Plans are Afoot!

This year has been a great one for new works and new directions with the Coleridge Way, and as we head towards the darker months, it's a time of reflection and planning the way forward for 2014.

So what's in store? Well some of it is tightly under wraps, and will be rolled out and celebrated in due course, (so no spoilers here, sorry) other parts like the QR code poetry and the story boxes which were such a success are to be built upon, made stronger and more diverse. 

Along the trail of the Coleridge Way

The story box project went really well, we had a great deal of input from a diverse range of walkers, some just added a drawing, others just their name, but lots of people picked up the gauntlet of adding to the tale and then leaving for the next.

Here are a few sound cloud links from text written by multiple authors, it's really interesting how the thread runs through them all, and when a single voice reads them out they begin to flow and meld as one.

The new story boxes are due to go live in June again 2014, (with funding approval in January, fingers crossed) which will be fantastic. The boxes will again be started ready for your discovery and input, last year we had Jackie Morris, (Author Illustrator) and Taffy Thomas (the first UK Storyteller Laureate) There will again be opportunities for established authors to be involved - so please do get in touch it would be great to hear from you.

Here is a little film made in June 2013 about the story boxes, as they were being installed along the Coleridge Way trail.

There will also be more of the QR code poetry as we hope to engage with another three schools in Coleridge Country, and re install these back along the trail. Also a sample of the QR code poetry is being published in an anthology of Exmoor poetry which will be available in time for Christmas.

So what of the stone image higher up the page? Well this is a secret of the Coleridge Way, for those who walk it discover hidden gems and surprises along it's path. Some are marked on maps, others are more esoteric, a carved well head, a tree root which looks like a monks hood. The story boxes and the QR code poetry engage with these personal histories, these individual imaginative elements, or as Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said.

A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory.

So let us trust to the imagination.

Frances Harrison's Dark Starry Skies

Frances Harrison's exhibition at All Saints Church Dulverton was a culmination of a broad spectrum of work under the blanket title of Dark Starry Skies. Works displayed encompassed film, print, and a story telling cafe, along side flower displays from the Church wardens, and even a dress sequinned with constellations. Members of the local community had also produced tapestries depicting their personal take on what dark starry skies meant to them.

Starry Flower Displays

The church itself is a hard act to follow in respect to grandeur and shear space to fill, but the work nestled in well amongst the arches and pillars. The film on show was made in conjunction with the Engine Room of Bridgwater, and Ignite Somerset, and celebrates the textures and feel of Exmoor's combes and rivers. The screen sat in the pulpit echoing the magical words of Kubla Khan, linking in Coleridge with the Exmoor Dark Skies Reserve.

Throughout the church quotes and text were printed on large banners, hanging from the stone pillars adding visual depth and rhythm to the exhibition, hosting quotes from Coleridge and Galileo along side the more contemporary words of Brian Cox.

Starry dress reflected in an acrylic print which are stills from the film.

Poetry on the pillars

The week came to a peak with France's illustrated talk on 'The Sublime and the Beautiful' which married art, literature and landscape alongside romanticism and its influences of the time before and after Coleridge. Over the week the venue had over a hundred visitors a day, which included local school children who came along to listen to stories about starry skies.

Christabel Released

Last night Binham Grange was host to Ralph Hoyte's Epic 'Christabel Released', the evening was part of the Gallery4Art exhibition which built upon last year's successful show of new art works by south west artists. Binham Grange is in a stunning location, nestled between Blue Anchor bay and Old Cleeve, it's fabulous gardens and medieval rooms, sensitively brought back to life by the current owners, were the perfect backdrop for this Gothic epic - the Alabaster door frames being something to behold in their own right. 

The performance began outside in the evening sun, then parts two and three continued inside, firstly in the grand dining hall, and then finally with coffee seated on soft sofas in the more snug sitting room.

Ralph explained how he had originally fought with the idea of finishing Coleridge's unfinished 'medieval' tale of demonic possession but whilst as artist in residence with the Quantock Hills AONB he was more and more immersed in the famous poet's world and simply had to go where he was creatively being led. So as the evening sun set we sipped wine as Ralph began his and Coleridge's epic with the added challenge of spotting the join!

Ralph's reading was three hours in total, which is quite some task to stay focused and fresh throughout, but he made it seem effortless. Moving the audience and allowing us time to eat our picnics between the different locations made the evening move swiftly and also enabled us to see more of this fine Jacobean house.

When the evening drew to a close there was a relaxed discussion about Ralph's work, the other poets and writers that had influenced his ending of Christabel and whether he would be taking on other great unfinished pieces - to which he replied that he was ready to find his own 'modern' poet's voice once more. 

Ralph is also currently working on his GPS app that will  re introduce the voices of the Romantic poets back into the Somerset landscape in which they lived and roamed; this is planned for release next year and you may read more about this project in an earlier post here.

If you were unable to attend this event and are curious to what fate awaits Ralph's Cristabel - will she do an 'Ophelia' and what becomes of the snake like, bi-sexual Geraldine, then you may purchase the poem for your Kindle and read it at your leisure - do visit Ralph's website for further details.

Romantic events on Exmoor

Here are three dates for your calendar to drink in the Coleridge Culture. Firstly Ralph Hoyte, who has been working on his Coleridge Conversations App, will be reading his poem Christabel Released at Binham Grange during their annual Gallery4art exhibition. This is how they describe this year's summer exhibition -

Imagine art as a box of chocolates, some highly coloured and decorated, some plain and elegant, some are your favourites, others provoke new experiences and sensations. For the contemporary Summer Exhibition at Binham Grange this year Gallery4Art will present a spacious barn full of art to engage and intrigue the visitor. Each artist will have space to tell a story, to add a fresh dimension to the exhibition where they can display new work and old favourites for people to enjoy. There will be a range of work to suit all budgets from small prints to wall size artworks, delicate ceramics to large animal sculptures. 

Ralph Hoyte in Watchet testing his audio ghost

Tickets are priced at £8/£6, bring a picnic or order from the Binham restaurant. Ralph's epic poem will be performed by him on the evening of 28th August, the art and artists will also be open for you to view and meet during the evening. If you are unable to attend on the night snippets of Ralph's sound installation ‘Romantic Litscape’ will be accessible throughout the exhibition duration.

Christopher Jelley - Frances Harrison - Ralhp Hoyte

During Somerset Art Week in Dulverton Frances Harrision has an Illustrated Talk -  'the Sublime and the Beautiful' which is about art, literature, Romanticism and it's influences. The event is to be held at Dulverton All Saints Church, on September 27th starting at 7pm, with tickets £5 purchased from SAW or on the door. Wine and refreshments will be available. Frances is also Venue 24 for Somerset Art Week, so have a look here for more details.

And finally also in Dulverton at Somerset Art Week's Venue 23 is Christopher Jelley's Coleridge works, much of which has been blogged about here so do enjoy reading previous posts to get a feel for the work that will be on show - Number Seven will be hosting this event.

Christopher's Storywalk in Dulverton
asks you to make clock faces as part of the story line
and leave them for other walkers to find.

'Behind the gaol door, in the room beyond, Christopher Jelley will have a curious mix of work that defies simple classification'

Amidst these projects will be his Coleridge Way QR Code Poetry Slates, many of which now installed along the Coleridge Way, and also the story boxes which have been out along the trail throughout the summer. Other pieces of his including the site specific Storywalk 'The Watching Way' which starts in the town and finishes out in the hills somewhere! The exhibition is a mix of high and low tech, with an interactive twist so do pop along and step behind the gaol door...

I am sure I will be reporting on these events, so if you don't get a chance to attend then check back here later on.

. . relish the rain and sun in equal measure

     In a shady valley not far from here, where the river slides over cool rocks beneath muscular Oaks, the Last Queen visited once. A small courtage followed and everyone barefoot (by decree) till the edge of Paisey Pool. There she stepped lightly into the cool waters and even the birds were hush as she dipped beneath the water, her train billowing in the flow. But when she emerged but a heart beat later age had been purged from her limbs and her body was lithe and supple.

     She turned to the company and addressed the barefoot lords who waited.

'These are the new rules of my reign' and the scribe began to take notes.

'Firstly . . .

     We shall walk barefoot always, mirrors will be banished - our lovers, children and friends will reflect our beauty in all our transformations. 

We will dine on nothing but the finest, freshest fruits and berries. 

Celebrate each season, relish the rain and sun in equal measure. 

Have no need for clocks or time pieces other than the sun and the moon.

     We shall . .

Fragment from story book box at Webbers Post

Continuation of the story above.

Yesterday I ventured out to the Jubilee Hut at Webbers Post with a little intrepidation, the last time I visited I removed a book which was full and replaced it with this one. It was only about two weeks ago, but the journal in question had become a visitor book, not a story book.

The concept of the story box is simple, find the box read the tale so far, add a drawing or paragraph but no more then leave for the next walker. So when it devolves into a guest book I feel a little saddened and hoped this one would not fall foul the same. I wrestled with putting a note inside saying 'This is not a visitor book, story only please' but I rile at that, my mind set is one of enablement, not of impediments. But once someone breaks the thread of a tale it drifts naturally into the visitor book mode. So with all that said, just before I set out I did print some thin book marks to tuck in the active pages to negate the drift.

Also last week I received an email from Katie Bourne who stumbled across this story box with her two year old and loved the project, she also mentioned 'the visitor book syndrome' and I knew she was looking at the newly installed journal which added to my anxiety. She went on to link to a Braunton project which she had managed a while back, similar to my storywalks work with GPS location triggered content, but Katie admits herself that some of the tech is already a little dated, but still worth checking out.

So yesterday I walked through the sun dappled trees at Webbers Post on the way to the Jubilee Hut which is where this box is installed. It is a stunning location, the crunch of pine needles, glimpses of deer (got close enough to pet two!) give me any excuse to go breath in the Exmoor tonic.

Illustration of Dunkery Beacon from this story box location

So I nervously approached the box, pleased it had not disappeared totally, (I am expecting to lose one or two over the summer). But the box looked perfect, with a good scuff on the lid (good, box in use), I opened it and found it well used in a relatively short period, but more to the point it was well used in the intended manner. Yes there are a few additions which wander off into the guest book cul-de-sac, but the meat is of tale, and more than I could have hoped.

Story Box on the bench next to the QR poetry project
at the Jubilee Hut, Webbers Post.

I added a little tale to the tale to gather some of the threads, took lots of pictures of the pages and then left the box once again to the wilds and whims of strangers. But when I checked my photo's at home last night, they were dreadful, so later that evening I drove out again with Davina (Walking Book Club), and not only did we see more deer, but a stunning sunset, and in that short time another visitor had added to the tale.

Brilliant.

So thanks to all those who have contributed, for me it recharges my faith in the creativity of strangers, the willingness to engage with the wilds of Exmoor, and add a little cumulative magic to the whole, just for the fun of it. 

I know that in years to come I will meet people who will remember stumbling across the story boxes, anonymously adding their mark or just enjoy seeing the of story grow there in.

The Story Box Story, or the tale and trail so far.

Story box  book at Watery Lane, Nether Stowey.

Nether Stowey, Watery Lane, the first proper stretch of the Coleridge Way, where you leave the tarmac and traffic behind, this is the first act in a 36 mile play of ruts and rises, tunnels and vistas, heath and heather, cutting and combe. What has struck me, having been along pieces of the Coleridge Way regularly over the past few months is how the mood changes and transforms. Whether it's a quick dash in a cool evening to the story boxes, or more of a walk and rest with pencil and patience, the atmosphere is dynamic, never the same, always transforming, evolving, which I suppose this is what a living thing does.

  

But more recently my main focus has been the Story Boxes which I placed along the trail early June time. So how have they been fairing? and if you are unaware of this project have a look at this link with a map and descriptions of locations.

Well judging by these images I think rather better than expected, there have been drawings, poems, and little ditties, with a very small amount of abuse (I only left pencils in the boxes) The Coleridge Cottage booklet has developed well, though the paints I left inside were useless, and they have just installed an interpretation post in the arbour itself. Which is brilliant but when you need to focus on writing, it's not easy doing so with Coleridge's 'Lime Tree Bower' weaving it's magic across you.

Horner Garden Tea Rooms has a relatively small amount of work in, though we are just on the cusp of holiday season, so that should pick up soon. But even with only a little inside, it has the most beautiful drawing of a campsite in a valley.

  

The Jubilee Hut, which has Taffy Thomas' story at the beginning, has funnily fared the poorest in my opinion, which is somewhat disappointing. It just devolved into a visitors book, with most inputs by Duke of Edinburgh Awards kids hiking through. The book in question has been visited a lot, as it's now full, but the majority of inputs have no story, or only tiny fragments of a tale which bare no connection to the task set. I have a mind to write a big note - This is not a visitor book - please write story or draw. I'll see how we go now that the D of E are out of the way, but they are by no means the only culprits, but did set the trend.

So dear reader my challenge is out to you, to gather your tales and head out to the boxes, restrict yourself to just the task in hand of adding a little to the story so far, doing a drawing but no more and then leaving the story box for the next to find and do the same. This blog I will keep short as I think the pictures speak the loudest, and at the end of the summer (September) the books are to be exhibited at Venue 23 in Dulverton for Somerset Art Week, and also Porlock Festival. So you still have plenty of time to hunt out the story boxes and add your little magic, I recommend you do as I have, and return again and again for this is how the Coleridge Way is rejuvenated.

Pandaemonium!

Julien Temple, Martin Hesp, Chris Edwards 

On Saturday, the fabulous grounds of Fyne Court (NT) just north of Taunton, and nestled to the easterly end of the majestic Quantock Hills, played host to it's first 'live screening' event.

Julien Temple

Just around the turn of the millennium Julien Temple (pictured) directed a film about the Samuel Taylor Coleridge called Pandaemonium, so called as a description of hell by Milton and referenced by Coleridge himself.

The film had a brace of great actors, and conveys the stormy tale of Coleridge's early years when he lived in the Quantocks and wrote many of his most celebrated pieces. The film also documents his battle and subsequent demise due to Laudanum - an Opium and Alcohol mixture, which in Coleridge's time was as prevalent and as common as Asprin, and often administered for tooth aches!

However I am getting ahead of myself, for before the film was to be screened, we were treated to a live interview by Martin Hesp, author, journalist and long time Coleridgean fan. Martin, was a great choice as he himself grew up close by and so many of the locations and scenes are of familiar places. But I think this could be said for many of us attending that night including Julien who spent childhood holidays tramping Coleridge country, and in fact the main star of the evening were infact the Quantock Hills themselves.

Music room at Fyne Court

The ambiance and weather was great, most had brought seats and cushions along with a bottle or two, and it was fun looking around at the audience in their eclectic fashion; which I think really pays homage not only to Coleridge's diversity in poetry, but also to Julien's 'rock and roll' film making history. His portfolio is one peppered with the likes of David Bowie and The Rolling Stones, and you would think that period drama would seem more of a wild card in this deck, but I think that's just the way Julien would like it, the last thing he is is predictable.

The punks picnic!

So as the evening drew on it became apparent to me of the history all around us, for the projector wall was that of the Music room, which was the study of the early scientist and electrical pioneer Andrew Crosse. Here Crosse had run wires out from his laboratory and across the lawn where we were sitting, these would capture atmospheric electrical charge which he would then force through materials and fluids to try and replicate the very beginnings of life. This was where he was trying to re animate life itself, and Coleridge and the Wordsworths famously visited him at the time. He is probably best know as the inspiration behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Serving the Kubla Beer (Very nice)

The location had come full circle, not only were parts of the film shot here, replicating events which had happened years ago, but now we were also party to that continuing linage, projecting moving images made possible through these pioneering experiments. I wonder what Andrew Crosse would have thought about the microphones and data projector used for the show, I am sure he would have been in his element.

So as I said the real star of the show was the Quantock Hills themselves, they outshone the actors, and perhaps even the poetry. So when I asked what will be the next screening at Fyne Court, it's a really tricky question, because truly this film and all it's connections to the place and the people (everyone knows someone who was an extra!) is a real hard act to follow.


May I suggest a double bill of Ken Russell's 'Gothic' followed by a classic black and white Frankenstein...

Watchet Sounds

Testing the sound pools along Watchet Easy Quay

Ralph Hoyte and his team, came down to Watchet on Sunday to road test their new app, iron out glitches, and get some user group feedback. I had my eye's peeled for their approach as I was working on the Contains Art project (Three shipping containers being converted into Artist's studios and exhibition space,  these are due to open on Saturday 6th July! eek)

I was busily fitting timber around the exhibition container door when I spied two lone figures glide into the yard, immersed in some other world, I knew instinctively that Ralph must be about.

Rachel Hill from Halsway Manor
listening in to a GPS triggered
dialogue between Coleridge
and  Dorothy Wordsworth

The concept is simple enough, all you nee to do is walk around Watchet with his app installed in your smart phone, and in specific places Ralph has mapped 'sound pools'. 

But what is a sound pool? 

Smart phones know where you are as they have a Satellite (GPS) chip inside and with this location data it is possible (by those who know how!) to programme your device to deliver audio at a given location. In Watchet Ralph has set out seven sound pools, one on each pier end, with another five strung between.

The audio which triggers are no groovey tunes but highly orchestrated dialogues between William, Dorothy (Wordsworth) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Some of the audio files are the poems, Kubla Khan, Ryme of the Ancient Mariner, but the majority are sophisticated dialogues between the three. They are fiction, but fiction based on solid facts, which Ralph has gone to exorbitant lengths to make as authentic as possible, and what a result. 

The final pieces (of which I got a sneaky peak of just three) are stunning, in a medium which can easily show incompetence since we are so accustomed to high production quality these days. 

On the day there were technical difficulties which Ralph and his team were scratching their heads about, and perhaps the very essence of field tests and user group feed back. Scratch building apps to run code is like entering another realm, but if this taste is anything to go by, then it is defiantly worth the hard work and for us the wait. 

The final work is due to be available to the public in September with multiple sound pools all over 'Coleridge Country'. There is a link on the right for Ralph's blog which is perhaps the best place to touch base right now, but soon the app will be available for both Android and Apple device's, and then you will catch glimpses of people, lost to the audio of another time and rooted to the very places it all happened, some 200 years ago.

Story boxes, films and the Coleridge Way

All the story boxes are out in the field now and I wanted to create a film which evoked the mood of reading and writing, of discovering and then entering into a tale. The opening shots are filmed at Coleridge Cottage Nether Stowey, the weather was glorious and I had the garden to myself. So I set out all the boxes in the Arbor and started some filming, but no sooner did I have the camera out than I had people looking and opening the boxes (which is what they are about).

Ken Luxon Story Teller
reading Taffy Thomas' Tale

A few conversations later, and I picked up the camera again, just to put it back down and to talk some more about the authors. One couple who had enjoyed the house and ready to move on asked me briefly about the boxes. 

'They are story boxes' I proudly said.

'Oh she replied, my husband Ken is a story teller.'

Well perhaps before you leave you might like to read this one which is started by Taffy Thomas?'

'What, thee Taffy Thomas?' they said in unison.

'Yes, Mr Story Teller Laureate himself.'

'Oh well I can't leave without reading Taffy's tale.' (Pictured Ken Luxon and his Wife)

The other major author is Jackie Morris, and her tale is magical, which also includes an illustration of a fox. (I have included paints in some of the boxes but not this one as I want it to stay really nice!) It was last seen at Coleridge Cottage in the clutches of a woman who was so attached she couldn't put it down to let the next walker write their piece, (she might still be there!)

Caroline Taylor (Assistant house manager of Coleridge Cottage NT) has started another, and of course I have done one too. The words in the film are mine and from the 'Watery Lane' story box, this place seemed just right for a Goblin Market style poem, or at least the start of one.

So now they are out, all in the wild, with tales to be guided and penned by wandering souls, some will stumble upon them, others hunted out. Some will be visited again and again, others more sparingly, but in September they are to be exhibited firstly at Porlock Arts Festival then in Dulverton for Christopher Jelley's Somerset Art Week, and finally at Coleridge Cottage itself in the garden room if all goes to plan.

So hunt them out, read, write, enjoy and let me know how you get on, and if you twitter use #storywalks, and here is a map to story box locations so you can plan your trip.

Calling all Romantics!

Ignite Somerset along with ARTlife had invited Somerset artist's working on projects associated with the Romantic poets to talk in front of a green screen at the Engine Room Bridgwater. The premise was simple, Richard Thomlinson (of Ignite Somerset pictured above with Lynn Mowat) had prepped the Engine Rooms studio with a floor to ceiling green screen, camera, microphone, lights etc and artist's were asked to book a slot and then talk about their projects straight to camera.

Amongst other artists attending were Alice Crane, pictured above amidst filming, she was talking and sewing at the same time, a task which was harder than expected - even after years of practice. Ralph Hoyte (geolocated sound-scapes, Satsymph - pictured below) and Frances Harrison (storyteller and visual artist also below) have major projects in respect to the Coleridge Way. In many ways Frances, Ralph and myself are the three corners of the current Coleridge Way projects and the meeting was for me an essential piece of networking. Touching base and choreographing (in the loosest sense) how our works fit together in a wider scheme.

Christopher Jelley, Frances Harrison, Ralph Hoyte
The Colridgeons!

At lunch time Richard screened three short films to the Artists present, one about each of The Colridgeons (I know, there is no such word) which we had made with Richard in the last few months. I always feel very self conscious about this kind of thing even in good company, but there was nothing to worry about, and it was brilliant to catch up with others, many of which are working in parallel towards the ever present yearly event of Somerset Art Week.

The Engine Room is a stunning facility and in this age of media where we are surrounded by screens at every turn, it makes the essential bridge between the artist and the technology, something which always seems to be shifting, never solid and simple like a canvas or a book. I have always tried to embrace the new but there is a point where you try to take stock and ask simple fundamental questions like, does this effort actually add to my creative practice, is it worth the hassle, toil and energy? What is the life span, who am I connecting to, will it be gone in a moment like twitter, or around for decades? and am I happy with that, is there another way?

Gordon Field

These are impossible questions to answer, and only in hindsight will we know truly the longevity of energies spent and where possible economies were to be had. In the mean time we have to embrace every opportunity on offer, give a little of our time and enjoy the simple things like chatting over coffee, and connecting to others who have climbed a different tree of craft to your own. Build connections, collaborations, try and be at the centre, and catch those opportunities right now whilst the camera's are running.

These works will be posted through the Ignite Somerset site.

Word Harvesting along the Coleridge Way

Mrs Mash with her harvested words from the children,
but written on the wooden board as the paper got so soggy in the rain.

I've been desperate to write about this day just before Easter, a day whose weather was so caustic that it felt endless, and all the stranger now sitting here with the sun shining! So just to re cap, I have worked with three First Schools in West Somerset, all are in the curtilage of the Coleridge Way. Nether Stowey at the head, Porlock at the tail, and Dunster, well a little off mid way, but the concept was simple, take a group out into the landscape and write words which reflect that experience in much the same manner as Coleridge and Wordsworth.

Watching the Exmoor foal disappear into the woods at the Jubilee Hut.

In some ways, the extreme weather, (and yes it was mad for all three separate days and schools!) was just the ticket, they needed something to write about and Cold, Icy, Fresh, Tingly, Breezy, are all in the mix.

These images here are from Porlock First St Dubricus School, who braved the weather up Webbers Post (Beneath Dunkery Beacon) This path is great, and a regular destination for St Dubricus, but as I drove over that morning I thought it was surly going to be cancelled, the rain was deep, the hills shrouded in mist, puddles right across the road. But no, the head master Mr Blazey was adamant that it would all pan out fine, and then he added that this was the walk they did when the weather was too bad at Pinkery Pond up on the Moors! When it comes down to it, the school know the limitations of their pupils far better than I do which is rightly so, and I am so pleased that we could go, as the old adage goes, 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just poor clothing.'

We tried to keep the paper dry by writing inside bags, but it was no use.

So the van dropped off the first party who thought that there was not enough water in the air so did some puddle jumping, and proper splashing. With that out of their system we were straight into word harvesting, what do you hear, feel, smell, what can you taste on the rain? And the kids were even more prolific than the clouds, for they poured forth endless phrases for us to jot down, faster than we could write.

One of the sculptures along the Coleridge Way trail at Webbers Post

Well we did have paper to write on but that soon turned to pulp, but by chance the clip boards were wooden, and not wanting to halt the kids flow, we just started to write on them, which oddly enough got better in the wet rather than worse. It reminded me about the great space race of the 60's, (before my time I know) where the Americans spent a huge budget in developing a biro style pen which would work in zero gravity, but the Russians just used a pencil! Doesn't rain in space though! 

Wet!

So the day went well, the first session harvesting out in the wilds, the afternoon writing up and working on their phrases. Jenny had a good structure for this, building in metaphor and simile into the structure of their writing, taking the ordinary and making it more, building, improving.

A great session.

So many thanks Jenny (Mrs Mash) for leading all the sessions, and thank you to all three schools for letting us loose in the wilds of Exmoor with their precious pupils. The poetry is all complete and I am just spell checking and proof reading to make sure that it's perfect before I etch the poetry into slate for re installation along the Coleridge Way. But you'll have to read other blogs for those details as I think that's plenty for one blog.