Falmouth & Penryn: A Travel Guide to Art, Culture, and Hidden Gems

We’re kicking off our first art travel guide of 2025 with a trip to Falmouth & Penryn, Cornwall, created in partnership with GWR. These charming coastal towns are nestled side by side on Cornwall’s southern coast and are reachable by train from London in five hours. Make a long weekend of your trip, or take your time and bookend your journey with visits to Exeter, Plymouth, or Bristol.

With a vibrant yet intimate creative scene, and Falmouth School of Art bringing fresh talent to the area each year, there’s art to be sought out in a range of spaces, from high quality commercial galleries to museums and outdoors venues.

The Big Museums

On display until 10 May, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 at Falmouth Art Gallery & Museum presents the best in contemporary drawing, exhibiting artists from the UK and abroad. On tour from the titular arts centre in East London, this exhibition celebrates the role and value of drawing within creative practice. Not to be missed.

Is there anywhere more appropriate to learn about the history of surfing than the National Maritime Museum? SURF! 100 years of waveriding in Cornwall is a major exhibition celebrating a century of surfing in Cornwall. It reveals how the county has become a global stage for surf innovation, activism, and a trailblazer in blue health. The exhibition explores how Cornish surf culture has influenced music, film, fashion, and art, featuring unseen works by leading contemporary artists including Damien Hirst and Abigail Fallis.

Unique Art Spaces

Housed in the former Cornwall Polytechnic Society building, The Poly hosts weekly rotating exhibitions as well as films, performances, and workshops. Mainly rooted in painting, with landscape a perennial theme, these exhibitions offer a view of Cornwall through an artist’s lens.

The Fish Factory is a community arts venue located across two sites on Commercial Road, Penryn. It is within walking distance from the Falmouth Art Gallery and the National Maritime Museum (40 minutes and 1 hour respectively), or you could take a train to Penryn station, which is just a 15-minute walk away.

Perhaps the most unique art repository in Cornwall, if not the South West, is Micro Space—a repurposed vintage first aid box installed outside a private residence. Managed and curated by local artists Anna Logan and Simon Baker, this diminutive display provides a vital space for local artists to engage the public with their work. Exhibited works are rotated every three weeks and the venue is just a ten-minute walk from the busy seaside thoroughfare.

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The Finest Commercial Galleries

Morgans in Falmouth is distinguished by curator Ann Morgan’s ability to bring together a range of contemporary artists and makers in selling shows that feel both dynamic and thoughtful. Drawing inspiration from the gallery's building, Ann says the work she selects is informed by the 'individual identity of the architectural space,' facilitating group shows featuring painters, ceramicists, and other creators.

Ann also co-organises FORM Falmouth with Vicki Glaister. This annual fair showcases Falmouth’s artists, makers, and designers, allowing them to exhibit and sell their work directly to the public, with the next event expected this autumn.

North of Morgan’s past St. Mawes Dock, Cor Gallery, opened in 2020 by Emily Dymond, offers another beautifully curated space. Emily's vision for Cor as 'an accessible, welcoming space for both collectors and art lovers' is realised through exhibitions of work from ceramicists, sculptors, and painters from across the UK, including Akiko Hirae.

Cor Gallery, Falmouth Exhibition. Courtesy the gallery.

Gardens Full of Delight

Head to Falmouth & Penryn this Spring and you’ll catch not only the UK’s most prestigious drawing prize, but the opportunity to see the spectacular bluebell wood at Enys Gardens. With the ancient woodland awash with violet from the beginning of April through to May, a celebratory art exhibition is held in the manor house to coincide with the bluebell’s peak weeks.

Another beautiful out of town venue, which hosts exhibitions by local artists and makers, as well as craft workshops, is Trebah Gardens. Taking advantage of the sub-tropical micro climate found in Cornwall, the coastal gardens here are planted with a range of exotic plants, including palms and gargantuan gunnera. It provides an inspiring location for creative minds, further nurtured by the onsite cultural programme. Currently, makers The Artificers Collective are showcasing their work in a new exhibition, featuring blacksmithing, woodturning, printmaking, and basketry.

Next month in the lead up to International Women's Day, historian Elizabeth Dale will explore the forgotten, yet extraordinary stories of Cornwall's feisty female characters in her talk The Cornish Bird – Forgotten Women of the Cornish Coast.

Even More to Look Out for in 2025

The excellent team behind Gray’s Wharf Gallery are undertaking a major new project to open the new Art Centre Penryn. With building work and a fundraiser near completion, it’s set to open with a new programme in March 2025. Follow the ArtRabbit to receive updates.

Whilst not open to the public in general, artist group Quarry House Collective occasionally run open studio events. Located on the edge of Penryn, it’s worth checking out their Instagram page for updates on open studio events, which offer opportunities to meet artists and purchase work.

→ The South West Art Travel Companion: A GWR-Partnered Guide to Exploring the South West, West, and South Wales

Thanks to our partnership with GWR, this guide brings the art-filled landscapes of the South West, West, and South Wales to your doorstep. Travel from one art exhibition to another, discovering how art transforms within the context of its environment. Embrace the convenience of booking ahead and travelling during quieter times with GWR Railcards, tailored for explorers young and seasoned. Plan your journey here.

→ More exhibitions and events in Bristol, Exeter, Falmouth, Swansea, Plymouth and more

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