AN exhibition, at Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury, from 27th September to 10th January 2026, A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor, offers a new appraisal of the work and life of the Exmoor writer and artist.

Created in partnership with The Exmoor Society, which cares for The Hope L Bourne Collection, the 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 60 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 40 years, Hope 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.

She was a prolific creator. She made thousands of drawings and paintings, wrote and illustrated books and 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.

Lisa Eden from The Exmoor Society says: “The Hope L. Bourne Collection consists of over 700 books and pamphlets, more than 2,000 sketches and drawings, published and unpublished manuscripts, a mass of cuttings and jottings, photographs and other personal belongings.

“This vast and fascinating collection offers a window on the life of this remarkable woman and is an irreplaceable record of a place in time.”

Among the objects on loan for the exhibition are Hope’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.

Co-curator Sara Hudston says: “Hope Bourne was one of the 20th century’s greatest nature writers, whose work has been unjustly overlooked in recent years. Her ecological awareness, rejection of materialism, and close relationship with the natural world are of increasing relevance.”

Head of museums and engagement at the South West Heritage Trust Estelle Gilbert says: “We are delighted to be hosting the first museum exhibition of Hope Bourne’s work. Her writing and artworks offer an unsurpassed insight into life on Exmoor in the second half of the 20th century. Only now is Hope Bourne beginning to receive the recognition she deserves.”

Events to explore Hope Bourne’s legacy and complement the exhibition include a walk around Withypool with Lisa Eden from The Exmoor Society, on 4th Oct; half term family activities from 27th to 30th October; tea and a talk on the Hope Bourne Archive with Lisa Eden from The Exmoor Society, on 7th November; a nature writing workshop with writer and Guardian Country Diarist Sara Hudston, on 14th November; Women Outside, with Sara Hudston and author Meg Clothier discussing Hope Bourne and nature writing, on 20th November. Booking required for all events (except half term.)

Images show Hope Bourne painting in the landscape, and examples of her beautiful and evocative work.

Black and white photograph of Hope Bourne by Mark J Rattenbury