My Blossom & Thorn project exploring hedges in the National Forest comes to fruition with a showcase of the artwork at Timber Festival this July.

This week is National Hedgerow Week, the perfect time to get out and explore some hedges near you. This project focuses on hedges alongside or near the National Forest Way long distance footpath but I encourage you to explore even if you are farther afield. If you are able to walk part of the National Forest Way, let me know about the hedges you find. There’s a hedge spotters guide here to download and I can post copies too. I’m collecting hedge stories until the end of May, then I’ll be focussing on making the artwork with the information I’ve gathered from volunteer hedge spotters.

The artwork will be made to fit a very old bit of hawthorn hedge I found on the Timber festival site when I visited in January to plan the project. It’s within woodland now so it’s hard to see that it was once a hedge. These lost hedges are fascinating to me, like traces of the landscape that has gone.

Left: Hedge as found in January. Middle: hedge in April Right: my rough drawing of how I will create the work and display it in the old hedge.

Timber is such a lovely festival, I’ve been a couple of times and really enjoyed it. This year will be completely different for me as I’ll be part of the festival not just a visitor, although I’ll be attending as much as I can as well as hanging out with my artwork and talking to people about it.

I was pleased to get a mention in this article about the Festival and can’t wait to be part of it. Anyone who volunteers to share their stories of hedgerows they have found along the National Forest Way can apply for free tickets to the festival which is a fantastic incentive I think! I’ll also be leading a free walk during the festival to look at ancient hedges around the festival site.

There’s still plenty of time to volunteer, walk and share your hedge stories by 31st May. Find out more here.