St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery

St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery sits in Lymington on the edge of the New Forest, a place of coastal inlets, heathland and ancient woodlands. The building once housed a school and now contains a small café, a gift shop and a multi-use room called the MacCarthy Room. Inside are displays about the town’s history and a medium-sized gallery for art and historical exhibitions. The museum is an independent charity that has been fully accredited since 2013. It regularly borrows works from national collections such as the Tate, the British Museum and the V&A. Past exhibitions have included Shorelines: Artists on the South Coast and Dazzle: Disruption and Disguise in War and Art, which received national press and television coverage. Visitors find rooms devoted to local artefacts alongside changing art shows. The café serves drinks and meals, and the gift shop sells items made in the area. The museum also runs talks, knitting groups and family activities tied to each exhibition. Its programmes for older people include ‘Tea and Memories’, where people share recollections of historic photographs and objects.