The Flavour Exchange Mystery Tour

Photo by Andrew Rushton

We gathered at Birmingham Moor Street Station to begin our walk in a mystery destination.
Still Walking had arranged a lovely souvenir ticket with a pot to collect things in on the journey, which worked really well with our ideas for interventions along the route.

A diverse group of walkers, different ages and backgrounds, we set off on the train, having discussed the idea of visiting all the senses on our walk.

Immediately, on arrival at our destination at Earlswood, we became aware of the different sounds in this place from the centre of Birmingham, only a 20 minute train ride away.

Photo by Andrew Rushton

We set off along the road but soon jumped over a stile to walk through a beautiful tree lined path and into a field of chest high rapeseed.

Through the gap and into the woods

a sense of squeezing through 

then an invitation to relax and breathe

Stumbling out of the field we entered the woodland of Clowes Wood. Again the sounds changed. Here we stopped for a while and listened, with our blindfolds on, without speaking for three minutes. Each person gave a word from their experience.

 

Time to Listen

Hum hum

Civilization

Chatter behind

Countryside

M42

Foraging

Pleasant drift 

Hand stitched dry oak leaf offering bowl

A little further on, as we became aware of the softness of the ground beneath our feet, we came across a beautiful oak tree that had grown to form a bowl in the middle of its trunks. We enjoyed the embrace of it, and began to place things in the hollows of its trunk roots.

People have always had a deep connection to forests, woodlands, trees; for the food, shelter and materials they provide, the symbolic and imaginative potential they hold, the habitats they provide for fungi, moss, lichen, other creatures and insects. During our scoping walk we decided it would be appropriate to make an offering / libation vessel to offer to the coppiced oak.

After the Listen Intervention we gathered by the tree and participants were asked to decide how they would like to use the bowl and what they would like to place in it. We brought a foraged oak sapling, water, birdseed, a plinth / stand. Eventually the group decided to fill the bowl with bird seed and that Richard should keep the sapling to plant in a spot of his choosing to replace the one he'd lost in his own garden.

Photo by Andrew Rushton

Wandering on through the woods, we came into a wider clearer space with tall slender beech trees. The wonderful dens that had been here when Carole, Jo and Ben had visited previously had collapsed, leaving a bundle of large sticks on the ground. And so we set about recreating something from the logs, allowing their shapes to lead us.

Photo by Andrew Rushton

A quiet enclosure, and other place to Listen

We found an empty concrete pillar that looked like it had once housed a plaque. Looking up, we could see the plaque high up on the tree above the pillar! So high it was hard to read - we speculated: had it been placed up there high, or nailed to the tree further down which had then grown and lifted it?

Further along our route through the woods, we discovered another empty post. This time we were prepared and fixed a new wooden plaque to the post. We decided on the words we wanted on the sign, and printed them using the blocks Carole had in her bag.

PEACE SPOT

LISTEN

FROM PEACEFUL ACORNS GROW PEACEFUL TREES

We finally reached the other side of the woods, opening out into the Lakes. We followed the path around the lakes, looking out for the kingfisher that had been spotted on a previous visit. Small markers intrigued us, mounted on posts and remnants from old lock systems.

Where the two lakes are split by a pathway through the middle of the water, we stopped for our final intervention: the Flavour Exchange. We all set out on a picnic blanket the home made and foraged foods that we had brought with us to share - what an excellent spread!

Well satisfied from the mutual generosity of everybody's flavour gifts, we then wrote luggage labels about our day, and tied them to a rusted fence that looked like it needed our attention! We left them hanging there as an intrigue for other visitors, and made our way to The Lakes station, where we were just in time to view each other's collection jars on the platform and then catch the train back to Birmingham.

Labels and thoughts

The beautiful tickets created by Pei, Wanting, Fotis and Bink, MA students at BCU on the VisCom course. The tickets joined together to create the title of our walk on the reverse.

The Ticket jars filled with all the items we collected

 
On the train we asked a passenger to draw the winner of our Outdoor Art Kit - our winner was Anna, who couldn't quite believe she had won!  We hope she enjoys the kit.

Our winners!

Thanks to everybody for their generosity in sharing flavours and sensory experiences. And huge thanks to Ben and the Still Walking team for allowing our walk to happen.

If you would like to see more of the Interventions and images from the walk follow this link

Jubilations

Whilst waiting for the group to arrive Jo and Carole were amazed by the amount of birdsong they could hear in such a built up area. Their meeting point was at the entrance to a narrow public footpath which cut through a housing estate and ran past a building site and a cricket pitch.

 

Once the walk began we came across this sign

small roses wound their way over rickety wooden fences

John could not resist the allure of this digger busy breaking the ground, creating space for new houses

Lilac bushes escaped the confines of suburban gardens, providing a blush of subtle colour at the side of the dark, shady pathway. Broken glass lay glittering in the mud, and the calling cards left by less than caring dog owners. We also spotted a mini windmill attached to the side of a house. 

The sky wasn't at its most photogenic, but gardens gave colour to the day.

Once at the entrance to the middle section of our bridge Jo produced her visual of the woven bunting and explained that, like the tree tent created in Finedon on the previous walk, this would be a very temporary addition to the bridge.

Jo had found some wonderful fabric with really strong colours and texture and had devised a fixing method using the ever trusty cable tie! Carole was tasked with organising the weaving on the bridge whilst Jo worked with the documentary team who would film some of the activity for the Light Walks film.

These two photos were taken by John

and the event was filmed diligently by Jo, Sam and Daniel

 

During the installation the weaving team received toots of encouragement from the passing traffic, we wondered if any of them had read Jo's Tweet earlier that morning!

Everyone worked in small groups, trying to create 

as little distraction as possible to passing vehicles.

Two Light Walks team members were extremely brave as both were incredibly nervous about heights so it took great courage and determination for them to cross the bridge. 

Everyone gave cheers and shouts of encouragement as they made it to the other side, no one wanted them to miss Carolyn's Jubilee treats! 

Whilst waiting for the intervention to be completed they made friends with this beautiful pony.

Here is the jubilant Light Walks team, glowing with pride after their weaving triumph and ready for the next part of the walk.

It seemed amazing and strange to have walked through housing, across a main road and to find ourselves back in the countryside on a narrow path enclosed by trees, hedges, wild undergrowth and cow parsley.

We tried not to disturb the sheep and lambs as we walked past, but they were full of the joys of Spring and bounced off across the field, leaving us to our picnic.

Homemade herb scones with cream cheese and smoked salmon horseradish

with lovingly created Victoria Sponge

After the picnic we returned to the bridge to remove our beautiful bunting.

Light Walks For Dark Days May Intervention

Woven Jubilee Bunting

1.00 pm - 3.00pm,  May 21st, 2012

Imagined by Miles & Dacombe

and created by the Light Walks For Dark Days Team