Land at Kestle Barton

Kestle Barton is situated on 56 acres of land, surrounded by rural farms, ancient woodland and the Helford River with Frenchman’s Creek. For many generations Kestle Barton was a working farm before it was sold by the retiring farmer, Boaden Lyne, in 2004.

The current form Kestle Barton takes was motivated by a strong desire to keep the ancient farmstead intact and to restore it, finding ways for it to be self-sustaining, with a new purpose. Supporting the arts was always part of the scheme but the underlying inspiration for taking on and transforming the farm was out of an appreciation of the land, the buildings that historically supported the use of the land and the history of the whole.

The majority of the grazing on the farm is leased to the neighbouring farmer (within the Lyne family) and continues to be used for raising beef cattle. During the five-year restoration period of the barns and farmhouse leading up to the launch of Kestle Barton: Rural Centre for Contemporary Arts and our holiday lets, additional initiatives were undertaken on the land. A new orchard was planted of local apple varieties; a nuttery of walnuts and chestnuts was introduced; a wild flower meadow was established and the gardens adjacent to the galley space were commissioned, designed and planted. Since then more has been developed and evolved: we now have bee hives, a cider orchard and Paul Chaney’s Encampment Supreme pavilion in the juice orchard. In addition, compost toilets and an outdoor shower have been installed and the cut flowers beds expanded; we now press and bottle our own apple juice on site – producing approximately 1500 bottles to sell in our Tea Room each year.

Since Kestle Barton opened to the public in 2010 it has always conceived of the relationship between the land and the gallery programming to be in dialogue with one another. Paul Chaney was chosen as our first Associate Artist because of his explicit interest in the aesthetics of land use, and his visionary approach to thinking about art in connection with land production. While there are still many unrealised ambitions and untapped potential to explore in this regard, below are some of the activities and interests that we have been cultivating on our land to date, and relating to our arts programme over the years.