Lifting the Lid at The Vyne

National Trust  |  2017

The Vyne is a Tudor mansion near Basingstoke, Hampshire, built in the 1520s and since then adapted by subsequent owners to their own needs, tastes and whims. In 2016 the National Trust began a project to conserve its roof. While this meant closing the first floor, including one of the highlights of a visit, the Tudor Oak Gallery, the Trust wanted to keep the ground floor open and allow visitors to walk around the roof – a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
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Skellon Studio worked with the National Trust to install a bespoke exhibition on the ground floor, up on the roof and throughout the landscape. Through new interpretation, object displays, AV projection and illustration we created a bespoke exhibition that tells the story of the building and its inhabitants.

We made use of scaffolding and timber structures to extend the feel of the conservation works into the interior, making a clean separation between the fabric of the building and the exhibition, and incorporated Christopher Brown's specially commissioned linocut prints to bring out the character of the Vyne's inhabitants. In the Stone Gallery the first of the AV shows animated Tudor symbols and scenes, and as a finale, the Tudor chapel featured a Lady Mass, sung by the Trinity Boys Choir, Oxford.

Lifting the Lid at The Vyne won the 2017 Award for Museums and Historic Properties/Sites and the overall award for Excellence in Interpretation from the Association for Heritage Interpretation. See more in the News Section.

In developing the show, we collaborated with:
Scena: Build & Install
Catherine Morton: Content and Script-writing
​Kellenberger White: Graphic Design
Centre Screen: Audio Visual 
Peter Key: Sound Design
Christopher Brown: Illustrations
DHA: Lighting

Related links:
The Vyne