FINGLE WOODS
ARCHITECTURE / ILLUSTRATION / CREATIVE WRITING
A COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE
A SERIES OF ENCOUNTERS
'The Little Feller of Fingle'
STORY - TELLING
THROUGH A
JOURNEY OF SENSES
Our first encounter with Fingle Woods spun a tale of an Ancient woodland and an Iron Age Hill Fort. By tracing the ecological and the historical stories of the area, we understood the importance of the restoration process combined with human awareness and the transference of knowledge. The following generations will inherit the role of the protectors of the woodland through imagination and storytelling. Through the characterisation and illustration of key woodland roles and processes, the project will create an enhanced learning journey that guides and influences the ways in which younger generations will respond to restoring ancient woodlands. By splitting the woodland into worlds, the story told can begin to break down the concept of seeing- as the layered worlds unfold to guide the eyes from the forest floor, up, through to the unfolding sky...
'the protector of the woodland'
THE
ANCIENT WARRIOR
THE
COPPICE WORKERS
THE
FOREST MANAGERS
" Now it occurred to him that perhaps Terabithia was like a castle where you came to be knighted. Terabithia tried to push back the walls of his mind and make him see beyond to the shining world - huge and terrible and beautiful and very fragile "
- Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia
Stories create magic and a sense of wonder at the world, teaching us about life, about ourselves and about others. Storytelling is a unique way for children to develop an understanding, respect and appreciation for other cultures, history and surrounding contexts.
To walk attentively through a forest, is to be caught by the abundance of life: ancient and new; underfoot and reaching into the light, but
We might begin by looking for drama and adventure beyond the activities of humans alone.
The forest sky vanishes almost completely, only a few fragments of blue remain - like scattered pieces of an impossible jigsaw puzzle.
HOW DOES ONE TELL THE LIFE OF THE FOREST?
OUR STORY
BRINGS US
TO
FINGLE WOODS
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The air is rich with the fragrance of leaves and loam, damp too. Even so many hours after the rains have passed, the soil remains wet, slowly releasing its heady fog. The dirt path ahead is decorated with outgrown roots, wildflowers and fallen leaves that crunch beneath your step amongst fairy rings of dark grass, scattered with toadstools, left by dancing feet.
" ' I don't believe in things like that - fairies or brownies or magic or anything. It's old-fashioned '
' Well, we must be jolly old-fashioned then, ' said Bessie. 'Because we not only believe in the Faraway Tree and love our funny friends there, but we go to see them too - and we visit the lands at the top of the tree as well! ' "
- Enid Blyton, The Folk of the Faraway Tree
Outside is the noon daylight, the powerful rays of early summer, but in here everything is cool, and the colours have the softness of that time just before twilight. The only movement is the occasional bird, startling in a tree or a squirrel dashing up a nearby trunk. A deer or two disappear amongst the soldiered trunks and a bewildering magic lingers in the air. The sound of running water in the river has the same hypnotic quality as music; stop and drink in the sound. The forest is a visit to somewhere the measuring of time is done only by the rising and setting of the sun.
' The Enchanted Wood loomed up big and dark. The trees spoke to one another softly.
"Wisha, wisha, wisha," they said.
"Wisha, wisha, wisha!"
-Enid Blyton, The Magic Faraway Tree
