Last term school trips resumed at last for some and visits to the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty allowed pupils from across Somerset to become immersed in the outdoors and experience places like Cothelstone Hill, Great Wood, Holford, Triscombe Stone and Will’s Neck. Walking and talking with rangers and artists and using sketchbooks, journals and photography, pupils documented their surroundings, identifying species and habitats. Given freedom to explore and play, they were encouraged to understand and respect the natural world around them.
‘Seeing the children totally immersed in the landscape: absorbing the environment, trying new skills, listening attentively, laughing and having fun!’ Mrs P! (Crowcombe Primary at Great Wood)
I loved the idea of using the greenery and mud to create backgrounds in their sketchbooks and the chalking in The Drove was beautiful! Gaynor Ashton (Eastover Primary at Triscombe Stone)
Thank you for another brilliant day. Gemma Eyles (Elmwood School at Cothelstone Hill)
What is 'In the Footsteps of the Romantic Poets'?
Thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Quantock Hills will provide a focus for pupils to explore, make and play outside as part of The Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme led by The Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
One of over 20 project strands 'In the Footsteps of the Romantic Poets' is the only QLPS project with a focus on formal education. It aims to help children and young people think creatively, taking inspiration from their surroundings; helping them understand and connect with their landscape and local heritage sites.
By getting outside and exploring the locality on their doorstep the project aims to inspire a sense of place and build links with the communities in and around the Quantock Hills that will last long after the project has ended.
‘We are delighted to be helping schools and cultural partners to work together on this ground-breaking project. Though walking and drawing in the landscape; using the natural objects found in the Hills and taking inspiration from the poets who once lived here, we hope to develop children and young peoples’ visual arts and creative writing skills; increase knowledge about their locality and the natural world and raise awareness of how it has, and will, change through time’
Alice Crane - Spaeda Artistic Director