Shaftesbury Abbey Museum is looking forward to a fascinating April, with medieval nuns and herbal medicine both on the menu.

Shaftesbury Abbey Museum has announced two events this April: a lecture on life in a medieval convent, and a workshop on monastic medicine.

Dr John Renner is a specialist on the art of medieval and early Renaissance Italy, and will be presenting Art in the Medieval Convent: The Pictorial Life of Nuns in Italy to a fascinated audience at 7.30pm on Thursday April 27 at the Shaftesbury Arts Centre. Following a career in journalism, Dr Renner took an MA in Art History at Birkbeck College and a PhD at the Courtauld Institute. He now lectures for the Courtauld Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum, among others.

Nuns in the Middle Ages were viewers, patrons, and sometimes makers of art – but material evidence is hard to come by in this country, even for such prominent and prosperous establishments as Shaftesbury Abbey. More survives, fortunately, in continental Europe. In this lecture, art historian Dr John Renner looks into the pictorial culture of convents in late medieval Italy to reveal the central role of images in the enclosed lives of the nuns.

Tickets are available from Shaftesbury Arts Centre (01747 854321 www.shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk) and cost £10 for Friends or £12 for adults.

Also this spring, medical herbalist Julie Wood will be running monastic medicine workshops, making the most of the plants that are flourishing in the Abbey gardens.

The detailed, hands-ons guided workshops take place on Saturday April 29 between 10am and 1pm.

“Herbs were widely used by nuns and monks in medieval times for healing body, mind and spirit,” Julie explains. “Join me in the special grounds here at Shaftesbury Abbey to explore the plants, their historical uses, the remedies, and their relevance today.”

During the workshops you will learn about monastic and medieval herb gardens and plants, herbal preparations, and how they were used in medieval times, and the historical importance of herbs and plants for medical, sacred, culinary and utility uses.

You will enjoy a walk around the Abbey’s raised beds and tiered garden to explore the springtime herbal plants, and taster session of herbal tea blends and a herb tea blend to take home.

Tickets are £45 to include refreshments. Please book directly at https://buytickets.at/wildhealinggarden/879276. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Wood via email: julie@wildhealinggarden.co.uk.