Sterts Arts & Environmental Centre

Sterts sits on a four-acre site at Upton Cross, on the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor about five miles north of Liskeard. Ewart and Anne Sturrock conceived it in the 1980s, frustrated by how few arts facilities Cornwall had at the time, and built an outdoor theatre modelled on Greek amphitheatres. Their aim was to let people “explore their own creativity and learning through doing”.

The open-air stage did not stay open to the sky. The canvas canopy that once covered the theatre was condemned as unsafe in 2023 and replaced with a steel-framed building, which is the practical detail that matters most if you are booking: rain on the moor is a reasonable bet in any month, and the roof means the show goes ahead. The barn theatre seats around 500, and the main season runs from 5 March to 31 October. A refurbished studio and community hub opened in April 2025, giving the site a second, smaller space alongside the main auditorium.

The programme covers theatre, dance, comedy and live music, and the site runs workshops and classes alongside the performance calendar. Sterts is a charity run substantially by volunteers.

Upton Cross is high ground and it gets cold after dark, even in July. Take a jumper and something waterproof for the walk from the car park, and be aware the site is rural: it is a drive rather than a bus ride from most of Cornwall. If you are coming from the south coast, Liskeard is the nearest town for food before a show.

Sterts is one of three Cornish venues where the building is as much of a draw as the programme. The others are the Minack, cut into the cliff at Porthcurno, and Hall for Cornwall in Truro, which is the county’s largest. Sterts is the one on the moor, and the only one of the three that grew out of a private couple’s frustration with the arts provision around them.

Tickets and the current programme are at sterts.co.uk.