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About Henry Moore Studios & Gardens

Henry Moore moved to Perry Green in rural Hertfordshire in 1940, after his home in London was damaged in the Blitz.

The Foundation continues to operate here today, welcoming thousands of visitors and education groups each year to explore the artist’s former home, studios, and sculpture gardens.

The site has been continually developed since Moore first arrived, as he gradually acquired new buildings to use as studio spaces. Today, we carry that spirit forward by expanding and improving our facilities to offer the best possible experience for our visitors.

Learn more about the history of our site here, from Moore’s time working as an artist to our plans for the future.

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Hoglands

When Henry and Irina first moved to Perry Green, they were able to rent half of a former farmhouse, by the name of Hoglands, in the centre of the hamlet.

At first, the Moores shared the house with another family, but the sale of a 1939 elmwood Reclining Figure – for £300 to fellow artist Gordon Onslow Ford – soon allowed them to buy the whole house, including the gardens and outbuildings, which became Moore’s studios.

Henry and Irina remained at Hoglands for the rest of their lives. Moore acquired more land, piece by piece, and added more studios. Irina created a beautiful and vibrant garden – a perfect backdrop to her husband’s work. Hoglands was very much the centre of both family life and Henry Moore’s business.

A path leads to Hoglands, a white painted former farmhouse with a red tiled roof, and the smaller Top Studio building.
Hoglands and the Top Studio, Perry Green. Photo: Jonty Wilde.

“We’re here at a village called Much Hadham in Hertfordshire. Do you know this part? It’s surprisingly pretty & unspoilt for so near to London (27 mls). I think we may stay here for some time.”

Henry Moore in a letter to Jane Clark, 1940

Hoglands as seen from the rear gardens: a white painted former farmhouse with a red tiled roof, with a red-brick extension and a small glass greenhouse attached.
Hoglands from the rear gardens

Opening to visitors

In 2004 we were able to acquire Hoglands from Irina and Henry Moore’s daughter Mary and, after careful restoration, it was opened to visitors in 2007.

The house now contains many artefacts, books and works of art that were part of Henry and Irina Moore’s personal collection. These have been kindly loaned to the Foundation by the Moore family.

 

Guided tours

You can take a guided tour of the house, which is open from Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays during our visitor season.

As the rooms inside the house are quite small, we limit each tour to eight people.

A woman and two young girls, with their backs to the camera, look at Henry Moore’s Top Studio. The space is laid out as Henry Moore would have used it in his lifetime, with various wood, plaster and stone carvings dotted around the room, and numerous tools out on top of workbenches or hung on the walls.
A battered wooded tool rack in Henry Moore's studio. The slots in the rack are filled with vintage tools, such as chisels.
A work bench in Henry Moore's Top Studio, on the bench lies a white plaster hand (for a sculpture) and a selection of sculpting tools made of steel and wood.
A view into Henry Moore's Top Studio with several work benches, tools and sculptures in progress
A reconstructed interior of one of Henry Moore's studios, featuring several incomplete sculptures, racks of tools and a blue & white butcher's apron on a chair.
A black and white photo showing an older man in shirt and tie working with a mallet and chisel to carve a sculpture from a large piece of wood.
Shelves inside Henry Moore's Bourne Maquette Studio displaying plaster sculpture models and found objects.
A close up of a small, plaster sculpture model, on a shelf full of similar piece, taken in Henry Moore's maquette studio
An interior shot of Henry Moore's drawing studio, which is a small wooden summer house. Inside is a wooden chair at a rudimentary desk, which is laid with drawing materials. There are postcards and a framed Reclining Figure print tacked to the walls.

Moore’s art studios

Moore’s network of art studios, spread across our site, facilitated a lifetime of creativity. They provide a glimpse into the artist’s world, and bring us as close as possible to his working methods and practices.

Each studio was used for different activities, from creating small models and enlarging plasters to carving, drawing and printmaking.

A reconstructed interior of one of Henry Moore's studios, featuring several incomplete sculptures, racks of tools and a blue & white butcher's apron on a chair.

Top Studio

When Moore first moved to Hoglands in 1940, he immediately began to convert this former stable building into a studio. It became his primary workspace for the next fifteen years.

Moore referred to this building as the ‘Top’ studio to distinguish it from those he would later develop further down the estate.

In the 1940s and 1950s, this was where Moore made his maquettes (small study models for developing sculptures), plaster enlargements and drawings.

He also made some of his most iconic carvings here, including those for Northampton, Harlow and Battersea Park, London.

Etching Studio

Tucked behind the Top Studio, this small room had previously been the village shop. Moore first adapted it into a studio for making maquettes, the models in which he could develop his sculptural ideas.

In 1970, Moore created the Bourne Maquette Studio as a dedicated space for his working models. The old village shop changed purposes again, and became a space for his experiments in printmaking.

Moore made several significant series of etchings in this studio, including thirty-eight prints inspired by an elephant skull kept here.

A black and white photo showing an older man in shirt and tie working with a mallet and chisel to carve a sculpture from a large piece of wood.

Yellow Brick Studio

This multifunctional studio was created in 1958. It served as a sculpture store, a space for photography and place to show work to clients – but it’s primary use was as a carving studio.

Here, with assistants, Moore created the last of his large reclining figures in elm wood and completed work on several stone carvings.

Since 1957, Moore had worked closely with stone merchants in Italy. He visited each summer to supervise preliminary work before the carvings were sent to Perry Green for finishing in the Yellow Brick Studio over the winter.

Plastic Studio

Moore wanted to work on large sculpture outdoors, in natural light and in all weathers. In 1963, with builder Frank Farnham, he constructed his first Plastic Studio.

This large metal structure was about 15 meters high, encased in corrugated plastic and sheets of polythene, and was accompanied by a smaller studio about a third of its size.

Moore needed the larger space to work on a monumental scale, while the smaller studio held the enlargement models. Designed to be temporary, Moore had several plastic studios during his lifetime. They often came in pairs.

Bourne Maquette Studio

The Bourne Maquette Studio, named after a nearby stream, was constructed in 1970. Moore created this environment to be rich in inspiration.

He lined the walls with hundreds of his sculptural studies – finished, incomplete and fragmented – and his ‘library of natural forms’ – the collection of bones, stones, shells and driftwood which captured his imagination and informed his work.

From the studio window Moore observed the sheep in the fields beyond, which he immortalised in his famous ‘Sheep Sketchbook’ of 1972.

An interior shot of Henry Moore's drawing studio, which is a small wooden summer house. Inside is a wooden chair at a rudimentary desk, which is laid with drawing materials. There are postcards and a framed Reclining Figure print tacked to the walls.

The Summer House

Moore acquired the summer house in 1951, siting it in the garden near Hoglands.

Moore was a prolific draughtsman, producing more than 7,500 drawings during his lifetime.

For a short period in the 1950s, he used the summer house as an informal space for drawing, connected to the outdoors and with plenty of natural light.

Originally mounted on a turntable, it could be rotated to change views and find the best conditions at different times of the day.

A lavender bed in full bloom, with apple trees behind.
A small bronze sundial, sculpted by Henry Moore, in the garden at the artist's home. Behind the sundial is a border of lavender and cottage planting.
Henry Moore's small, black sculpture Square Form with Cut in a garden. In the front of frame there are red leaves which are out of focus.
Behind a large tree is a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, made up of two large oval forms, each with a hole in the middle.
A sheep field with sheep grazing around a large bronze sculpture
Close up photo of the head of a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore. The sculpture is a reclining woman and the face is turned to the left. In the background is bright, yellow autumn foliage.
A frosty autumn morning, the sun is rising behind fall foliage, in the mid ground stands Henry Moore's sculpture 'Double Oval'.
A photo with frost encrusted tree branches in the foreground and Henry Moore's sculpture 'Double Oval' standing in front of a winter sunrise.

Sculpture gardens

Henry Moore loved to work outdoors. As soon as he moved to Hoglands in Hertfordshire with his wife Irina in 1940, they set about adapting the gardens to this purpose.

Over the years, they transformed the adjacent rough farmland to create the sculpture gardens you can see today, which now cover almost 70 acres of lawns, orchard, woodland and sheep fields.

Moore found inspiration in nature and he used the land around his home as a practical working space. This emphasised the connection between his sculpture and the landscape. He experimented with siting his works in fields, against sky and trees.

Moore enjoyed seeing his work in diverse settings around the world, but at home with Irina, he created the ideal conditions for its appreciation.

Each year, around twenty of Moore’s large sculptures are displayed in the gardens, with more inside the studios. Many of these are the artist’s own casts, which he entrusted to the Foundation’s care.

Henry Moore, 'Double Oval' 1966 (LH 560), bronze. Photo: Sarah Mercer.
An elderly man sits in a chair watching a team of people work to hang a large tapestry on the wall of a timber framed barn
A blue toned tapestry depicting three women, hanging in a wood-beamed barn with skylight above.
A tapestry in shades of pink and green, depicting one of Henry Moore's WW2 Shelter Drawings.. There is a vintage cane rocking chair just in front of the bottom left corner.
A wide shot of one wall in the Aisled Barn at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, four of Moore's tapestries (based on his drawings) are visible
Two tapestries by Henry Moore hanging on the walls of a wooden beamed barn
A wide shot of one wall in the Aisled Barn at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, with visitors looking at four of Moore's tapestries hanging on the walls.

The Aisled Barn

In 1980, Moore purchased this beautiful sixteenth-century barn which he had carefully reconstructed near his studios. The same year, he began working with West Dean Tapestry Studio in Sussex to create a  group of tapestries based on his drawings, which he wanted to hang in the timbered bays of the barn.

Moore had always been interested in the scale of his work and translating one medium into another. He selected drawings from throughout his career which he felt would be suitable for enlargement into tapestry.

Working closely with highly skilled weavers from the West Dean Studio to translate the original drawings into wool, Moore paid special attention to capturing the colour and tonality of his works. Each tapestry took several months to complete as they dyed wool to accurately achieve the different effects of Moore’s varied drawing media.

A wide shot of one wall in the Aisled Barn at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, with visitors looking at four of Moore's tapestries hanging on the walls.
Inside the Aisled Barn; far right: 'Row of Sleepers' 1986 (TAP 30), woven at West Dean College, West Sussex by Joan Baxter and Chris Cochius, acquired in 1986.
A photo of contemporary styled café building, taken from outside. Reflected in the windows is a character cottage.
A contemporary room, with skylights and a wall of windows, set up for a conference or meeting
Rows of white chairs, arranged in front a presentation screen in a contemporary meeting room
A white building with contemporary style entrance canopy. It is lit up in pastel colours for an evening party.

Visitor centre

In March 2014 we started a major building project to improve our archive and visitor facilities, undertaken by Hugh Broughton Architects – the most significant and ambitious architectural development to date at Perry Green.

Dane Tree House – a former residential building, which had been used as a ticketing office – was transformed into a spacious new visitor centre and admin hub to meet the evolving needs of our audiences.

The new building provides a single clear point of entry to the Henry Moore Foundation and includes a welcome desk, retail and catering facilities, and an interpretation room for education and events that looks out over the sculpture gardens.

Within this same building, Broughton added new meeting rooms and improved working spaces for the Foundation’s staff, as well as climate-controlled storerooms for Moore’s artworks.

A white building with contemporary style entrance canopy. It is lit up in pastel colours for an evening party.
Dane Tree House lit up for an evening reception. Photo: Nigel Moore.
The Henry Moore Archive, a chalet bungalow with modern Core-Ten steel extension. In the foreground is a small, black sculpture by Henry Moore.
Photo taken from inside an archive reading room, looking out through louvred windows onto a sculpture garden
A girl at a desk in a library. She is looking through a box of archive material and making notes in a notebook.
An older man sat working at a computer, with archive material on the desk next to him and shelves of books on art behind him.
A woman looking through a box of newspaper cuttings. Behind her are racks of grey archive boxes in metal shelving.

Henry Moore Archive

Containing over three-quarters of a million items, the archive illuminates Moore’s creativity, passion and curiosity, and documents his influence on 20th and 21st century art and culture.

The archive originally operated out of Elmwood House, another former residential property. In 2014, due to the expanding size of our archive collection and the need for better storage facilities, we began an architectural project to expand the existing building.

Working with Hugh Broughton Architects, Elmwood House was turned into a state of the art, environmentally controlled repository, which opened to visitors in 2018.

The new archive features a beautifully crafted oak reading room; a light and airy reception office; six individually climate-controlled storage rooms designed to safely house the varied archive collections; and a project space for digitising, rehousing and conservation of archival materials.

The Henry Moore Archive. Photo: Rob Hill.
Architectural concept of gallery, styled like wooden barn with large glass windows. It sits in a field of sheep, with trees behind.
Architectural concept of a bright and airy workshop space, with chairs in rows sat facing a presentation on a large screen.
Architectural concept of a bright and airy workshop space, with several classroom-style tables.
One hand holds a black model depicting the current gallery, on a wooden base; above it, a second hand holds a white model showing the redevelopment, hovering over the black model.
Architectural concept showing the exterior of a gallery building, panelled in wood with large glass windows.

Sheep Field Barn Gallery

Our latest development project is renovating of one of our buildings to create new spaces for learning, thinking and making.

Due to open to the public in 2026, there will be two studio spaces and a gallery introducing Henry Moore’s art and life.

The redeveloped building will be net zero, with reduced embodied carbon, recycled components, thermal insulation made from sustainable sheep’s wool, ground source heat pumps, double glazing and a water treatment plant.

Find out more about the Sheep Field Barn redevelopment project

Architectural concept showing the exterior of a gallery building, panelled in wood with large glass windows.

Visit us

We’re located just 27 miles north of London in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside.

Henry Moore Studios & Gardens

Perry Green
Hertfordshire
SG10 6EE
United Kingdom

T:  01279 843 333
E:  visitorservices@henry-moore.org

Directions Accessibility

Plan your visit – Studios & Gardens
A large bronze sculpture made of three parts, sited in a woodland clearing. The two larger parts surround the small on on two sides, acting like a shell or shelter.

Roadworks are currently affecting routes to Henry Moore Studios & Gardens that travel through Green Tye. Access via Bourne Lane or Stansted Hill is unaffected.

If you are travelling to us, please plan your route in advance and allow extra time for your journey. Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to welcoming you soon.