Opening next month at the Somerset Rural Life Museum, A Life Outside offers a new appraisal of the work and life of the Exmoor writer and artist Hope Bourne.

_{Late summer Autumn 89, Ferny Ball, The garden and the back of the caravan, looking towards the hill, 1989, colour photograph. Copyright The Exmoor Society}

This exhibition considers Bourne’s status as one of the West Country’s most significant nature writers, whose work and way of life are especially prescient in this time of advancing environmental crisis. It draws on new research by writer and Guardian Country Diarist Sara Hudston, whose book A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor will be published next year. Sara is co-curating the exhibition with Kate Best, for the South West Heritage Trust.

Hope Bourne (1918–2010) was a writer and artist who spent almost sixty years recording the landscape, wildlife, history and changing rural traditions of Exmoor. Fiercely creative and resolutely independent, she led a self-reliant life that gave her the freedom to write, draw and paint.

For nearly forty years, Bourne occupied a series of dilapidated cottages and caravans on the Somerset side of Exmoor, living off the land as much as possible. Writing provided a small and precarious income, and she exchanged drawings and watercolours for meals with friends.

_{Hope Bourne, Exmoor, December ’69, December Sunshine, Lower Blackland, watercolour, coloured pencil and pencil, 1969. With permission of The Exmoor Society and Halsgrove Publishing}

Bourne was a prolific creator. She made thousands of drawings and paintings, wrote and illustrated books, authored pamphlets and newspaper columns, as well as keeping a daily journal. She bequeathed her entire estate to the Exmoor Society, of which she was a founder member.

Amongst the objects on loan for the exhibition are Bourne’s paraffin lamp, her Roberts radio, compass, binoculars and Swiss Army knife. There are displays of the detailed landscape sketches she made, sometimes on the backs of envelopes and cereal packets – testament to her frugal way of life. Her personal journals and published works also feature.

_{Hope Bourne, pen and ink drawing of beech hedge on used envelope, c.1972. Copyright The Exmoor Society}

To further explore Hope Bourne’s legacy and connection with the Exmoor landscape, a series of events are taking place. These include a guided walk on Exmoor and a talk about the Hope Bourne archive with Lisa Eden from The Exmoor Society. Writer and co-curator Sara Hudston will be hosting a nature writing workshop and an ‘In Conversation’ evening exploring Women Outside with journalist and author Meg Clothier.

More information, including booking for the events, can be found here.

_{Hope Bourne, Exmoor Harvest Cart, October 1956, watercolour and pencil With permission of The Exmoor Society and Halsgrove Publishing}

Open from 27 September 2025 to 10 January 2026, A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor is created in partnership with The Exmoor Society, which cares for The Hope L. Bourne Collection.

Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10.00 am – 5.00 pm.