TODAY William Morris is best known for his unmistakable wall paper and textile designs, still sold today under licences given to Sanderson and Sons and Liberty of London.

But the 19th century designer, poet and socialist - whose parents William and Emma were both born and grew up in middle class households in Worcester – founded a decorative arts firm which also produced tiles.

Some of these can be seen at an exhibition at the Court Barn Museum, Church Street, Chipping Campden this summer.

Morris himself first produced hand-painted tiles to decorate the porch of Red House, Bexley Heath in Kent, which was built for him and his new wife the Pre-Raphelite model Janey Morris in 1860. They became an important element of the decorative work produced by the firm of Morris & Company.

Fellow-members of the firm including Phillip Webb and Edward Burne-Jones working alongside Kate Faulkner and Water Crane designed and painted tiles.

These included abstract designs, plural patterns and narrative panels based on the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm such as Cinderella, the Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. They also painted several versions of Chaucer’s ‘The Legend of Goode Wimmen’.

The potter Willam De Morgan worked closely with William Morris and produced some of his designs in the Morris and Company workshop. His designs with their scrolling floral designs have remained as popular as Morris’s fabrics and wallpapers.

The exhibition in Chipping Campden is based around two stunning private collections of tiles and provides a one-off opportunity to see the wealth and range of Morris & Company tiles.

It runs from Saturday June 27 to Sunday September 27. The museum is open from 10am to 5pm from Tuesdays to Sundays each week from April to September. It is closed on Mondays apart from Bank Holidays.

• Court Barn, the museum of craft and design in Chipping Campden, tells the story of how a small town in a beautiful setting became a gathering place for creative people in the 20th century and where Charles Ashbee moved his Guild of Handicraft from London in 1902.

The Harts Silversmiths Exhibition opens on the same day at the award-winning art gallery Compton Verney in Warwickshire. It runs until September 13.

The Harts family have worked in the Silk Mill in Chipping Campden for over a century and this exhibition brings together commissions and the spectacular drawings that inspired them. It also tells the story of a tradition, skill and the way of life of the Silversmith.