Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden

 This is a lovely place, one of my favourites.   It is situated away from the sea little in St Ives.  It would be easy to walk past, no sign of the garden can be seen beyond the wall.  Its a very serene and private spot, even in the centre of town.  I can see why it appealed to Barbara Hepworth.

As you enter, there is a small museum that looks at the events of Barbara's life downstairs before moving upstairs to a gallery and some of smaller indoor sculptures and art.  As you pass outside, you can peer in to her old workshops, conserved as they largely were when she died, work in progress and all.  She was a much tidier worker than me, or someone conserves it in a considered state.  Either way, it would be easy to imagine her walking in and picking up where she left off.

The garden is the absolute jewel though.  It isn't very big but that doesn't matter.  It is crammed full of beautiful sculptures but the lush vegetation means that you never feel overwhelmed.  You cannot see everything at once.  A quiet path wends it way around the garden.  It's pretty as a garden in and of itself.  The plants make an excellent backdrop too but it doesn't all feel separate.  It's clear her artistic eye applied itself to the garden as a whole.

In the summer, the garden can be quite busy but I had it all to myself on a wet winters day.  It was actually nice to see the garden at a different time of year.  It was also nice to see it wet!  Some of the sculptures collected little pools of water as well as having droplets across them.  It altered it enough for it to feel like a fresh place.  That's the beauty of nature.

Also...  squirrels

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