The house holds Hornel's pictures, vast collection of artefacts and furniture. Library. Archive. Right in the heart of Kirkcudbright, a pretty artists’ colony on the Solway Firth, this 18th-century Georgian house is the former home of Scottish painter E A Hornel, one of the Glasgow Boys. Painstakingly preserved and recreated, it’s a living museum of Hornel’s life and work, packed to the rafters wi
th his paintings and those of his contemporaries, as well as his vast library, which includes one of the world’s biggest collections of works by Robert Burns. Nestled behind the house, backing on to the River Dee, is Hornel’s beautiful garden. Greatly influenced by his love of Japan, it’s a curious and colourful mixture of Eastern and Western horticulture and sculpture that is a delight to explore.
