Word Harvesting in the Wild

Yesterday Christopher braved ice and snow and stepped out in Nether Stowey, which is the beginning of The Coleridge Way, and it is a littleover due as tomorrow he is working with Nether Stowey school and shall be word harvesting along this stretch of the path.

Watery Lane, so called as a little way up it becomes a stream.

Chris has already worked with Dunster and Porlock creating some fabulous poetry over the last couple of weeks, but now it's Nether Stowey's turn, and being at the foot of the trail it really is a key community. This project in some ways has been quite simple, work with local schools along and around the Coleridge Way route, and create poetry inspired by landscape and place in a similar manner to Coleridge and Wordsworth. 

Walkers go left here and Horse's right,
Horse's actually travel along the stream bed
for a few hundred yards or so.

But this didn't feel enough for Christopher, so he added a twist.

'If I turned the poetry into QR codes and then re install them along the route, walkers and families could find them, scan and reveal the poetry created in situ. Plus the QR codes could be printed on materials sympathetic to the location, almost camouflaged.' said Christopher

So yesterday was a mix of jobs, firstly to check the route for tomorrows walk with Stowey school, any trees blocking the path? or dangerous obstacles (you never know!) But he was also scouting out finger posts and way markers to see if he could install QR codes on them. But what is a QR code I hear you ask? Well, this is one, and the words hidden in it were written by Dunster First school last week. Try and scan with your smart phone right off the screen, (scan apps are free and they don't need wifi or 3G to work).

In the original concept, going into schools seemed a simple and easy exercise, but as Chris figured out the practicalities of delivering this himself, he came to the glaring realisation that he was way short on the teaching skills required for the ages of pupils involved. So by a chance meeting, in stepped Jenny Mash, a Teacher, Photographer, Jeweller and Artist in her own right, she agreed to work with him, and structure the days appropriately, and now with two schools under their belts, they have a really nice cache of poetry already made up into QR codes ready for the final stage.

Nether Stowey Castle (remains of)
on the tor above the village.

So wish Christopher and Jenny well with Nether Stowey school tomorrow (or Mr Jelley and Mrs Mash as they are known to the school children!), they will be out braving the icy blasts and harvesting words appropriately, up Watery Lane, and perhaps even on the ruined castle tor above the village.

But we shall finish on these words written last week at Webbers Post just under Dunkery Beacon in wind, cold, fog, rain etc (they had it all!) with Porlock St Dubricius's School.

Dawdling coldly on the stony path,
the smell of the gorse bush,
pitter patter,
rain hush,
rain hush.