The Box - attractions to visit this summer

Now open

Elizabethan House

Part of The Box family, Plymouth’s Elizabethan House reopened at the end of July following a six-year, £1.7m restoration as part of Plymouth’s Mayflower 400 commemorations. The Grade II Listed historic property dates from the late 1500s, and has survived the slum clearances of the early 1900s and the Blitz of World War II. Now one of Plymouth’s oldest buildings, Elizabethan House was built as a letting house and has been lived in by many people whose lives and livelihoods were based around the waterfront. The new attraction takes visitors on an immersive yet authentic journey through its history, as well as offering an insight into the history of Plymouth’s Barbican area. The multi-sensory, audio-visual tour of the building lasts around 45 minutes and is led by the ‘voice’ of the house. You meet the first owner, a washerwoman, a wig maker, get a glimpse at the house’s architecture and see what life was like for the rich and the poor. Projections, images and smells all add to the experience. Local actors have been used to voice the different characters visitors meet; June Marlow, the voice of the house, is a 90-year-old Plymothian who was actually born on New Street, where the house is located.

Until 5 September

Family & Friends: Reynolds at Port Eliot 

Sir Joshua Reynolds was born and lived most of his life in Plymouth; outside of London, The Box holds the UK’s single largest collection of his paintings. This new, free exhibition displays the Port Elliot Collection, a collection of rarely seen paintings by the leading portrait painters of the 18th century including Reynolds, George Romney and Thomas Lawrence. It explores how a rare fusion of patronage and genuine friendship supported Plymouth’s most famous portrait painter throughout his life, from budding local artist to founding president of the Royal Academy.

For ticket information visit theboxplymouth.com