DAYS OUT CALL OF NATURE
THE tranquil heart of The National Forest will buzz with music, arts, crafts and more when Timber - the International Forest Festival takes place from July 6-8. Festival-goers will enjoy an arboreal wonderland – just 40 minutes from the centre of Coventry – featuring torchlight processions, fire gardens and light installations at dusk, midnight gigs and dawn choruses.
Young and old will tuck into foraging workshops, picnics and banquets with menus created from the hedgerows.
The woodland playground will also host circus, theatre, comedy and dance, along with an opportunity to take solace in a forest retreat and eco spa doing yoga and relaxation activities.
But among the fun and creativity, Timber Festival has a deeper message.
John Everitt, chief executive of The National Forest Company, explains: “Some people who come to our area don’t really understand the story of The National Forest.
“They come here and see this fantastic landscape, but they don’t realise that just 25 years ago it was derelict in parts, because of the industry that was once here.
“We’ve done such a good job of transforming it that the history isn’t immediately apparent, so we want to engage those audiences in this, and lead them into the next 25 years.”
Spread across 200 square miles of central England, The National Forest covers parts of Leicestershire, south Derbyshire and east Staffordshire.
Once covered by just one per cent woodland, it’s now nearly 30 per cent - growing and thriving as testament to those who nurtured, and continue to nurture it.
“We wanted to find really interesting ways to tell our story, and how our lives can be improved and made joyous and fruitful – economically as well as personally – by engaging in the woodlands. Storytelling, and the arts, is a great way of doing that,” John said.
It may be three days of activities, but it’s expected to inspire those who visit for much longer.
“Woods, trees and forest influence and inspire us in different ways,” explains John. “Our natural environment can inspire creativity in all different forms, whether that be with art, sound, architecture or the ways we live our lives.
“The transformation of the area itself will inspire, and we want people to consider coming back with their children or grandparents.
“And we want people to be so inspired by the festival that they go back to their own natural environment, whether it’s here or further afield, and to make a contribution.”
The National Forest Company has created Timber with Wild Rumpus, the award-winning producers of the Just So Festival. Highlights include:
Music headliners Jane Weaver and This Is The Kit
A keynote address from radio and TV presenter Stuart Maconie
The English festival premiere of Birmingham artist and producer Jony Easterby’s new interactive performance Tree and Wood
The greenfield festival premiere of Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon
Comedy In The Dark with Leicester Comedy Festival
A Fire Garden, feasting and masked ball
A woodland library, woodland playground and forest film programme
An eco spa and dawn runs; A lifestyle and wellbeing programme with tree climbing, beehive walks and tree climbing
A families programme, with the world premiere of the outdoor theatre companion to the bestselling book of acrostic poems The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.
John Easterby, performers include spoken word artist Polarbear, illustrator Jackie Morris and Springwatch presenter Lindsay Chapman.