If “a culture is no better than its woods”, then WH Auden would be rightly disappointed by large parts of the world if he were still with us. There’d be Romania, one amongst many countries miserably failing to preserve its woodlands, where a violent logging mafia clear-cuts vast and spectacular beech forests irrespective of EU … Continue reading Ancient woodlands are more vital than ever
To be spared by the thing that would devour you: that’s all I could think of when Karak explained the small island of trees marooned in the black sweep of stone. Stone that had once flowed, flared and burned. Stone that had been the colour of hot coals, all boiling and blistering in the dark … Continue reading In the Shadow of the Volcano
From the first time I journeyed to the Hoo Peninsula in 2013, spending the day in a swirl of spring snow and stinging winds with local residents campaigning to save the peninsula from becoming the site of Europe’s largest airport, I’ve been trying to unravel the allure of its expansive and enthralling landscape, that absorbing … Continue reading The Hoo Peninsula: The Shapes and Stories of Place
On May 19th 1924, the BBC made history with its first live broadcast of a wild animal, setting its microphones and sound equipment in the leafy Surrey garden of cellist Beatrice Harrison as she performed a duet with a nightingale. Against all of the expectations of BBC founder Lord Reith at the time, who reluctantly … Continue reading A World Away, So Near: Lodge Hill
“Whoever raises the great stones sinks.” ~ Giorgos Seferis, “Mycenae” Like a river on a map, I trace the sinuous line with my finger as it meanders over the stone. The crystallised vein is rust-orange in a shadowy white expanse. The marble is rougher than I’d imagined, more like a sheet of compressed salt, baked … Continue reading The Marble Shore
Julian Hoffman 