Tucked away in a quiet corner of the Forest is ancient house hidden behind a secret walled garden. Here Martin Hayward- Harris lives, in a stone building originally built as a safe house for Henry I.

When Martin bought it three years ago, its only mod cons were cold water taps in the kitchen and an old tin bath that stood in the corner of what is now sitting room.

Martin has a acute almost obsessive sense of the natural world. 'My parents often sent me to an uncle's farm during the school holidays where i would draw and rub shoulders with all sorts of animals. I loved being in the country side and so close to nature and I recognized that my art was the most important thing to me.'

It was at college that he was allowed to indulge in the many disciplines that make up the world of art printmaking, photography and illustration to name a few. 'Although I've ended up working mostly three dimensionally, I feel that the course gave me a great deal of confidence right from the beginning.'

After he left college Martin worked for a time at the Shepperton film studios. ' I was three for a year and a half. It was fantastic. I made some amazing sculptures in all sorts of materials for various films and TV programmes.'

Martin then saw an advertisement for a model maker and taxidermist at The Natural History Museum in London. ' That was the best grounding I could have had because of the chance for hands-on experience with large animals. I was responsible for measuring them and producing anatomical drawings; plus preparing them for preservation. Working for, what was then, best museum of natural history in the world changed my life.'

Later Martin packed his easel-and took a long holiday. ' I travelled around Sweden ' The countryside was amazingly spoilt. It still retained it's purity. I felt as if I was the first man ever to have set foot in some of the places I visited. I painted what I think was my best work at that time- just me and life, I was simply reinterpreting what was in front of me.'

A number of successful one man exhibitions followed, but over time there was a gradual transition from painting to drawing and using this medium to translate into sculpture.

The way in which he creates his bronze life size animal sculptures would not be possible without his innate love of nature, and unique knowledge of the physiology of the animals. As you cast your hand over the expressive, lifelike surfaces, you feel they are the sculptural equivalent of the impressionists.

From the mid ' 90s Martin's sculptures were taken on by the auction house Christies and ' I became known to a wider audience of collectors. I feel it is important that some of my work goes to people who are connoisseurs of art. It makes me feel that they respect what I do, and in effect what I 'm doing is the right thing - a good marker as it were.'

The simplicity of form, and the sensitivity to the material he use gives each piece a stillness, an ageless form yet, parallel to this unmistakably classical feel, there is something contemporary too.

You can see Martin Hayward-Harris work locally at: The Wykham gallery - Stockbridge and Fisherton Mill- Salisbury. You may also contact Martin on tel.