Museum to close temporarily before full reopening

The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon will be temporarily closing to the public for a short time from Saturday 18 January.

Following the closure, the museum will then reopen in two stages:

• On Saturday 1 February the new extension will open for access to the shop, exhibition gallery and social history gallery.
• On Saturday 15 February the older building will open, meaning the whole building will be back up and running in time for half term.

Museum curator, Alison Mills, says: “We are closing the entire museum to the public for a short time. This is to allow for completing staff training and the training of new volunteers. It is also a very exciting time as everyone behind the scenes will be working hard changing over the temporary exhibition and finishing off some of the displays in the old building to allow us to finally re-open the whole museum again.”

Leader of North Devon Council, Councillor David Worden says, “The temporary closing of the museum also means the end of the wonderful exhibition, ‘Imitation of Nature’, featuring the paintings of acclaimed local artist, F.R. Lee. If you haven’t had the chance to see this excellent collection of his artwork, or would like to see it again, make sure you visit the museum before it closes at 4pm on 18 January.”

In the meantime, if you would like to become a volunteer at the museum, you can download a volunteer application form HERE. You will be invited for an informal induction to meet the team and find out which roles could be right for you. All volunteers need to be aged 16 or over to volunteer, under 18’s must get permission from their parent or guardian.