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The barn at Kelmscott Manor, summer home of Victorian designer and poet William Morris, near Lechlade, is venue for a photography exhibition for two weeks, from Saturday 1^st August. ”People of the Thames – a photographic journey” is the third show in a series, covering different lengths of the river, by photographer Jil Orpen.

This latest exhibition features eight people interviewed and photographed on the stretch of river between the Thames Head and Radcot, which was described by Morris as “a place to replenish the soul”.

The display combines the use of stunning pictures and text to illustrate how the River Thames influences these people whose lives are closely associated with it, and how the river is itself affected in return.

Subjects include Keith Webb, resident lockkeeper at Grafton Lock and avid wildlife enthusiast, Jane and Roy Darke, who are volunteers at Kelmscott Manor and keen walkers of the Thames path and John Willmer OBE, conservationist and farmer at Clanfield. Jil Orpen commented “I have met people who have hugely diverse relationships with the river, but all are united by a common appreciation and concern for its conservation. On the banks of the river around Kelmscott I have encountered people who have lived in the area for most of their lives and would not think of living anywhere else”.

The Kelmscott Manor ”People of the Thames” exhibition follows those at Abingdon County Hall Museum in 2007 and at the Museum of English Rural Life, in Reading, earlier this year.

The exhibition is open on Saturday 1^st and Wednesdays 5^th and 12^th August, 11am to 5pm and on Thursdays 6^th and 13^th, 2pm to 5pm. Admission to the exhibition and Kelmscott Manor grounds costs £2.