Women Outside: Hope Bourne and Nature Writing

Join Sara Hudston and Meg Clothier in conversation as they discuss West Country writer Hope Bourne and writing about the natural world.

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. Discover more about her life in the exhibition at Somerset Rural Life Museum.

Meg Clothier is an author who has published collections of essays about the British countryside and the Shipping Forecast. Her feminist reimagining of the fall of King Arthur, set on Glastonbury Tor, is coming next autumn (2026).

Sara Hudston is a regular contributor to the Guardian's Country Diary. She also runs Hazel Press, which publishes eco-poetry, essays and short fiction. Her book, A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor will be published by The Exmoor Society next autumn (2026).

Image Credits: Late summer Autumn 89, Ferny Ball, The garden & the back of the caravan, looking towards the hill, 1989, colour photograph © The Exmoor Society

Sara Hudston at Farley Water, Exmoor.

Meg Clothier.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher South West Heritage Trust