Coleridge Way Story Boxes

Story Boxes

Project leader – Christopher Jelley
Project duration – 3rd June 6th September 2013

Monday 3rd June and the final of the 6 story boxes will be installed for the summer of 2013 along the Coleridge Way. The concept is simple, find one, read the story so far, add a paragraph or drawing but no more, then leave for the next walker. Return as often as you want but you cannot add more unless someone else has put their mark in the book. Books will be exhibited as part of Somerset Art Week in September as well as Coleridge Cottage later in the year. Two of the books have been started by guest Authors Jackie Morris, (Author Illustrator) and Taffy Thomas (UK’s first Storyteller laureate), and endorsed by Rosemary Middleton, a direct descendant of Coleridge himself.

Taffy Thomas http://www.taffythomas.co.uk/

Jackie Morris’s web site http://www.jackiemorris.co.uk

Jackie Morris is an author, illustrator and artist. She lives and works in a small cottage by the sea in Wales, UK. She loves colour, cats, birds and flight, walking, reading, magic and dragons, kites, dandelion clocks, dogs and horses ( especially the black and white heavy footed kind with great liquid eyes) and many other things.

Above the house where she lives is a rare thing, a dark sky where stars are clear and visible, and every night she walks, watching the moon wax and wain and the stars turn across the ocean of air.

Taffy is the patron of The Society for Storytelling. Taffy received The English Folk Dance and Song Society Gold Badge award in December 2010. With Taffy’s head bursting with stories, riddles and folklore, professional storyteller Giles Abbot once commented, “when Taffy goes it will be like a library burning down.”

With only 6 boxes and 36 miles of way marked trail I found it quite difficult to identify locations which championed the ideals of the Romantic poets and were also relatively easy to access. But I feel that I have managed just this, with Coleridge Cottage (National Trust) hosting the first in their Lime Tree Arbour at Nether Stowey.

The second box is a short walk along the Coleridge Way from Nether Stowey, and it is the first section of the trail which takes you away from vehicles and roads, giving you a better taste of the natural beauty of Somerset.

This box is along Watery Lane, a very aptly named place as the stream runs along most of the track and actually becomes the path in parts! Just where the foot path separates from the water I have located this journal, with full permission from Quantocks ANOB park ranger Owen Jones. There is no natural bench, or panoramic view point but then the tunnel of undergrowth, the trickle of the brook, and relaxed resonance of this place lends itself perfectly to the pen.

At the other end of the Coleridge Way sits box three at the Jubilee Hut, Webbers Post, which is just under Dunkery Beacon. There is a large amount of parking here, hundreds of paths to follow or cycle, just follow the Coleridge Way signs through the Sculpture Trail and you’ll find the hut. (Also QR Poetry slates here too)

Journal four is at Horner Garden Tea Rooms, so grab yourself a cream tea put up your feet and then pick up the pen. This box has some paints in as well so you can add a little illustration into the storyline.

The five is at the end of the current trail, Porlock Visitor Centre, who proudly state they are England’s friendliest visitor centre. Boxes are out in the wild all summer long, with a detailed map at http://www.storywalks.info.

Box six is a secret (I have decided at the eleventh hour to change this one as I felt the approved location was a little too vulnerable.) check the website for info.

Follow at Twitter.com/storywalks, and FaceBook/storywalks and read the blog at Coleridgeway.blogspot.co.uk

Other Coleridge Way Projects

QR Code Poetry – Key stage II pupils responding to the environment through literacy and poetry, rendered into QR codes, then laser etched onto slate and installed along the trail. June 2013 image below of Dunster First School creating QR poetry at Conygar Tower, Dunster just before Easter this year. Installation of QR slates due in the next few weeks with maps and details on the Coleridge Way section of the Storywalks website

Fly Catchers – putting Coleridge’s hand writing digitally back into the landscape which inspired him using the innovative storywalk engine. Travel to specified location to reveal manuscript on your smart phone or tablet. Summer 2013

More info on my storywalks.info website, just follow the tab to Coleridge.

Project Sponsors – Storywalks, ArtLife, and EDF Energy.

With further support from Horner Garden Tea Rooms, Cider House B&B (Nether Stowey), Porlock Visitor Centre, Quantocks ANOB, National Trust Coleridge Cottage and Holinicote Estate, Dunster Crown Estate, National Park Authority, and Forestry Commission.

High quality copies of these images and more are available from this link http://ow.ly/lh7PY

Christopher Jelley

info@storywalks.info

Facebook: facebook.com/storywalks
Twitter” @storywalks
coleridgeway.blogspot.com

XIX West St, Dunster,
TA24 6SN
01643 821657 07751609198

News Release: Natural Housing Week

June 3, 2013

National Rural Housing Week, 10-16 June, is a chance to celebrate what is happening to help local people to remain living in the countryside. And in West Somerset and North Devon, there is a lot to celebrate.

The Chadwyck Close scheme at Villes Lane in Porlock approaches completion and the 12 rented homes will be occupied very soon. The three shared ownership homes are still available and provide a rare opportunity for local people to get a foot on the home-ownership ladder. “Priority will be given to people from Porlock or the adjoining parishes, but anyone with a strong connection to the Exmoor National Park area would be considered”, said Rob Aspray from Hastoe Housing Association. Anyone interested should contact the Hastoe sales team on 0800 783 3097.

Hastoe is also close to submitting a planning application to West Somerset Council for a scheme including 20 affordable homes and 5 open market houses, all new build, and ten more homes through the conversion of historic barns. The affordable homes are aiming to achieve the Passivhaus standard*, providing high levels of energy efficiency and very low heating costs.

Elsewhere in West Somerset, Falcon Rural Housing have started work on a scheme for 5 homes at Crowcombe, and expect to have them completed later this year.

Across in North Devon, English Rural Housing Association are leading on a scheme of 5 open market and 6 affordable homes in Filleigh where the planning application will be made shortly. Nearby in East Anstey parish, they are the preferred housing association partner for a scheme which will revitalise the former Blackerton care village, providing 9 new affordable homes for families and young people from the three adjoining parishes.

“These are the bigger schemes” says Colin Savage, Rural Housing Enabler, “but there are smaller ones as well. North Devon Homes have built three new homes in Instow, have four more on site in Bratton Fleming, and have obtained two more in West Buckland through planning gain. Devon and Cornwall Housing association have been the affordable housing partner in a development in Landkey, providing 5 new homes for local people”.

Private developers also play their part. “Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) now allow open market housing to help fund affordable housing on “Exception” sites. We are looking at opportunities to do this in both West Somerset and North Devon, with schemes as small as five homes which would previously not have been viable. We have small developers and a Passivhaus specialist drawing up outline proposals.”

It is not just about new build development. The Rural Housing Project has worked with Empty Properties teams at both North Devon Council and West Somerset Council to bring older empty buildings back into use. Flats above a former pub in Lynton have been refurbished by North Devon Homes with support from North Devon Council and the old Doctors surgery in Dulverton will both produce flats and houses to rent or buy.

Planning policies in Exmoor National Park allow local people to build their own affordable home on an “Exception” site, or to convert a redundant building into a home in a village or farmstead. In these cases, as with all affordable rural housing, there are planning restrictions controlling occupancy to local people who cannot afford open market housing.

On June 20, the Rural Housing Project will be running a drop-in event in Lynton, showing details of housing schemes that are in the pipeline, including schemes brought forward by private developers and North Devon Homes. This will enable local people looking for a home to see what is coming, and to identify where they might like to live. It should also identify where there are gaps in what is being provided, so that opportunities to meet these needs can be pursued using the Neighbourhood Plan, which could be in place later this year if people vote in favour of it in a referendum. The drop-in event will run from 3.00 – 7.30pm at the United Reformed Church on Lee Road in Lynton.

Executive Member for Housing at North Devon Council, Faye Webber, says: “I’m very pleased with the progress that the Rural Housing Project is making to tackle affordable housing problems in rural areas. It’s very important that our young people have the opportunity to stay in the villages where they were raised. The lack of homes being built in these areas can force people out and this can result in communities breaking down.”

ENDS

Note:

*The core of the Passivhaus Standard is to dramatically reduce the requirement for space heating and cooling, whilst creating excellent indoor air quality and comfort levels.

Clare O’Connor

Exmoor National Park Authority

Exmoor House

Dulverton, Somerset

TA22 9HL

Tel: 01398 323665

Direct Line: 01398 322244

Mobile: 07772 092128

Visit Our Website at http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk