

5th prize: Breaking the ice – book by Professor David Vaughan, donated by Jacqui Vaughan – winner: Jackie G

6th prize: Afternoon Tea for 2 at Whittlebury Hall, donated by Jeff and Carol Sargeant – winner: Harriet T

7th prize: Envy necklace and matching bracelet, donated by Joss & Florence – winner: Rona C

8th prize: £50 voucher donated by Amarone Italian Restaurant, Towcester – winner: Jo H

9th prize: Bath and beaty hamper – winner: Katie S

10th prize: £20 online voucher donated by Miller & Chalk soft furnishings – winner Bernie N

2024 Raffle Winners

All our wonderful raffle prizes have now been distributed, here’s the list of prizes and lucky winners.

1st prize – Painting by David Wells … winner Naomi Galloway
2nd prize – Group Sauna … Vivian Lyeach
3rd prize – Harbury & Towbury hamper … Pam Weston
4th prize – ‘Breaking the Ice’ book by David Vaughan … Joy Wilson
5th prize – Half case of wine … Sue Ambridge
6th prize – Painting by Kevin Mortimer … Mrs Gibson
7th prize – Bottle of Lanson champagne … Vic Ambridge
8th prize – Harvey Nichols tea hamper … Jo Davis
9th prize – Envy necklace & bracelet … Andrew Cowling
10th prize – Cleaning products … Brian Patton
11th prize – Italian terracotta planter … Mike Juhasz

2024 My Favourite Painting Winner

The winner of our Peoples Choice is Claire Warner, with painting 207 – Wellies and Puddles. Congratulations Claire.

Wellies and Puddles won by just two votes, and it was really nice that all our 54 artists received at leeast one vote for one of their paintings.

Many thanks to The Hayrack Galleries for sponsoring My Favourite Painting.

Thank You

We had an amazing two days, the weather was excellent, and we had lots of amazing visitors.  We sold 61 paintings along with numerous unframed pictures, which is a record for us.

Thank you to everyone who helped:  to those doing the behind the scenes preparations for months in advanced; to the hanging team who managed to hang all 267 paintings on our limited wall space; the tent putter-uppers; the tea tent helpers and everyone who baked cakes; the paintings team; our amazing 54 artists; the crafters; the barbeque team; the pr-loved clothing team; the tombola team; the beer tent team; the plant stall team; our photographer; and the Songbird singers who entertained us on both days.

2023 – What a year!

Gosh, what a wonderful Alderton Art Festival.  Following a summer of rain, the sun shone on both days!  We had a lot of amazing stands and over 200 original paintings hanging in the Church (by 35 local and very talented artists).  We also had approximately 300 unframed original and prints for sale.

Our visitors were really great, and we sold 50 paintings over the two days – a record for us!!

We also had over 400 votes for my favourite painting, won by Kevin Mortimer (see My Favourite Painting).

We enjoyed the live music from the  Rock Choir, SongBirds and SongBook – they made a great atmosphere.

Thank you to everyone who came!

2022 Grand Prize Draw results

Here is a full list of the winners in our Grand Prize Draw held during our Art Festival:

1^st Picture donated by Ann Gilbert won by Snoden Ticket 1979

2^nd Fire pit donated by Julie and Neil Taylor won by Alex Dees Ticket 38

3^rd Luxury Hamper donated by Charles Reece won by Paul King Ticket 1265

4^th Sign limited edition print of Venice won by Mildred Ticket 997

5^th Fruit Hamper won by Helena Carter Ticket 412

6^th Large cuddly dog donated by Pauline won by Charlie Jackson Ticket 826

7^th Waitrose skincare won by Gill Smith Ticket 776

8^th £25 voucher from Flair in Towcester won by Sutherland Ticket 132

9^th £25 voucher from the Folly in Towcester won by John’s parents Ticket 1322

10^th 3 beers from Towcester Mill won by Wendy Herdman Ticket 1275

11^th M&S Luxury Gold Tea House won by Jen Snadden Ticket 639

12^th Handmade quilt made and donated by Linda Borali won by Mrs Gibson Ticket 370

13^th Chocolates won by Hazel T. Ticket 883

14^th Chocolates won by someone who took prize away at the draw!

2022 My Favourite Painting winner – Sharon Ingram

Wow, we had 441 votes in our My favourite painting, and the winner of the framing voucher from Village framers (http://www.villageframers.co.uk/), was Sharon Ingram with her wonderful “My Best Cap”.

The standard of artwork was excellent, which was reflected in the voting – every artist received votes for at least one of their paintings which is really nice.
(we apologise for the reflection on the photo).

Two weeks to go!

Gosh, where did the time go!  There are only two weeks until our 46th annual Alderton Art Festival!

We have an excellent artist line up (see Artists page), including many new artists to us, so there will be a exciting array of art work on display, ready for you to purchase!

We are looking forward to welcoming our craft and trade stands, and as well as our regular crafters we also have some wonderful new ones – come and have a browse!

We also have our popular barbeque, tea tent and beer tent!

Grand Draw Winners

Here are the winners of our Grand Draw:

1^st Prize  –  Painting donated by Helen Wagner, Ticket no. 00167 – winner Oli Heppenstall, Alderton

2^nd Prize  –  Fire Pit donated by Neill Taylor, Watling Reclamation, Ticket no. 00286 – winner Doris Knight, Alderton

3^rd Prize  –  Havoc leatherwork bowl donated by David Vaughan, Ticket no. 00471 – winner Mrs Preece, Heathencote

4^th Prize  –  Luxury hamper donated by Charlie Reece from Towbury, Ticket no. 00390 – winner Peter Cosford, Grendon

5^th Prize  –  Half a case of wine donated by Anita Solan, Ticket no. 00845 – winner Andy, Stony Stratford

6^th Prize  –  Set of cappuccino cups, Ticket no. 01522 – winner Jane, Yardley Gobion

7^th Prize  –  Build-a-Bear teddy donated by Maureen Patten, Ticket no. 00884 – winner J Gleeson, Newport Pagnell

8^th Prize  –  1 litre bottle of Jack Daniels donated by Brian Patten, Ticket no. 01567 – winner Carmela

9^th Prize  –  Two main course meals at Wooden Walls of Old England, Ticket no. 00476 – winner Kate, Silverstone

10^th Prize  –  Badedas Bath Gel donated by Josie Lepper, Ticket no. 00881 – winner Jenny, Newport Pagnell

Thank you to all our generaours donators, and to everyone who purchased tickets.

Wow, what an amazing event

Oh wow, what an amazing couple of days we have had!  The paintings were lovely (and a lot of them!), our crafters very talented, and our visitors all wonderful.  Oh, and the weather was excellent too!

All our stalls were really busy all weekend (in fact, the tea stall was so busy on Saturday they ran out of cakes for the Sunday, so everyone in the village was baking like mad Saturday evening!).

We sold more paintings than in 2019, our last traditional Art festival.  It was just a fantastic two days.

Thank you to everyone who was involved, without you we could not run our festival.

See you 2022!

5 Days To Go

We are excitedly starting our final preparations for our 45^th Alderton Art festival.  With over 200 original paintings by 39 local artists and many more unframed originals and prints, it is going to be excellent!

Check out our artists, crafters and traders – there is something for everyone!

2020 Online Art Festival ends

This year we hosted our 44th Art Festival online, running from 1st August to 5th September 2020.

It was the first time doing anything like this for us and we were not sure what to expect!   Our wonderful local artists rallied round and sent us great photos of their artwork, along with lots of detail so potential purchasers could find out about the paintings.

Wen we opened our virtual doors we had 35 local artists showcasing over 300 amazing paintings, and we were really happy to have sold 40 paintings

At the end of August we realised we could sell our artists greeting cards as well, and even though they only had a week to sell, 21 of these beaitifu,cards were sold!

Many thanks to all our wonderful artists and purchasers for making this year such a great one!

One week until we close!

There is just one week left until we close our vitual doors for this year.  Come and have a look at the amazing paintings and greeting cards for sale before it is too late!

Online Art Festival – now open for entries!

This year we are holding our amazing Alderton Art Festival online, and are now accepting entries from artists.  Paintings can be originals, prints or photographs.  They can be framed or unframed.  At the moment as we od not know how many artists will enter, we have restricted it to 10 paintings per artist but may be able to lift this towards the end of July.

We are charging £1 ‘hanging’ fee per painting, and our usual 20% commission on sales.

Artists must be able to deliver their sold paintings to Alderton on the evening of Saturday 5^th September or the morning of Sunday 6^th September.

We already have over 50 paintings submitted!

To enter please use these forms 2020 Artists Letter and Entry Form and 2020 Painting Form.

We look forward to receiving your entry!

2019 My favourite painting winner – Anne Gilbert

An incredible 390 votes were cast by our visitors over the two days of our Alderton Art Festival, and the runaway winner was ‘Annie’ by the fabulous artists Anne Gilbert.

‘Annie’ as can be seen in the photo, was a stunning painting of a donkey’s head (many apologies for the reflections on the photo). This is the second year running that one of Anne Gilbert’s paintings has been voted the visitors favourite!

Anne Gilbert wins a picture framing voucher, kindly sponsored by Village Framers of Lillingstone Lovell.

Thank you – 2019 was amazing!

Our doors have closed for 2019, the paintings have been taken off the church walls, and our happy visitors have now all left clutching their purchases!

It was a wonderful two days, and our village had a real vibrant feel about it! We have sold 30 original paintings and lots of unframed originals and prints, which is not surprising as they were exceptionally good this year – with a wide range of types and subjects.

We would like to thank our wonderful artists, stall holders, and villagers/friends who helped during the run up and over the two days. We would also like to thank all our wonderful visitors, who make the event worthwhile!

See you all next year!!

Final day for 2019

Yesterday was an amazing day. Our church looks wonderful with all the fantastic artwork decorating its walls, and was really buzzing with the crowds yesterday.

As our visitors found out yesterday, there are paintings to suit all tastes, from traditional oils, water colours through to colourful abstracts. In addition some are on canvas, some on glass! We also have over 300 unframed originals and prints for you to peruse!

When you get hungry, we have a barbecue, tea tent full of scrumptious homemade cakes and other goodies, and our real ale beer tent (using craft beers from Towcester Mill Brewery).

Not forgetting we have a number of other stalls featuring some superb local crafters selling chainsaw carvings, fabric handbags and much more.

The sun is shining already, its going to be another great day!

Final call for artists

As you will see from Our Artists page, we already have a great line up of artists exhibiting and selling their work in this years Alderton Art Festival.

If you are an artists and have not yet submitted your entries, the absolute closing date is Monday 19th August 2019.

You can still download an entry form from Our Contact page

2019 craft stalls fully booked

Our Craft stalls have all been booked for this year. Have a look to see our wonderful crafters who will be at our Art Festival. There are a whole range of beautiful crafts, and we are really looking forward to welcoming them this year.

We have closed our doors for 2018

After two amazing days of our Art Festival, where the sun shone and we had over 650 visitors, we have shut our doors! It is always a sad part of our festival when we take down the artwork from the walls of our church.

We think it has been our best year ever, we have sold 34 framed pictures, and 47 unframed ones, an amazing number. The quality of the artwork this year was fabulous which will account for the great sales. There are many happy owners admiring their new purchase!

Once we have totted up all the takings we will publish how much we have raised.

We must thank all our 41 amazing local artists, our crafters, sponsors and of course, the villagers who put run the tea stall, beer tent, white elephant and much more!

2018 My Favourite Painting winner – Anne Gilbert

We had over 200 original quality artwork and over 300 of our visitors voted for their favourite. Due to the quality and variety of the art, it is not surprising that the votes were spread across 120 paintings! It was nice to see that every single one of our 41 artists had a painting voted for!

Our top three paintings had just one vote between each.

In first place was Anne Gilbert with Bracken Hare, a beautiful ink and watercolour painting. Anne wins a voucher for framing from Village Framers in Lillingstone Lovell.

Second place went to Brian Harrington’s intricate Magic Forest, also an ink and watercolour. In third place was a lovely pastel by Jane Rhodes, Incoming Tide.

Our top artists were Brian Harrington, Anne Gilbert, Jane Rhodes, Mark Duffin, Kevin Mortimer, Lisa Campbell, Conny Bailey, Sharon Ingram, David Wells and Val Goldfinch who each received a high number of votes for multiple paintings.

We are very grateful to Village Framers of Lillingstone Lovell for sponsoring this award.

We are Open !!

Wow, our Art Festival’s first day (Saturday) was amazing, the sun shone the whole day, and we had hundreds of lovely visitors.

We have over 200 excellent paintings hanging inside our church, painted by 42 talented local artists. In addition, there are 300 unframed originals and prints available to purchase!

Our tea tent proved very popular, in fact so much that the village was busy baking last night to restock the scrumptious cakes!!

We other attractions including our brilliant craft stalls, our ever-popular white elephant stall, an amazingly cheap used book stall, and new for this year a beer tent selling local craft beer from Towcester Mill brewery. We also have wine and cider for sale!

We are open from 10.30 a.m this morning until 4 p.m. The sun is shining again, and we look forward to seeing you!!

One week to go!

With one week to go, our village is a hive of activity. Tents are going up, the church is being prepared, feverish baking is taking place, jam and chutney is bubbling away, white elephant items being sorted and priced, and notices placed.

We cannot accept any more entries from our artists as we have printed the catalogues, and our church will be bursting at the seams with the artwork! Our ‘hanging’ team will have their work cut out fitting all the paintings in!

New for this year is beer tent featuring real ales from our local brewery Towcester Mill.

The weather forecast is looking favourable – it will be a great weekend!

Now accepting Artists entries

We are accepting entries from artists for our 2018 Arts Festival – download an entry form from Our Contact page

Each artist entering this year’s exhibition will have an entry on Our Artists page.

Peoples Choice Awards 2018

Following the success last year, Village Framers of Lillingstone Lovell have very kindly donated a £50 framing voucher to the artist whose picture is voted the People’s Choice. The winner will be announced at approximately 4.30 p.m. on Sunday 2nd September. Every visitor to our Art Festival will be asked to vote for their favourite painting, with the painting receiving the most votes winning the voucher.