May 2024: the project is now complete. Please follow the link to the dedicated website THE QUANTOCK POETRY TRAIL for further information, to read individual poets’ work, and to download and experience the poemscape

In May 2022 I was awarded a tender by the QLPS (the Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme) to bring together poets/writers/artists (or would-be poets/writers/artists) who either live in and around the Quantocks – or those from further afield who have a strong connection to the Quantocks – and who are interested in developing their Quantock-inspired writings and poetry through working with me and other poets/writers/artists to co-create a digital poetry trail across the Quantock Hills of Somerset (and adjoining areas).

The concept is that all of us joined by a shared love of the Quantocks would go for walks together, or alone, or in whatever combination, taking inspiration from the landscape itself: its histories – social, natural; its wide-open vistas; its close-enclosed coombes; its associations with the Romantic poets, indeed, the very concept of ‘landscape’ itself. These physical (metaphysical? spiritual?) peregrinations then result in poetry and lyrical prose which we develop throughout the year (June 2022 to June 2023) through a process of sharing and workshopping.

The culmination of the project is that our Quantock-related works have all been given an online presence in writing (audio being worked on) and a fold-out brochure has also been created. Excitingly, using the wonders of modern technology, curated works created out of this process (of walking, being inspired by sublime nature, writing and recording works) have been embedded – as audio – INTO the Quantock landscape, discoverable by the smartphone: residents, visitors and walkers can to walk or go to the Quantocks (and adjoining areas such as Watchet) and discover pools of audio, then tune in to the content of those pools – poems and literary prose – specifically created by members of the group for that exact location!

What is ‘located audio’ and how does it make the landscape sing? You walk WITHIN the poetry!

The projects ran for a year-and-a-half and a wide and 12 writers, poets and artists stayed the course. We’ve been on walks all over the Quantocks together – ‘bravo’ to the group is all I can say, with 10 or 12 people regularly turning up even in some pretty adverse weather conditions! – and shared and discussed our poetry after the walks wherever we could find somewhere warm to do so (usually a pub, yes). We’ve kept in touch and developed work online, too, mainly on a shared private blog and on WhatsApp.

The concept we have developed is what we’re calling ‘poetry clusters’. Rather than a linear walk, people can choose ‘a poetry cluster’ and do a circular walk within that cluster. This makes the experience uniquely flexible: if, for example, a short poetry walk with the kids is indicated, people will be able to choose that particular cluster (say the ‘Stowey Cluster’); on the other hand, if a long walk up Bincombe, to Dead Woman’s Ditch, down to Lady Well, then down to Hodders Combe and a traverse below Dowsborough and back via Walford’s Gibbet is desired, why, pick the ‘Bincombe-Dowsborough’ cluster!

These are the clusters:

Close-up of of one cluster: