Stinsford Studios is a collection of working studios and exhibition spaces at the Old Vicarage in Stinsford, Dorset.

Set above the River Frome and beside the churchyard where Thomas Hardy is buried, the house has long been part of the life of Stinsford. Hardy himself was a frequent visitor. Today, the Old Vicarage is home to painter Julian Bailey, ceramicist Sophie Bailey and their four children.

The studios open at different times of the year for exhibitions, bringing together the work of artists and makers in the old studio outbuildings. Rather than a conventional gallery, Stinsford Studios is a place where art is made, lived with and shared.

Julian Bailey is a painter whose work has developed over more than four decades. After studying at the Ruskin School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, he moved with his family to Stinsford in 1998. The particular atmosphere of Dorset seeps into his work, while the poetic themes of love, longing and misunderstanding that preoccupied Hardy are reimagined in paint.

Sophie Bailey is a ceramicist whose vessel-based work is mainly thrown in stoneware and earthenware clay. Together, Julian and Sophie have created a setting where making is part of everyday life, with the studios occupying the former outbuildings of the house.

Gabriella Bailey, the third of Julian and Sophie’s four children, is also a painter. She helped establish Stinsford Studios with her parents, bringing her own generation and perspective into the life of the studios.