Book Launch – A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor

Sign up here and be among the first to know about our new book, A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor.

In autumn 2026, The Exmoor Society plans to publish a new book about the writer and artist Hope Bourne. A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor by Sara Hudston, considers Hope’s life and legacy as one of the 20th century’s foremost nature writers.

It includes a selection of articles from the newspaper column that Hope wrote for the West Somerset Free Press. Never before republished, these pieces offer a trove of information about life on Exmoor in the early 1980s.

Sara Hudston says: “Hope’s 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 today. Her extraordinary life and jewel-like art often grab the most attention, but it’s her writing that truly sets her apart. Her columns for the local paper are among the best of her work, and it’s really exciting to bring them to light again.”

Sometimes known as The Lady Of Exmoor, Hope Bourne (1918–2010) spent almost sixty years recording the landscape, wildlife, history and changing rural traditions of the moor. Fiercely creative and resolutely independent, she led a self-reliant life that gave her the freedom to write, draw and paint. Hope occupied a series of dilapidated cottages and caravans, living off the land as much as possible. Writing provided her with a small and precarious income. When she died in 2010, she bequeathed her entire estate to The Exmoor Society, of which she was a founder member.

To register your interest in the book, please complete the form below. Simply add one ‘ticket’ (there is no charge) and fill out the form with your contact details. We’ll be in touch in summer 2026 with the latest updates and all the information you need to be among the first to get your copy of this wonderful new book.

Image © The Exmoor Society