Audio Described Tours at Amgueddfa Cymru

Over the last year Amgueddfa Cymru has been running live audio described tours at National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National History Museum and the National Roman Legion Museum.  These are specially designed for our visually impaired audience and take place on specific advertised dates. Audio descriptions (AD) are additional commentaries and in-depth descriptions led by curatorial and learning department staff. 

At the National Roman Legion Museum, through touching museum objects visitors find out about Romans settling into life in Caerleon. At National Museum Cardiff and St Fagans National History Museum tours are also linked to the museum’s collections and have included ‘Meet the Clog Maker’ and ‘Meet the Dinosaurs’.

The content of the sessions varies depending on the theme but can involve a walking tour, handling specimens or descriptions of paintings, installations, and sculptures.

Audio Described Tours at St Fagans National Museum of History 

At St Fagans the Audio Described tours give participants the opportunity to explore the rich and varied collections at the museum, from the historic buildings to the wonderful galleries delving into over 200 000 years of human history in Wales, to the beautiful gardens, woodlands and natural spaces, through hands on sensory experiences. 

St Fagans is a working museum which showcases traditional crafts and activities, bringing St Fagans alive, in workshops where craftsmen still demonstrate their traditional skills. Recent tours have included visits to the Weaver working in the Woolen Mill, the Clog Maker and the Miller working in the Flour Mill, where the visitors have been able to hear firsthand from the crafts people and experience their different working environments, their tools and the products they make. 

St Fagans is also a working farm, where visitors can encounter native breeds of livestock in the fields and farmyard. Demonstrations of farming tasks take place, so an audio described tour to the farmyard during lambing season was a must! Participants enjoyed the sounds and smells of the farmyard and were able to learn all about the work of the farmers and the animals they care for. 

Visitors enjoyed a guided sensory Mindful Nature Walk through the beautiful gardens and woodland at St Fagans, visiting the Castle Gardens, where they learnt about the trees, plants and wildlife there and took time to pause and enjoy the nature around them.

Audio Described Tours at National Roman Legion Museum

On audio described tours at the National Roman Legion Museum visitors are able to get close to and touch Roman artefacts. These have helped give an impression of life in the Roman settlement. For example, there are roof tiles and bricks that feature the stamp of the legion, and one roof tile actually has a Roman soldier sandal (Caligae) print on it.  Visitors are encouraged to touch this and then handle a pair of replica sandals, and this can give a fuller picture of the original object.

The Romans were known for creating beautiful mosaics. Visitors on the tour are encouraged to touch and trace the patterns on the labyrinth mosaic at the National Legion Museum. This was probably a dining room floor from the Legate’s Residence. It was found in Caerleon Churchyard, 1865 and dates the 1st to 3rd century A.D.

Audio Described Tours at National Museum Cardiff

National Museum Cardiff has one of Europe’s best collections of Impressionist art and the artworks are very popular with all our visitors.  This live audio described talk took place in the gallery space where the audience heard detailed descriptions of selected artworks.  They were able to get closer to the paintings and sculptures, ask questions and engage in discussions.  Afterwards, there was an opportunity to interact with and handle tactile interpretations of the artworks.

An Audio Described Tour can allow time for a more in-depth discussion about a touring exhibition. A tour of the exhibition celebrating 100 years of the BBC was supplemented by a quiz which invited visitors to guess the BBC drama theme tunes and name the famous TV detectives from audio descriptions.

Find more information on our programme of audio described tours, including details of forthcoming tours, on the Audio Described Tours webpage.