Consultant Brief: Visioning and Master Planning

*Please note, we will accept submissions totalling five pages plus appendices such as reports completed for previous clients*

Bakewell Old House Museum aims to advance the education of the public in the history and heritage of Bakewell and the surrounding Peak area. The Old House itself is a Grade II* listed building dating from 1534. It is run by the Bakewell and District Historical Society which, in addition to running the museum, promotes the historical and architectural heritage of Bakewell.

Bakewell and District Historical Society has been successful in securing funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for a multi-tiered project comprising of essential building maintenance to the Old House and a visioning project which will guide the next five to ten years of both the Bakewell and District Historical Society and the Bakewell Old House Museum. Contractors are currently in place and building work is expected to begin imminently and, through this advert, we hope to find a consultant who can lead the visioning portion of the project.

A key focus of the visioning project will be on income generation and audience development; however, trustees and staff are very open to the development of the visioning project in the way the chosen consultant feels is necessary. We have no clear picture of an end goal apart from the continuation of the society and the Old House as places of learning for people about Bakewell and the Peak which offers freedom for the project to be guided by the results of interviews and workshops. 2029 will be the museums 70th anniversary and the 75th anniversary of the society, adding extra impetus to the visioning project.

A full brief is given in the documentation below along with the scoring criteria which we will use to assess the applications. If you require further information or have any questions about the brief then please contact Greg MacJudges, Manager Curator on manager@bakewellhistory.com or Ken Smith, Chair of the Board of Trustees on kensmith@bakewellhistory.com.

The expected conclusion of all aspects of the project is 31st December 2027. 

Consultant’s fees and expenses: £37,674 inclusive of VAT

An additional £5184 including VAT has been secured for venue hire and other workshop related costs. 

Application deadline: Midnight, Sunday 02 August 2026.

Interviews will be held at the Bakewell Old House Museum, Cunningham Place, Bakewell, DE44 1DD during the w/c 10 August 2026.

Full Brief

Scoring Criteria

Volunteering

While volunteering with us, you can make new friends, learn new skills and enjoy yourself at Bakewell’s main historic venue!

With a wide range of roles on offer, there’s something for everyone:

Whether you’re after something behind-the-scenes or customer facing, we have roles to suit.

If you’re looking for project work, or something on-going, we have volunteer tasks for you!

If you would like to learn more about volunteering at Bakewell Old House Museum, email us on oldhousemuseum@bakewellhistory.com and find out how you could help.

At the moment, we are especially keen to hear from people who would like to volunteer Front-of-House, welcoming people and ensuring they have an excellent experience at the museum. 

Some of our volunteer roles

    • Admin volunteer
    • Buildings volunteer
    • Collections Care / Conservation volunteer
    • Costume volunteer
    • Gardening volunteer
    • Graphic Design volunteer
    • Group Visits volunteer
    • IT volunteer (Office 365/WordPress/Windows etc.)
    • Photography volunteer
    • Retail volunteer
    • Schools volunteer
    • Social Media volunteer
    • Volunteer Co-ordination volunteer
    • Welcome volunteer

If you’d like to volunteer in another capacity, we can almost certainly create a volunteer project for you – get in touch!

Work experience placements

We offer Schools Work Experience Placements and Duke of Edinburgh Award volunteering each year.

These may include:

Time working in the office

  • Meeting visitors
  • Working on collections
  • Helping with school visits
  • Contributing to social media posts 

Gap year students

We have experience of offering valuable gap year volunteering opportunities at the Bakewell Old House Museum.

As a volunteer Curatorial Assistant, you will perform many of the roles outlined above. We anticipate you volunteering for a couple of days per week as a minimum to get the in-depth experience this role requires.

Together, we shall create a bespoke volunteer role for you, supplemented with museum-specific training onsite and elsewhere. We shall help you to develop your management and leadership skills, providing mentoring opportunities throughout the year.

Interested? Email us on oldhousemuseum@bakewellhistory.com

Abi and Joe are gap year students

 

We volunteered for a year at the museum

“We’re Abi and Joe, volunteers at the Bakewell Old House Museum. We love it here, coming in two days a week during our Gap Year before heading to Uni. We’ve had lots of opportunities and it’s great to see how a museum works. We have created our own display, written an article for the Society’s Journal and got hands-on experience of collections management. We can thoroughly recommend this friendly museum!!😀

Corporate volunteering

We can provide bespoke projects for individuals or small groups of corporate volunteers, lasting a half day to a full week. Help out a Bakewell charity by using your corporate skills and experience, or available time to do DIY projects.

Email us on oldhousemuseum@bakewellhistory.com further information.

Become a member of the Bakewell and District Historical Society

View our membership options