“The world is so full of a number of things,
I’m sure we should all be happy as kings.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
We want your stuff!
2026 marks the 75th anniversary of The Burton at Bideford and its long history of celebrating collections of art, heritage and curiosities. We want to hear about your treasured collections as part of a new exhibition exploring our shared impulse to collect.
The Burton’s permanent collection consists of many smaller collections all held under one roof. These range from paintings and poems, to ceramic shrines to celebrities, rat tailed spoons and time capsule treasures that tell the story of life and living in Northern Devon across hundreds of years. But our telling of these stories barely scratches the surface of what is out there to see, and that is where you come in – what do you collect and would you be willing to show it off to the world?
What We Keep: The Art of Collecting will celebrate the act of collecting, and the process behind it, showcasing a range of collections held by people across our community in the South West of England. Whether you hold objects as keepsakes, or as items to study, catalogue, repair, trade or enjoy, we would love to hear about your collecting, how it started and why you do it.
Any collection, gathered in any way, will be considered for What We Keep – bottle caps, cat paintings, action figures, vintage shoes, railway signs, video game cheat codes, ceramics or even photographs of monkey puzzle trees – and it doesn’t matter if you see yourself as “a collector” or not. If you have an interest, we’re interested!
Please get in touch using our Google Form to tell us about your collection. Alternatively, you may pick up a form from The Burton at Bideford’s front desk. The deadline for submissions is 10am on Monday the 2nd of February 2026.
Selection for the What We Keep: The Art of Collecting exhibition will take place in February, with collectors being contacted by the end of February 2026.
If you have any further questions please contact info@theburton.org.
