Nostalgia and Familiarity.

I have been keeping myself distracted from world events by going out walking, planning and making artwork and re-reading wonderful books about seasonal living in the towns and villages of the British countryside.

I wonder whether this is truly healthy. Certainly the walking part is, there has been research published recently by Public Health England that walking for just 10 minutes each day can add many benefits to your life including a 15% reduction in the risk of dying prematurely. (Shockingly, PHE said 41% of middle aged adults, (6 million) walk less than 10 minutes continuously each month.)

Walking is so much more fun in a friendly group.

But, bathing myself in nostalgia; re-reading country living tales from the earlier part of the last century? Perhaps not, but a daily dose of a chapter before bed, makes the 10 O' Clock news far less terrifying and I sleep well.

Alice Puttullo's work at YSP. Wallpaper, fireplace, pictures and mantelpiece ornaments.

Making artwork has taken a break this summer as I juggle childcare and work but I have many plans for when I feel freer which isn't not long now, I know this as I have been counting the days. I want to start a new project this November called 'Hearth and Home', it's in its planning stage at the moment, but that is a very exciting place to be. I want to move on from the Spirit of Place project and look at our relationship to home. I was taken by Alice Pattullo's 'Of House and Home' exhibition on show at the YSP last month, (see the last blog for more information on this.)

Dalmation mantelpiece ornament.

This year I have had a log burner installed into my home and I am already looking forward to the colder weather and an excuse to create a fire in my living room. This warm heart to the home is just waiting to be lit. Heart and hearth are such similar words that I guess they must have a common origin. It is this type of enquiry that will push my research forward and create images and written work that will fill up another large reflective journal, or two...

King Charles dog, Staffordshire pottery card replica.

One of the books I have been seeking solace in is more contemporary but still has the same feel of the older books. 'Village People' by the late Paula Yates is a wonderful perceptive and sometimes poignant view of her and her family’s move from full time London living to settling into the more seasonal and small town world of Faversham. Compton Pauncefoot is the literary name that she rechristens it with, but her love of the place comes through and her descriptions of the passing of the seasons, local events and beautiful nature writing is reminiscent of one of her writing heroines, Miss Read.

'Village People', Paula Yates

Describing the allotments by Davington pond she writes, 'A few of the brave locals willing to risk heat stroke were stripped to the waist and feeding bottles of beer to giant marrows the size of small pigs; one sat looking wistfully at an onion the same size as a small bungalow in Southport.'

Susan Hill, the writer behind the terrifying 'The Woman in Black', wrote a beautiful book in 1982 that I cherish. It is called 'The Magic Apple Tree- a country year', she paints the village year in glowing colours, the people, the events and the familiarity and celebration of the seasons. It is her story of moving into the countryside and becoming happily immersed in its rhythms.

She writes, 'Summer did come at last and, when it did, it was one of those summers of poems and stories and country pictures, a once-upon-a-time summer, it was hot day after day, week after week, so that we slipped into a dream, where we imagined it never ending, a paradise world of long, golden days.'

'The Magic Apple Tree', Susan Hill

Another two wonderful writers of this genre are, obviously, Miss Read and Alison Uttley. If you are feeling a need for distraction from the news at the moment I heartily recommend a nostalgic break by reading 'Thrush Green' or 'A Country Child' as soon as possible. One dose of this before bed will allow escapism, encourage wonder at the natural world and hopefully induce a peaceful nights sleep!

'Thrush Green', Miss Read

I will be opening the doors of my beautiful straw bale studio once again this year to exhibit my own and Alison Lees work as part of the Canterbury Festival, the theme is still 'The Spirit of Place' as it is an ongoing art project based in Kent.

You can keep up to date with our explorations and discoveries by looking at www.facebook.com/EastKentSpiritOfPlace

Open times are 11-5 daily on the weekends from 14-29^th of October. We can be found at house number 25 on the Whitstable trail. Please see the webpage www.ekoh.org.uk for more information.

 I can be contacted on 07432679164 or clare@people-to-place.co.uk