WRITING INSPIRED BY LANDSCAPE

  Roger is a great collector of things said and has curated a collection of snippets of conversation - performed by Roger and Simone on January 21st and The Fenscapers first public reading on January 21st, 2022. We've had a nice time And we didn' ‎ t talk about it all day But one’s on guard the whole time. As I was yesterday! When they first made a fuss about it, you used to do it, I know you did! ​ I'm legally retired now. They say that soon retirement will last for infinity. ​ When are you going on holiday? Thursday – we’re going the day before, as the first fright(sic) is early Friday. She’s gone home for Ramadan So she doesn’t have to starve for so long each day. I can have as ​ m ​ uch fun at home as going there by train. You know my husband Mike, don’t you? He’s got big hands too!’ I didn’t say anything, but……..!! You remember what happened. He drowned in Dublin Bay! But can you drown in Dublin Bay? Well, if you can drown in a bath, I'm sure you can! I'm

  Speaking to a neighbour recently, I mentioned the ghostly figure of a monk I’d seen crossing a road in the village when driving home at dusk some months ago. “ Oh,” she said, “ we’ve all seen him – we think he’s a monk who taught at the local school and was buried near here.” And this evening, I thought I saw him again as I headed towards my favourite contemplation spot – a five-barred gate overlooking a broad meadow and west towards the sun setting over the tree-lined river. Leaning on the gate, I looked to see if I could spot any deer or foxes on the jogging track mown around the meadow. As I prefer to be alone with my thoughts, I was perturbed to see someone, or something, across the other side of the meadow coming towards the gate. I couldn’t see clearly what it was because it was silhouetted by the setting sun. Two long ears waggled – could it be a donkey. I stepped to one side of the gate out of sight and looked through a straggly hedge to see what it was as it drew near.

  The Fenscapers first public reading had to be held online due to Covid restrictions but was an online success.  Invited by Fascinating Fens to read texts and poetry as part of the launch of our wonderful audio collection.   Read about the event here and click on this  link  to watch the event on YouTube.  Please find the texts read during the evening below: A Walk Around My Garden  by Barbara Grafton " Life is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currants in the cake and here is one of them " - Nancy Mitford Part-way down our garden lies a unique mass burial of eight cattle and six horses - adult, immature, neonatal and unborn - mostly arranged nose-to-tail. They were discovered in a ditch during the archaeological dig prior to the building of our house on the “high lands” of the fen. They have been radiocarbon dated to 40 to 230 AD, the very Late Iron Age to mid Roman period. It is speculated that their burial represents a highly significant event in the lives of th

  Photo taken at Madeleine’s Patch near Warboys: Visit  facebook.com/madeleinespatch Download and listen to our walking podcast - stories, poetry, short texts, music and sound.  It is a beautyiful collection of writing inspired by the Fens. Written and recorded by the Fenscapers, music composed and played by Chris Ellis, edited and put together by our own wonderful Colin Stevens.  It is a thing of listening beauty - but don't take my word for it: Listen here!