FLY CATCHER PRESS: A Walk Down the Rift

Not far from Coleridge Cottage lies the tiny hamlet of Shurton and just down to the sea from here is where ST Coleridge walked and sat on Shurton Bars to write 'Ode to Sara' for his wife to-be in 1795.

And hark, my love! The sea-breeze moans
Thro' yon reft house! O'er rolling stones,
With broad impetuous sweep,
The fast encroaching tides supply
The silence of the cloudless sky
With mimic thunders deep.

extract from Ode to Sara -  ST Coleridge 

 

Shurton Bars - Somerset

Along this same path from Shurton to the sea the Poetry Pin project has been journeying for a full year writing new poetry and digitally posting it to this trail through the Poetry Pin Engine. Over twelve workshop walks tarriedthis way, revealing and writing poetry with the former done just by opening the website on a mobile phone.

In March 2015 the ability to add new works came to an end and the Poetry Pin team began the next phase, compiling and curating 'A Walk Down the Rift' to be published by Fly Catcher Press this coming Autumn.

Past the bat house, and the Tacky-shade collector,
Past the laminate maps, part eaten by nature.
Down to the geo with the clints and the grikes,
Boulders smashing by little tykes,
Paddling free in the murky brine,
Beneath scoured stone Bars slumbers Serpentine.
All change, all change, as we scatter to scribe,
scratching in the sand, drawing words from this tide.
Over the wash and across the Bars it comes,
And we mop up its moods like kitchen crumbs.

extract from Kitchen Crumbs - C Jelley 

More details can be found on the Poetry Pin Portal where you can still walk the trail and trigger the poetry.

Enquiries and orders of the publication 'A Walk Down the Rift' (Fly Catcher Press) can be made at Number Seven Dulverton. Purchases can also be made from Amazon (£10 hard back) and documents a year walking, reading and writing poetry in the shadow of Hinkley C, the UK’s first new nuclear build in decades.

QR Code Poetry

Mr Jelley has been out along the Coleridge Way with his faithful companion 'Fable', this time between Alfoxton Park and St Audries bay, passing through sleepy dells and heathland searching out the finger posts to affix the QR code poetry. 

What is a QR Code?

Very simply it's like a bar code but it has characters aswell as numbers, and you can decode with a simple scanner (most people use a free app on their smart phone and turn their phone into a scanner.) Once scanned your phone just decodes the pattern back into the characters - ie text ready for you to read. People often miss understand QR codes, thinking that they need to be connected to the internet but this is not the case, your phone decodes on the fly, revealing the hidden text no matter where you are, they would work even on the moon!

Who's poetry?

The poems were written by local school children during special workshops commissioned by ARTlife. Every child either walked the Coleridge Way or adjacent countryside with Mr Jelley and Mrs Mash, firstly word harvesting and then later crafting their own words and phrases over just a single day. Mr Jelley then took the poetry away, laser etched it into slate and has been attaching them to finger posts along the trail over the summer and into this autumn 2014.

Sections from Wheddon Cross to Porlock have been completed as well as Sampford Brett to Monksilver, and Nether Stowey up over Watery Lane. More sections are due to be completed in the coming months to create a QR code poetry trail.

Finger post at Webber Post with QR code poem.

How are they fixed?

First nails are hammered into the timber then a high quality epoxy glue is used to attach the tile to the nails, this means that the finger post can breath and the tile remain in place for years to come. The rubber band is there to hold the tile in place whilst the glue sets and is removed after half hour or so.

How many schools have been involved?

This year there were five schools in all, and each within the curtilage of the Coleridge Way. The pupils were aged between 6 and 11 and we tapped into their literacy skills to gather site specific poetry inspired by the Coleridge Way trail itself. Understanding children's capabilities at this age is quite a skill and it was great that Jenny Mash, local teacher and artist was on board.

Mr Jelley said.

 '[the project] wouldn't have come together without Jenny Mash, her skill base in understanding Key Stage 1 and 2 literacy was absolutely crucial to obtaining the best from these little authors .'

Each school received a plaque of laser etched slate with a word cloud (pictured) depicting their pupils words. Presentation of the slates to the children connected them with the project as a whole, and they were also able to scan lots of the QR code poems before they were mounted along the Coleridge Way trail.

More sections of the Coleridge Way will have tiles installed over the coming months, so don't forget to add a scanning app to your smart phone before you depart on the trail.

What's in the blue box?

June now complete and still two more months to go, the story boxes are at large along the Coleridge Way trail. The concept is simple, find a blue box, read the story so far, add a little to the tale or a drawing then leave for the next.

This year we have books stared by three published authors, including Jackie Morris, Victoria Eveleigh, and Catherine Hyde (pictured). Each have started their books and then cast them into the jaws of the trail walkers to see where the tale will go. It's a little like putting a bottle into the ocean with a message inside for the tides to take to the next in the chain.

Interestingly I was walking along the UK's south coast some years ago and did indeed find a message in a bottle, fascinated I read the note declaring if this letter was returned then it would show the tenacity of (his) love. I promptly posted this to my sister in the west of the USA thinking what a ruse, all the way across the Atlantic and against the tide too! But she thought it would be even more fun to post to her friend in Australia, which she did. I have no idea what became of it after then, perhaps we stretched the possibilities too far, or that strangers meddling with his love story wouldn't play out well, who knows.

The book pictured was retrieved just two days ago from its blue story box overlooking St Audries Bay in the west of the Quantocks, it was there throughout June 2014. Here the trail rises out of a wood to reward you with a splendid view out across a deer park and the sea. It is also the first view which gives proper clues to where the Coleridge Way trail is sending you, a trail which slides through hidden cuttings and holloways to take you off into the distant haze of West Somerset secrets, Dunkery Beacon and beyond.

This book was started by Catherine Hyde, an author and illustrator who resides in Helston Cornwall, when she was first approached about starting a couple of storybooks she was a little nervous, and was not sure what was required or even where to begin. But funnily enough, the stories are all about beginnings, perhaps the true art of the storyteller is to set the scene, to lay good foundations for a story to unfurl and then blossom, which is exactly what has happened here.

The drawings in these books are so refreshing too, it is amazing to me how talented people it is like tapping into a latent skill base. This project provides the tools, a little quite space, and a thread to propagate, it seems to be just the right mixture and balance to facilitate and nurture.

Images from these and other books along the trail are being posted on Twitter and Facebook daily under the tag @Storywalks, so those who cannot get out into the field, or along the trail can follow a story in a more virtual capacity.

Both books and boxes are out until the end of August 2015, locations of which and more details can be found here under the blue pins. There are also books in boxes at Lynton in Devon at Valley of Rocks through the same period, but these are gathering poetry rather than stories.

With thanks to ARTlife and EDF Energy for financial support for the Coleridge Way story boxes.

The Coleridge Way Extension

Left to right, Suzette Hibbert,
Rosemary Coleridge Middleton, and Andrea Davis.

On Wednesday 21st May, the Coleridge Way was extended from it's 36 mile length to a very healthy 51 miles, linking Nether Stowey, in the Quantock Hills, to Lynton in North Devon, through some truly stunning West Country landscape.

As part of the opening ceremony buses were put on, which dropped walkers on the hills to the West of Porlock, at a place called Broomstreet. From there the walkers descended along 2 miles of stunning scenery into Malmsmead and Oare.

En-route the trail did not disappoint with shows of wild red deer, fabulous sunshine, and even a bat was seen catching flies over the river in the afternoon sun.

At Oare after paddling through the river, the company were rewarded with cream teas and speeches in the presence of a whole spectrum of Coleridge descendants, which culminated in the 'cutting of the ribbon' ceremony by Coleridge's Great, Great, Great Granddaughter, Rosemary Coleridge Middleton, pronouncing the Coleridge Way Extension Open.

Rosemary Coleridge Middleton

  

Rosemary Middleton Coleridge expressed delight at seeing so many people at the opening and said: 

'Walking actually concentrates the mind, soothes the soul and helps sort out problems. It is a healer of the mind, body and spirit and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, my great great great Grandfather, knew this. I’m very proud to say that it is indeed the Coleridge way of doing things! Keep moving, love thinking, do praying, keep talking, just toddle, but if possible do walk.'

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.

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.