Them there hills – byways of the Quantocks
When I started working on the Quantocks, as always, I was looking for wide-open spaces, big skies, and forever views. The Quantocks has this in abundance with sea views thrown in. I had no intention of following in the footsteps of the Bards. I like to relate my work to poetry, but that usually comes into play once a piece has been finished.
Coleridge and Wordsworth, the Quantocks are associated with them and their poetry. It is a part of the identity of the region. Making it hard to wonder ‘them thee hills’ without feeling a pang of Romanticism, for they helped give birth to the Romantic movement here. Wondering about appreciating just what it was they saw and must have felt for the place. How could I not revisit their works, written whilst living and roaming in this special place

‘Upon smooth Quantock’s airy ridge we roved, unchecked, or loitered ’mid her sylvan combes’ (Wordsworth)

‘Now, my friends emerge
Beneath the wide wide Heaven—and view again
The many-steepled tract magnificent
Of hilly fields and meadows, and the sea’ (Coleridge).

So, this body of work is about place, my feelings, and impressions, as always. The words of the Bard's influence not only what I see but how I express it. I have named each piece in this series from a poem that has also been the inspiration for a particular work.

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