Strange towers and creepy houses

Thomas' frightening castle!

Shhh! tiptoe up the stairs!

the door creaks open....

The floorboards groan under tentative toes...

The swamp heaves and waits. Wetly.

In a dark castle beyond the mountains...

Castle's were popular subjects....

we even got Mums and Dads
to make their own story-cards!

A Summer Reading Challenge workshop for Nottinghamshire Libraries. In magnificent West Bridgford Library (well done, West B for making sure this was built! What a place!), an intrepid company gathered to turn their own ideas about spooky houses and sinister settings into pop-up cards

We gathered our first ideas into a collective poem

Crescent moon, full moon, no moon at all! 

The ghost train will bring you 

Along the haunted line,

Past golden palaces and beautiful gardens

To the Creepy House.
Full of bats and spiders,
Cobwebs and ghosties
Watching from windows.

monkeys rather than crows, but still watchful!

Crows sitting on treetops
Spy on everything
And bats flap
Through the woods.
A strange dark figures
Walks silently down the long path
Through the wood of dead trees.

Graveyards and tombstones
A witch fies across the moon
Creepers that catch you
Vampires that follow you

Milly's House

Milly* told us a story of
a girl who went on adventure with a pocketful of apples. She bravely walked up to the front of the spooky house and knocked on the door....
"What would you taste like?", 
"Squashed slugs!" she said. 
"I like slugs" said he. 
"But i am as tough as an old tree", said she
"If you bite me, your teeth will break!" 
He smiles and there are no teeth left in his mouth....

Fintan went for swamps

while Tristan preferred the beach

There was a terrible news about Tristan's beach pop-up because just after he made it, he disappeared from his bedroom. But a small boy's face could be seen looking out of one of the windows in the huts. The face wasn't there before...

...but almost anything is better than disappearing
 in the swamp in Rowan's story

Charlotte sent divers deep under the sea

I love the detail here!

a dragon in a cave!

(* my apologies to anyone whose name I've got wrong! Let me know and I'll correct them)

Wandering in the West

Out in the west of ireland now for a few days (thank you Grundtvig funding!) to attend the Burrenbeo Land-based Learning conference and meet a couple of other organisations.

Too much travelling today! But travelling into such an exciting landscape

In Caherconnel ringfort, I got very distracted by their stone walls....

Beautiful ferns tucked into the cracks in the limestone pavements (are they still called grikes in ireland?)

 Hanging over a wall, failing to photograph tadpoles in a cattle-trough!

And this lovely piece of writing:
This barony affordeth not a piece of timber sufficient to hang a man, water in any one place to drown a man or earth enough in any place to bury him. This consists of one entire rock with here and there a little surface of earth, which raiseth earlier Beef and Mutton, though they allow no hay, than any land in this Kingdome, & much sweeter by reason of the sweet herbs intermixed and distributed everywhere...

The Journal of Thomas Dineley, 1681

Poulnabrone Dolmen

Fanfares Of Trumpets And Galloping Knights!

Our "Gawain" project moved into performance today! It was magnificent and I'll post more photos and comments over the next few days but just now I wanted to share some images of the site and words form the final performance....

Setting the scene:

After "Gawain and the Green Knight", came "Five Children"......

 Here are just a few extracts from the main poem...our heroes are Five Children, on a quest through the Perilous Forest to find their parents frozen by the Witch Victoria

Then, dripping mud,

Cold and wet and miserable

The children stood

On the edge of a stream

Where one long stone crossed the river

One long rock over

A waterfall like a mountain

Deep, dirty and dark

Dashing down into danger

out into the dark woods

Later, the adventurers arrive at the Palace of the Woodland Queen, Quire ( the willow tunnel and sculptures are by Jeff and Heather Allen)

Deep in the woods,

There is a wonderful palace.

A wild, woven willow hall

With windows looking out onto the world,

Decorated with jewels and gems,

Beside a swamp where

The tadpoles wriggle and spotted frogs jump.

There is a magical throne there

Where the King and Queen of the Forest sit.

After various adventures, they reach the Witch's home, hidden in the ruins

Carefully creeping, up precarious stairs,

Sneaking slowly past

Giant cobwebs and giant spiders,

And through

Smells of rotten eggs and old fish,

Blood and death

It is cold.

Cold as ice on an Arctic winter's day,

The children's breath steams in misty clouds

In the final showdown....

There are pots and pans and pennies,

Bottles for potions and lotions and poisons,

Skulls on shelves and bones in the biscuit tin,

A red pot for mixing blood drinks.

There is a copper kettle for carrot tea

And bowls of dead fish,

And pine cone toothbrushes,

And a stone bottle with stone water

There is a horn that blows silently and summons bats,

Ice diamonds, spelling crystals to freeze thieves,

A golden bracelet for trapping arms, squeezing tight, crushing bones.

Gathering anger,

Gathering spells,

Fingers flexing and filling with fierceness,

Victoria the Witch stands up,

Enchantments crackling and sparking

From hair and nose and fingertips.

But as to what happens in the very end - you'll have to wait and see"

(a beautiful Lady Toad who started the day for me)

Summer events, 2013

Stone and Water, the community group I am deeply involved with here in Buxton are lining up some summer holiday events as part of our ongoing Ancient Landscapes project

They are all designed as lively family events but stray grown-ups are welcomed in their own right too! So why not come along and enjoy a fossil and a bit ofcreativity for your own sake!

The Ancient Landscapes Project is supported by the Peak District National Park's Sustainable Development Fund

Event summaries: details follow

All events are free (car parking charges may apply in some places). Family events suitable for children from 4 years and over

1. Tuesday 30th July: Life in ancient seas, at the Moorland Discovery centre, National Trust Longshaw nr Hathersage

- make your own prehistoric rockpool model! Sessions 11 - 1 and 2 -4, no booking needed

2. Thursday 1st August: Monsters from the Limestone, Buxton Museum and Art Gallery: SK17 6DA, making large puppet fossil animals from the depths of the ancient Peak District seas!, 10-30 -12.30, 1.30 - 3.30

3. Tuesday 6th August: Winnat's Pass Walk: exploring the millstone grits of the Dark Peak. Meet: Castleton Visitor Centre Car Park, S33 8WP, at 2pm. Walk 2 - 4pm, some steep slopes and off paved footpaths

4. Wednesday 7th August: Life in Ancient Seas at Leek PlayDay

Brough Park, Leek, 11 - 3: meet the Ancient Landscape team and make your own finger-puppet fossils or ancient seascape

Events in detail

I found this image on line
 - apologies to original artist!

1. Life in ancient seas

Date: Tuesday 30th July 2013

Venue: Moorland Discovery Centre, National Trust Longshaw, nr Hathersage

Times: 11 - 1 and 2 - 4

Booking: no booking needed just drop by and join in

Cost: free: materials provided (donations welcomed)- car parking charges may apply

Organisers and more information: this is part of the Ancient Landscapes project organised by Stone and Water (http://ancientlandscapes.blogspot.co.uk/).

What's happening?

Come and paddle in a prehistoric sea! Explore life in the Carboniferous Seas of 300 million years ago that eventually gave us the limestone, shale and gritstones of the Peak District. We'll look at fossils to understand the animals of the times, draw those animals and the corals and seaweeds they lived in. Then visitors can make their own model rockpool as a piece of ancient seaside to take home

2. Monsters from the Limestone

Date: Thursday 1st August 2013

Venue: Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, terrace Rd, Buxton SK17 6DA

Times: 10.30 - 12.30 and 1.30 - 3.30

Booking: no booking needed just drop by and join in

Cost: free: materials provided (donations welcomed) - car parking charges may apply

Organisers and more information: this is part of the Ancient Landscapes project organised by Stone and Water (http://ancientlandscapes.blogspot.co.uk/).

What's happening?

Exploring life in the Carboniferous Seas that eventually gave us the limestone, shale and gritstones of the Peak District. We'll look at fossils to understand the animals of those times, and build our own limestone creatures as puppets and masks - make a pet trilobite, wear a giant brachiopod, or have a tame crinoid or nautiloid to ripple home with you….

Basic activity is straightforward with lots of options for people to experiment with

we cna only hope the Pass will
be this bright in August -
it was blocked with snow in March!

3. Winnat's Pass Walk

Date: Tuesday 6th August 2013

Meeting point: Castleton Visitor Centre Car Park, Castleton, Hope Valley S33 8WP

Times: 2 - 4pm

Booking: no booking needed just drop by and join in

Cost: free: materials provided (donations welcomed) - car parking charges may apply

Organisers and more information: this is part of the Ancient Landscapes project organised by Stone and Water (http://ancientlandscapes.blogspot.co.uk/).

What's happening?

With National Trust Rangers, we will explore the geology of this dramatic gorge, meeting the millstone grit that eventually covered the limestone of the White Peak. A Stone and Water will help the group explore creatively: drawing rocks and shapes, composing instant poems, making up wild stories about the cliffs and caves of the Pass.

This walk will last 2 hours, has some steep slopes and will not remain on paved surfaces. Strong footwear essential and clothing to suit the weather

4. Life in Ancient Seas at Leek PlayDay

Date: Wednesday 7th  August 2013

Venue: Brough Park, Leek (beside the Leek Leisure Centre)

Times: 11 - 3

Booking: no booking needed just drop by and join in

Cost: free: materials provided (donations welcomed) - car parking charges may apply

Organisers and more information: this is part of the Ancient Landscapes project organised by Stone and Water (http://ancientlandscapes.blogspot.co.uk/).

What's happening?

Come and paddle in a prehistoric sea! Explore life in the Carboniferous Seas of 300 million years ago that eventually gave us the limestone, shale and gritstones of the Peak District. We'll be making personal finger-puppet trilobites and pet ammonites and models of ancient seasides…

DNA in flower petals!

Couldn't resist this - a well-dressing in Buxton Market Place, July 2013....made in flower petals pressed into clay are a very distinctive Peak District summer celebration of the waters of the Peak. A survival from older times, the first documented dressings were in Tissington in 1300s. Then in the mid 1800s the tradition started spreading through the villages, waxing and waning like a tide of its own until just now that tide is running fairly full and deep. This year's well dressings can be found at this Welldressing calendar

And this year in Buxton Market Place, the well dressing (no well there any more!) celebrates the work of Watson, Crick, Franklin and Wilkins