HINKSEY HEIGHTS NATURE TRAIL
My four-year engagement with my local nature trail, a permissive path through a natural hillside valley just outside Botley (near Oxford), started in 2020. I became involved as a volunteer during the first coronavirus lockdown, when we were still permitted to spend time outdoors. The 12-hectare site is privately owned but includes a lengthy nature trail of well over a mile in length including many sections of boardwalk or dirt path that were in sore need of repair and improvement in order to continue safely and effectively as a place for the public to enjoy.
Since that time, I have become a regular volunteer and passionate advocate for the Trail. I have gained many new friends, learning new skills and, in 2021, becoming a director of the CIC created to oversee and fund the restoration and maintenance of the trail; and working alongside the landowners and other partner organisations to renew and reinvigorate the site and the Trail.
Being an artist very much inspired by a sense of place and memory, I have also found that the Trail has begun to provide me with rich inspiration. There are many stories and ideas to explore and tell, about the fall of giant willows, the loss of many ash trees to ash dieback disease, about the exploration of paths and their histories and futures, and of the precious alkaline fen areas (of which there are just 19 hectares in the entire UK). My body of work inspired by the Trail has been growing quietly since 2021 and will continue to do so in the future, I have no doubt. Most recently, my work has been exploring the aspects of work and renovation that I have experienced as a volunteer.
Further information about the Hinksey Heights Nature Trail can be found at:
Website: www.hinkseytrail.org
Instagram: @hinkseyheightsnaturetrail
