Herewith…

…Information regarding Capability Brown’s 300th birthday celebrations

CAPABILITY BROWN AT KIRKHARLE – SUMMER 2016 – RENGA

Brown’s contract with the Earl of Scarborough for his work at Roche Abbey in Yorkshire included the clause that his proposals should proceed ‘with Poet’s feeling and with Painter’s Eye’. It is therefore particularly fitting to hold poetry sessions in two of Brown’s beautiful Northumberland landscapes, Kirkharle and Rothley. All three sessions will be based in a medieval pavilion put up overlooking the Kirkharle lakes and Rothley Low Lake.

Award winning poet Linda France will run three Renga sessions this summer.

The collaborative renga process will introduce participants to a classical Japanese tradition, which encourages greater attunement to the landscape and the natural world, as well as to our own relationship with them. It will help participants to recognise and appreciate the ‘capabilities’ in the landscape that Brown wanted to bring out. The resulting poems will be made available on the website and so will broaden others’ experience of the landscape, providing a snapshot of the spirit of the place at a particular time on a particular day, a palimpsest of Brown’s own vision.

All at £8 each, 10.30am to 4pm. To book a place, please contact Nick Owen (nickowen20@gmail.com). Please bring exact money and pay on the day. Bring picnic lunch/flask/blanket, as well as wear sensible shoes.

1. Saturday 18^th June at Kirkharle
2. Saturday 25^th June at Rothley Low Lake
3. Wednesday 17^th August at Kirkharle

It all sounds wonderful and they have a gazebo tent for us so even the weather needn’t be a problem.  I’m going up to Kirkharle on Sunday to have a look around with an eye to creating the schema for the renga.  An interesting focus with Capability Brown as our Muse…