Art and Architecture Trail
MAKE A DATE FOR MELBOURNE FESTIVAL 2027- 18th & 19th SEPTEMBER
Opening Time: 10am | Closing Time: 5pm
The 2026 Melbourne Festival Art & Architecture Trail features work by some of the Midlands’ best creative artists exhibiting their work in private gardens and local homes not usually open to the public in the heart of Melbourne in addition to halls and churches.
The trail consists of easy-walking loops around the central streets of Melbourne and can be started at any point. Each adult will need a Trail Wrist Band and a Trail Guide to enter the buildings, they are available from street sellers and cost just £7.50 per adult, under 18’s free. The Wristband is valid for two days so why not make a weekend of it? The Trail Guide consists of a map of central Melbourne with festival sites marked and details of buildings and the artists they are hosting.
The Wrist Band is your pass permitting access to all venues - no Wrist Band = NO ENTRY.
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All of the work on the Trail is original, for sale and the artists and makers all accompany their work, many demonstrate their skills, and they will all be happy to tell you about their work so please feel free to ask. The trail features paintings, photography, pottery, sculpture, jewellery, and much more! – in fact something for every taste and pocket. Each year we select a mix of new artists and lots of old favourites. Every year more artists apply to exhibit, and 2026 was no different. Much as we would love to take everyone unfortunately space is limited so we do our best to include something for everyone - art to enjoy, art to intrigue and art to buy and take home!
Melbourne is a beautiful village with many beautiful buildings in the conservation area. Usually during the Art & Architecture Trail visiting professional artists are hosted in rooms made available in private houses, which are not usually open to the public. Most of the buildings on the Trail are of historic significance and architectural information is contained in the Trail Guide for each venue. Hopefully having visited the Trail, visitors will be tempted to return to take another look at some of these heritage sites.
Families are specially catered for with a special, safe area for young children with plenty to amuse them. This year join us in the Rectory Garden overlooking Melbourne Pool to enjoy a themed garden inspired by The Oak Tree by Julia Donaldson & Victoria Sandoy with beautiful applique banners made by Melbourne Junior School & Linocut printed bunting by children from Melbourne Infant School as part of Humanity, Nature & Creativity supported by a National Lottery Project Grant awarded by Arts Council England, Children could also sing and dance alongwith Tracey Ridley at MusicTime and enjoy our Story Stop!!! - check out the Trail Guide for Family Fun.
In Melbourne Parish Church we were excited to share with you the four patchwork story quilts created in Melbourne & South Derbyshire for our South Derbyshire in Stitches project, this was the first time all four quilts were shown together, they are now on tour. Alongside the quilts we showed images from the Creative Community Workshops we have held during 2025 & 2026 as part of our South Derbyshire in Stitches project celebrating some of the beautiful buildings and the things which make Melbourne & South Derbyshire special, and, the creative community workshops in the first half of Humanity, Nature & Creativity. We would like to thank Arts Council England, Derbyshire County Council, South Derbyshire District Council and our other sponsors for supporting creativity in our community this year.
The Melbourne Festival Emerging Artist Exhibition is very popular with visitors, this year it was at The Athenaeum. The Emerging Artist Award for artists under 25 was launched at the 2014 Festival. The shortlisted artists exhibit on the Trail and the £500 Emerging Talent Award as presented on Saturday 19th September 2026 to Isabella Barnett.
This year our Resident Artists were exhibiting at Creative Melbourne. If you didn’t make it to the Gallery during the Festival we are excited to share an extensive programme of special exhibitions at the Creative Melbourne Gallery.
It’s tiring work walking around the Trail and we ensure nobody goes hungry! Great food by local suppliers is available each year at the Food Fayre in Castle Street, Food is also available at the Art Cafe at Melbourne Assembly Rooms, and Melbourne has great cafes, restaurants and pubs along with the popup church and charity tea shops!
The Busk Stops are always popular at the Music Marquees outside the Food Fayre and Assembly Rooms with live music from 12-5 on Saturday and Sunday – it’s great to see so many families and young people enjoying themselves.
The public streets are all wheelchair-friendly, but unfortunately some of the private buildings are not accessible for wheelchair users or less agile visitors. A special Easy Access Trail is marked on the Trail Guide for visitors with restricted mobility so that visitors can decide which venues they are physically able to access. Visitors follow the Trail at their own risk and we cannot accept liability for accidents or loss of property.
Finally, “Where do I park” is always a question on everyone’s lips, street parking is very limited and we ask visitors to be mindful of access for residents and emergency services if parking on streets. To make things easier for visitors we have a Park & Ride from Tori & Ben’s Farm Shop at Kings Newton DE73 8DD operated by Melbourne Community Care for £5 per car with a regular shuttle bus to the Fire Station in Castle Street or at Melbourne Schools in Packhorse Road DE73 8JE both car parks raise much needed funds for the organisations operating them.