Life of Exmoor nature writer Hope Bourne recognised with exhibition | Wildlife
He was accepted as eccentric by some, produced a frugal existence in a wild British iron, survived by land and changed his rural drawings to eat.
However, the first museum exhibition on the life and work of Hope Bourne, a largely forgotten nature writer and artist, emphasizes that the environment, recycling, access to the rural area – even hugging.
Exhibition, SOMERSET Rural Life Museum In Glastonbury, Bourne, who died in 2010 at the age of 91, should be considered as an important naturalist and surrounding champion.
Sara Hudston, a common curator, said: “Umut Bourne was one of the greatest natural writers of the 20th century that was unjustly overlooked. Ecological awareness, rejection of materialism and increasing its close relationship with the natural world. He had some high -minded ecological thoughts.”
Bourne has recorded landscapes, wildlife, history and changing rural traditions for decades. The article provided a small and precarious income.
Hudston said: “It was incredibly frugal. He re -used everything. Many of the works of art were behind envelopes and shopping lists. He was very light on the world. He was very worried about water saving even in the 1970s.” It may also be a practical reason – when he lived in a caravan, he had to carry water from a slope spring.
Today, wrapping is taking place worldwide, but Bourne was talking half a century before such projects. Hudston called it as an impossible dream and advised brown bears, wolves and lynxes to be reproduced, ”Hudston said.
Bourne was also interested in another topic that felt very up -to -date – the right to circulation. Hudston felt that people should have free access to EXMOOR – as long as they were on the back or on horseback, ”Hudston said. “And you can camp unless it is harmful to wildlife.
“I think many people saw him as an eccentric local character. One of the things we were trying to do in the exhibition was to say what he actually did, to create the life he needed to do to do the job he wanted to do.
“The inspiration for his creative work was very tied to Exmoor, but it was a difficult place to live, he was not pastoral. He said he didn’t want people to think that he was an ideal of a kind of nature.
Bourne’s paraffin lamp, Roberts radio, compass, binoculars and Swiss army knife include borrowed objects for the exhibition. There will be demonstrations of landscape sketches, personal magazines and published works.
Exhibition A life outside: Umut Bourne in ExmoorIt is created as a joint EXMOOR ASSOCIATIONwhich care Hope l Bourne collection. Working from 27 September January 10, 2026.
Hudston’s Book A life outside: Umut Bourne in Exmoor It will be published next year.
