Forest of Dean BBC Radio 4 Open Country
The Royal Forest of Dean is a twenty thousand acre woodland located on the Gloucester - South Welsh border in the UK. The Thames Estuary and the Wye Valley border the forest. People born in The Royal Forest of Dean are known as 'Forresters'. Apart from the size of this forest what really makes the place famous is The Sculpture Trail which runs for three miles through the forest. Beechenhurst is the name of the starting point for the Sculpture Trail. Carolyn Black is the project director for The Sculpture Trail. In 1987 Martin Orrom instigated The Sculpture Trail by encouraging artists to set works of art within the forest. Now in 2008 The Sculpture Trail is celebrating 21 years in existence.Local materials and local mines in the area were key to the art pieces some of which are sculptures. In 2001 an entire oak tree was cut down and transformed into a wooden oak cube. About six to eight oak saplings were planted to compensate for the removal of this mature oak. A comment by one of the interviewees is food for thought: "The process of a forest involves the planting and cutting down of trees for the purpose of manufacture and production."
There used to be a lot of small coal mines in the area which amounted to a whole network of mines running underneath the forest; hence the terrain of the forest is very undulating. You could walk four and a half miles to visit all of pieces in The Sculpture Trail. Well worth the walk if you ask me! Just think of of the beauty of all those magnificent trees, the sculptures and the clear filtered air which when combined will bring you a beautiful and unique experience.
A magnificent stain glass window hangs in part of the Sculpture Trail. A comment by one of the interviewees made me realise just how important and interlinked art and nature are: "Art is not about numbers, it's about experience and interaction."
Rob Guest from Forest Enterprise is the deputy surveyor for the Forest of Dean. His job entails keeping an accurate and up to date record of all the trees in the forest; which means he is also responsible for tree conservation within the forest. Next spring and summer I will definitely be visiting The Forest of Dean where I hope to enjoy the natural unspoilt beauty of the locality. This should make for an extremely interesting trip - plenty of blog material plus lovely photographs! So without further a do here's to the year ahead.
Labels: Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Martin Orrom, oak, woodland
posted by Thomas @ 10:21 pm
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