BRANTWOOD is a place of inspiration.

The whole 250 or so acres of the Coniston estate is steeped in culture.

The house is filled with great art, beautiful furniture and John Ruskin’s personal treasures.

And the gardens: remarkable, courtesy of visionary gardener, Sally Beamish, who along with her team, took Ruskin’s - and his cousin Joan Severn’s - neglected horticultural legacy and restored it, big style.

Everything about Brantwood makes you want to wander around its terraces, inside and out, a paradise of art and nature.

Exhibition wise, there’s Incandescence: Turner in Venice on show in the Blue Gallery, the first ever public exhibition at Brantwood devoted to JMW Turner. It showcases Turner’s magnificent Venice: the Piazetta with the Ceremony of the Doge Marrying the Sea, together with a suite of watercolours from Turner’s visit in 1840 which chart the passage of light across the hours of a single day.

Running until August 5 is Common Cause: John Ruskin, Japan and the craft tradition, a display of pots from the Mingei (folk crafts) tradition and its Ruskin connections featuring work by Ogata Kenzan, Shoji Hamada, Bernard Leach, Tomoo Hamada, Edward Hughes and Martin Miles Moore, with calligraphy by Mitsuko Takahashi.

Elsewhere in Brantwood’s Severn Studio until July 23 are works by princely painter Daniel Cooper, who has a great connection to Brantwood and whose artistic observations of light, cloud and fell are simply stunning.

Following on in the Severn Studio is Landscape - a Visionary Approach by Patricia Haskey and Mike Shepherd, running from July 27 until August 26.

Patricia and Mike have worked together for more than 12 years and share a love of the Lake District and a visionary approach to interpreting the landscape with their different mediums: paintings and photographs.

Finally, as well as art, Brantwood brings outdoor theatre to its magical meadow courtesy of regular visiting thespians Illyria.

Next Tuesday (July 16, 7pm), the award-winning company brings The Tempest to Brantwood, returning on Tuesday, August 20 (6.30pm start) with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

For further information and tickets telephone 015394-41396.